Ever heard of "noodling"? Show on PBS the other night

[CatWoman]

:wow:

Noodling, Noodling? You search the nether reaches of your brain trying to remember what that is. But it's no use; you have to ask. "Noodling? What the hell is that?"

Now, before I continue, let me tell you about noodling. Noodling, I learned that day, is catching catfish with your bare hands. That's right; I said bare hands. No hooks. No lines. No rods. No reels. Just hands. "Caveman fishing," a buddy of mine calls it. In some areas, folks call it by other names, such as hogging, tickling, grabbling or dogging.

The person doing the noodling wades into a body of water where catfish are known to lurk, then reaches underwater and starts feeling for holes in the bank, in logs, under rocks and so forth. Catfish get in holes like this when spawning. Female catfish lay their eggs, then a male cat moves in to guard the eggs. The noodler feels for these holes because he knows when he reaches in, if a cat is on guard, it'll bite him. Then he can grab the fish--maybe--and pull it out.

You're starting to understand the "stupid" part of all this, right?

The deal is, the noodler never knows for sure what's in the hole he's probing. It might be a catfish. Then again, it might be a snapping turtle, a beaver or a snake. Mr. Noodler's down there holding his breath, getting all tingly with excitement, while he thrusts his hands in dark underwater hidey-holes to see if anybody's home. He loves this stuff. He thrives on the adrenaline rush it affords. Some guys get their thrills driving race cars, or skydiving, or mountain climbing. Others get their kicks noodling.





http://www.cabelas.com/information/cabelas-field-guides/Catfish-Techniques/Noodling-for-Catfish-The-Ultimate-Thrill-in-Fishing.html

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

1. Oddly enough, I did.

Personally, I prefer to catch them with a fishing rod.

I'm crazy that way.

[Goblinmonger]

2. Dirty Jobs guy

did an episode on that. Some crazy shit.

[CatWoman]

3. the PBS show had a guy on who had been bitten several times

by copperheads while noodling :scared:

[Shakespeare]

5. I saw that one! (one of my favorite shows).

Plus the bonus over PBS, is that at some point Mike Rowe will take off his shirt. :7

[Book Lover]

4. Whoa - I was off base

Noodling is also a victorian term for fooling around up to and including intercourse... Pretty damn far away from catfish!

[1gobluedem]

6. I thought that was CAnoodling

Oddly enough, I just read about noodling in a book about the Ozarks the other night.

[Book Lover]

9. I guess I'll have to go to my library

and conduct some research on that.... :D

[CatWoman]

7. LOL

Not really.........}(

[Blue-Jay]

12. Well, that depends on the fish, doesn't it?

[CatWoman]

13. SQUIRREL!!!

:hi:

[Blue-Jay]

15. Hey, bebe!

[Bake]

8. Every musician knows what noodling is!

It's the guitar/mando/fiddle player who plays endless riffs on his/her instrument, either during breaks or in between songs, oblivious to what may be going on onstage around him/her.

Also, many of Jerry Garcia's extended solos were referred to as "noodling."

Bake

[SPKrazy]

10. Yes, never done it but know plenty who have

I wouldn't go sticking my hands under rocks in any river around here.

I used to know people that would head down to the Cimmaron river when it got lower in the summer and they'd get a bunch of catfish.

strange hobby if you ask me

:shrug:

[xchrom]

11. noodle -- schmoodle --

will it make gifilte -- that what counts.

[CatWoman]

14. just what is gifilte fish?

:shrug:

[xchrom]

16. it's the fish version of ground poultry.

or something close -- but white, and sort of jellied and sort of -- well it's gefilte.

i misspelled it.

but here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gefilte_fish

[RebelOne]

27. And it is terrible.

I dated a Jewish guy and his mother always fixed it when I went for dinner. I would smother it with horseradish.

[GOPisEvil]

17. There's a great documentary called "Okie Noodlin'".

I believe Oklahoma is the only state where this is legal.

[Zookeeper]

19. Do you have any idea why "noodlling" is outlawed...

in other states?

I just became addicted to fishing last summer and read my DNR fishing regulation handbook cover to cover. However, I must have missed the part about sticking one's hand into holes underwater to catch fish...

[AllegroRondo]

24. Missouri just legalized it a couple years ago

noodlers actually showed up at the state capital to demonstrate.

[stuntcat]

18. it's freakin wierd

but fun to watch. I got the dvd of the show from my PBS and gave it to my in-laws for Christmas!

[Zookeeper]

20. I love this part....

I extended a hand, grasped the man's wrist and pulled when he said, "Now PULL!" Out of the river he came, with a 64-pound, thrashing, splashing, mad-as-the-dickens flathead in tow.

It was, at the time, the biggest catfish I'd ever seen. The man's fingers protruded from inside the catfish's gill cover. His arm, minus most of its skin, was clamped in the huge fish's vise-like maw. We managed to extract it using a tire tool from my truck.

----------------------------------------

Granted, I am entirely too practical, but not only do I prefer to leave the skin on my arms intact, but I would never consider eating a catfish that weighed more than two pounds or so due to the pollution in most bodies of water. Hopefully, these guys are practicing "grab" and release.

[fishwax]

21. I knew some of the people in that movie

I used to live in Oklahoma, and noodling is kind of big there. Assuming it's the same PBS Noodling show that I remember from a couple of years back, I had a few musician friends who worked on the soundtrack and who performed at the weighing party for the tournament.

I've never gone, but i thought it was a pretty cool show :)

[hippywife]

Gads!

I live in OK and our PBS affiliate plays that damn "Okie Noodling" program every chance it gets! It was interesting for the pure shock entertainment value the first time. After that..ugh!

[RebelOne]

22. I copy edit outdoors magazines

and we have done numerous articles on noodling.

[KittyWampus]

23. It sounds more like a practical joke- like you tell some poor city slicker who wants to fish

"Yeah, just go in the river and stick your hands into the holes along the bank til you find a fish"

[youthere]

25. We know one guy who claims to have "noodled"in the past...

on the Mississippi, no less. I tend to believe he's full of crap for several reasons:
1. He has an amazing ability to recollect all things imaginary.
2. On the Mississippi? Riiiiiiiiight.
3. It's illegal in our state.

[Zookeeper]

26. Do you know...

your state's rationale for making it illegal? This thread is the first time I've heard of "noodling."

[youthere]

28. I don't know what the rationale is..

It's probably got something to do with preserving the population of large scavenger fish in place.
Catfish really help clean the rivers and streams as they eat anything..especially anything dead and rotting. I've heard "noodlers" can pull several trophy size fish on a good day.
But I'm really just guessing.

[Zookeeper]

29. That sounds like a reasonable guess to me. n/t

[EstimatedProphet]

30. Yep

A couple friends in grad school did studies on submersible boxes to bed down catfish for noodling.

[eppur_se_muova]

31. Didn't Charles Kuralt do a segment on this years ago? nt

[eppur_se_muova]

32. Noodling for Flatheads: Moonshine, Monster Catfish, and Other Southern Comforts

http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?tab=1&pid=408926