Noodling is the practice and sport of fishing for catfish using only one's bare hands. Noodling may be called catfisting, grabbling, graveling, hogging, or tickling, depending on what state/country you're in (Kentuckians call it dogging, while Nebraskans prefer stumping). South Georgia writer Harry Crews, in his autobiographical novel A Childhood, uses the term "cooning" to describe the practice. Despite these colorful names, it's better explained by the name handfishing; however, this term is less popular among those who participate in noodling. Only four states in the United States have laws explicitly permitting handfishing: Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Missouri has an experimental noodling season in 2005 on sections of three rivers, from June 1 through July 15. Noodlers Anonymous argues that the season is doomed to fail, though, because these swimming pool sections are too dangerous, too crowded, or otherwise not desirable for the sport. Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish by hooking, trapping, or gathering animals not classifiable as insects which breathe in water or pass their lives in water. ... Families Akysidae Amblycipitidae Amphiliidae Ariidae Aspredinidae Astroblepidae Auchenipteridae Bagridae Callichthyidae Cetopsidae Chacidae Clariidae Claroteidae Cranoglanididae Diplomystidae Doradidae Erethistidae Hypophthalmidae Ictaluridae Lacantuniidae Loricariidae Malapteruridae Mochokidae Nematogenyidae Pangasiidae Parakysidae Pimelodidae Plotosidae Schilbeidae Scoloplacidae Siluridae Sisoridae Trichomycteridae Catfish (order Siluriformes) are a diverse group of fish. ... Official language(s) English[1] Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Area  Ranked 37th  - Total 40,444 sq mi (104,749 km²)  - Width 140 miles (225 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 1. ... Official language(s) English Capital Lincoln Largest city Omaha Largest metro area Omaha Area  Ranked 16th  - Total 77,421 sq mi (200,520 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 430 miles (690 km)  - % water 0. ... www. ... Official language(s) de jure: none de facto: English & French Capital Baton Rouge Largest city Baton Rouge [1] Area  Ranked 31st  - Total 51,885 sq mi (134,382 km²)  - Width 130 miles (210 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 16  - Latitude 29°N to 33°N  - Longitude 89°W... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Official language(s) None Capital Oklahoma City Largest city Oklahoma City Area  Ranked 20th  - Total 69,960 sq mi (181,196 km²)  - Width 230 miles (370 km)  - Length 298 miles (480 km)  - % water 1. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Area  Ranked 36th  - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²)  - Width 120 miles (195 km)  - Length 440 miles (710 km)  - % water 2. ... Official language(s) English Capital Jefferson City Largest city Kansas City Area  Ranked 21st  - Total 69,709 sq mi (180,693 km²)  - Width 240 miles (385 km)  - Length 300 miles (480 km)  - % water 1. ...

The term "noodling", although today used primarily towards the capture of flathead catfish, can and has been applied to all hand-based fishing methods, regardless of the method or species of fish sought. Noodling as a term has also been applied to various unconventional methods of fishing, such as any which do not use bait, rod & reel, speargun, etc.; but this usage is much less common. Binomial name Pylodictis olivaris (Rafinesque, 1818) The Flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris), also called the yellow cat, opelousas, mud cat and shovelhead cat, are large North American freshwater catfish. ... A fiberglass spinning rod and reel circa 1997. ... A spinning reel A fishing reel is a device used for the deployment and retrieval of fishing line using a spool mounted on an axle. ... Dutch fishermen using tridents in the 17th century Night spear fishing, Amazon basin, Peru. ...

How to noodle

Although the concept is simple enough – catching fish with only the use of your hands – the process of noodling is more complicated. The choice of catfish as the prey is not arbitrary, but comes from the circumstances of their habitat. Flathead catfish live in holes or under brush in rivers and lakes and thus are easy to capture due to the static nature of their dwelling. To begin, a noodler goes underwater to depths ranging from only a few feet to up to twenty feet. Placing his hand inside a discovered catfish hole, a noodler uses his arm as bait to entice the fish. If all goes as planned, the catfish will swim forward and latch onto the fisherman's hand and arm. If the fish is particularly large, the noodler can hook his fingers around its gills.

This is real noodling

From here, most noodlers have spotters who help them bring the catfish in, either to shore or to their boat. The first order of business after catching a catfish is to get it unstuck. When a catfish bites onto a noodler it holds on for quite a while, believing it has caught some food. With gills and teeth scraping and cutting into the fisherman's skin, the spotters help to secure the fish by other means, and then proceed to ease the catfish's grip off of the noodler's arm. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... In general, a spotter is someone trained to look for or spot something. ... gills of a Smooth Newt Gills inside of a tuna head In aquatic organisms, gills are a respiratory organ for the extraction of oxygen from water and for the excretion of carbon dioxide. ...

With some of the biggest fish caught weighing in at up to 50-60 pounds, very few noodlers are strong enough (or brave enough) to attempt noodling by themselves. Although carrying the fish after they have been subdued is not difficult, trying to secure a fish and remove it from one's arm at the same time can be a challenge. Officially the pound is the name for at least three different units of mass: The pound (avoirdupois). ...

The Sport of Noodling

In 1989, The Late Show with David Letterman introduced American popular culture to the local phenomenon of noodling when Oklahoma noodler Jerry Rider climbed into a tank with a catfish and caught it using his bare hands. For a time Rider became the face of noodling, and appeared in countless news stories and numerous newspaper articles around this time as well. Rider even traveled to India to demonstrate noodling while visiting the country for the weekend. Most of these stories were light-hearted variety pieces with little information — very few of them looked at the practice as a serious sport, as noodlers may have wanted. 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Late Show with David Letterman is an hour-long weeknight comedy and talk show broadcast by CBS from the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway in New York City. ... Popular culture, sometimes called pop culture, (literally: the culture of the people) consists of widespread cultural elements in any given society. ...

The closest thing to a serious examination of noodling accessible to popular culture was a documentary released in 2001 called Okie Noodling, directed by local documentarian Bradley Beesley. The documentary covers the history and current practice of noodling as it is practiced in Oklahoma. During the course of the documentary the realization that there were no official noodling contests spawned the First Annual Okie Noodling Tournament. The tournament brought in young blood from across Oklahoma to a sport mostly passed down from father to son. The release of the documentary and its subsequent airing on PBS affiliates has, if not made the sport more popular, raised its profile to more than just a local phenomenon. Documentary film is a broad category of visual expression that is based on the attempt, in one fashion or another, to document reality. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Okie Noodling is a 2001 documentary examining the practice of handfishing in rural Oklahoma. ... Official language(s) None Capital Oklahoma City Largest city Oklahoma City Area  Ranked 20th  - Total 69,960 sq mi (181,196 km²)  - Width 230 miles (370 km)  - Length 298 miles (480 km)  - % water 1. ... The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a non-profit public broadcasting television service with 354 member TV stations in the United States, with some member stations available by cable in Canada. ... An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity. ...

Although not mentioning women in noodling explicitly, through interviews Okie Noodling helps to explain women's relationship to the sport. Although some women relate stories of times they have noodled, the majority of practicing noodlers were and are men. Many of the male noodlers explained how they began noodling when their father took them out, and how they planned to bring their sons into the world of noodling. Also, as others who have written on noodling have expressed, if noodling is to be considered a sport, then (at least to outsiders) it is most definitely an extreme sport, which tend to draw a disproportionate number of male followers. Okie Noodling is a 2001 documentary examining the practice of handfishing in rural Oklahoma. ... Ice climbing is considered an extreme sport. ...

Noodling was also featured in a pilot episode of the Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs which premiered on November 14, 2003. In this episode, host Mike Rowe joins two men from Oklahoma as they noodle for flatheads. The segment ends after Rowe noodles his own fish and the men clean and enjoy their well-earned catch. Discovery Channel is a cable and satellite TV channel distributed by Discovery Communications that provides non-fiction programming focused on science, history and nature. ... Dirty Jobs is a program on the Discovery Channel in which host Mike Rowe is shown performing difficult and/or messy occupational duties alongside professional workers. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mike Gregory Rowe (pronounced: ) (born March 18, 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland) is the host of the television show Dirty Jobs and the narrator of several television shows, primarily on the Discovery Channel. ... Official language(s) None Capital Oklahoma City Largest city Oklahoma City Area  Ranked 20th  - Total 69,960 sq mi (181,196 km²)  - Width 230 miles (370 km)  - Length 298 miles (480 km)  - % water 1. ...

Legality

Potential noodlers should check with their state's fish and game laws to see if the sport is legal. In some states, like Texas (where noodling is sometimes referred to as "grabbling"), the act could net the angler a fine of up to $500.

Noodling outside of The South

The Argungu Fishing Festival in northern Nigeria is perhaps the biggest noodling contest in the world. This yearly festival held in late February or early March consists of up to five thousand fisherman catching catfish with their bare hands. Small fishing nets are used to secure the fish, but most of the fish are noodled from beneath a vast spread of water hyacinths and then placed in a floating gourd attached to the fisherman. The Argungu Fishing Festival is an annual festival in north-western Nigerian state of Kebbi. ...

Dangers of noodling

Although few confirmed deaths have been recorded in the recent history of noodling due to its obscurity, there have recently been unconfirmed reports of a noodler from the mid-south reaching into a catfish hole, only to be greeted by a group of water moccasins which fatally bit him. Despite that, almost every instance of noodling involves minor wounds, due to the "arm-as-bait" process of noodling. Although superficial cuts are received with every catfish caught, this can be avoided to an extent by wearing gloves and other protective clothing (although most noodlers take no such precautions). A slight danger of drowning exists, as most holes are far enough down in the water that diving is required to reach into them. A person confident in their swimming abilities may be caught off guard by the sudden added strain of carrying a large fish to the surface. Spotters can alleviate this danger, but it is still present. It is possible that statistics on noodling deaths are not available or accurate due to the depths at which many catfish live. A severely wounded noodler ten to twenty feet underwater might not have the physical capacity to return safely to the surface of the water, resulting in the official cause of death as death by drowning. Another danger lies in one's clothes getting tangled or snagged on roots or rocks. To avoid this, many noodlers will dive wearing nothing more than their shorts. Noodling naked, and thereby eliminating any chance of catching one's clothes, has not been documented since the possible injuries in such a condition are simply not worth the risk. Binomial name Agkistrodon piscivorus Lacépède, 1789 Agkistrodon piscivorus is ass venomous pit viper species found in the United States. ... Superficial bullet wounds In medicine, a wound is a type of physical trauma wherein the skin is torn, cut or punctured (an open wound), or where blunt force trauma causes a contusion (a closed wound). ...

The largest danger posed to noodlers are other forms of aquatic life found in catfish holes. By far more dangerous than catfish are beavers and snapping turtles, who will take over abandoned catfish holes as homes of their own. These animals are always on the mind of experienced noodlers. Okie Noodling provided anecdotal evidence that beavers have gnawed off the hands and arms of former noodlers, but no disabled noodlers were presented as proof. Species C. canadensis C. fiber Beavers are semi-aquatic rodents native to North America and Europe. ... Binomial name Chelydra serpentina Linnaeus, 1758 Common Snapping Turtle head Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina) are more formally referred to as Common Snapping Turtles when distinguishing them from their larger cousins (Macrochelys), and are popularly nicknamed snappers. ... Okie Noodling is a 2001 documentary examining the practice of handfishing in rural Oklahoma. ...

External links

• New York Times article on noodling and anecdote from the writer
• Okie Noodling Documentary Website
• Local Oklahoma News Story on Noodling
• ESPN Article on Noodling
• Snopes Urban Legend Website on Noodling
• Conservation Commission of Missouri
• Annual Noodling Tournament
• Catfish Grabblers