PlanetCatfish.com

Some while ago I read about a sport allegedly practiced in parts of southern USA. It went something like this: wade in murky water, and look for a hollow log or similar. When you find one, thrust your hand in there. If there is a big catfish in there, it'll chomp down on your fist, and you can pull it out.

Yeah, sounds like a joke, but it was portrayed as a sort of machismo fishing style, and there were several sites which all seemed rather serious.

However, when I was going to show these sites to a catfish-loving friend of mine, I couldn't find them.

Does anyone know what this sport is called, and/or have some direct links to some site which talks about this sport?

Well, I found one of the sites. You tell me, is this real?

http://espn.go.com/outdoors/general/col ... 36494.html

This practice is known as "noodling" and the species most often targeted is the flathead cat (Pylodictis olivaris). Noodling is illegal in some states because of the danger to the fisherman and the threat to nesting catfishes it poses.

Yep silurus is right again with noodling as the true redneck fishing method some more info for ya is that when noodling they actually grab the lower jaw because the fish will not allow itself to be pulled out under its own power and yes they do bite down which im sure is painfull. Also a method ive read about is to reach into its mouth and run a rope out its gill then pull it up by the rope. This method was adopted to save on broken wrists and arms. Alot of serious noodlers place casket size boxes in prime locations and check them ocasionally for new inhabitants then dive in and pull them out.

FatCat wrote:Yep silurus is right again with noodling as the true redneck fishing method :lol: .

Now that I know it's called noodling, I did a search for catfish + noodling and got a dozen webpages. Amazing.
:shock:

One of the webpages was actually the Urban Myths page, which had a page about that noodling WASN'T an urban myth. Needs saying, I guess.

It's an extreme sport by anyone's definition, ranking right up there with bull fighting, skiing Mount Everest, parachuting off waterfalls and walking tightropes stretched between city skyscrapers. Some call it foolish. Others label it idiotic. None would deny, however, that those who catch catfish bare-handed are a special breed.


special breed indeed!

I have seen it done on TV and I think that it is something else! I wouldn't have the guts to do that. I am also not a large guy like the people I have seen on TV (200 lbs +) so I could only imagine how thrashed I would get. I also don't think that their is anything wrong with it. I don't think that it poses a major threat to all catfish in general and if people end up injured...well, they had it comming.

;) makes me want to learn how to swim and trade the 250 pounds of flab to muscle... to wrestle with a giant fish that could easily drown me. not my idea of a good time, but hey, if it floats your boat

Someone should introduce electric eels to the noodler's waterways. The electric shock therapy might be good for them.

Someone should introduce the candiru to the noodlers' waterways....

Come now lets not beat around the bush!
What about Nile crocodiles and Bull sharks?

Hey come on guys, to each his own. Yeah this counts as "redneck" fishing, but it's pretty gutsy in it's own right.

While I haven't participated, I have seen it done first hand for catching snapping turtles in the Miami River (very few Pylodictus there).

Little known fact (not that you ever cared to know) Snapping turtles crawl into their burrows head first. They only turn around occasionally on the way out, not before. I still didn't trust those odds well enought to try it though.

Sincerely,
Paul E. Turley

I grew up in West Central Ohio, where over half the population is from Kentucky!

Is it any wonder that some noodlers are nicknamed "Nubbins" (as a result of unfortunate encounters with snapping turtles)?
See http://www.cabelas.com/information/cabe ... shing.html

HH,
Excellent article. Excellent link. Thanks for posting it.

The author sized up the mentality of the people that do these sorts of things very well.

Pretty much the same type of people whose last words are: "Ya'll watch this, Ok!"

Sincerely,
Paul E. Turley

Catching fish by hand is probably practiced worldwide in some form or another. I have written on this a bit (see the Venezuela Diaries). Grabbing a big flathead would be a rush, but I have seen people in Venezuela do this with pims! Can you imagine the chances of getting stung? Fishermen on the Rio Magdalena are like fishermen in Ecuador. They break off the dorsal and pectoral spines with pliers before unhooking any pim or removing it from a cast net. Loricariids are also caught by hand everywhere they occur. Just place your hand under a submerged log or stone and feel along until you feel the pleco. Not bad in mountain streams looking for Chaetostoma, but a a very different proposition in the Amazon where you could grab a two foot Acanthicus or worse. While seining for Doradids and Corydoras in Leticia we pulled up a coral snake. Everyone also knows the famous story of jools and the baba!
-Shane

Here is a little film clip showing noodlers in action.