Noodling Catfish…..January 20

Noodling is fishing for catfish using only bare hands. This is practiced mainly in the Southern United States. This is not a new way of catching catfish. Here is an extract from a book written in 1775.

They have a surprised method of fishing under the edges of rocks that stand over deep places of a river. There, they pull off their red breeches, or their long slip of stroud cloth, and wrapping it around their arm, so as to reach the lower part of the palm of their right hand, they dive under the rock where the large cat-fish lie to shelter themselves from the scorching beams of the sun, and to watch for prey: as soon as those fierce aquatic animals see that tempting bait, they immediately seize it with the greatest violence, in order to swallow it.

Then is the time for the diver to improve the favourable opportunity: he accordingly opens his hand, seize the voracious fish by the tender parts, and at last brings it safe ashore. Except the Choktah, all our Indians, both male and female, above the state of infancy, are in the watery element nearly equal to amphibious animals, by practices and from the experiments necessary has forced them to, it seems as if few were endowed with such strong natural abilities, -very few can equal them in their wild situation of life.
James Adair: The History of the American Indians, 1775.

Catfish noodling goes under several names. These include catfisting, grabbling, graveling, hogging, dogging, gurgling, tickling and stumping and this depends on where you are. Noodling became a more popular sport after Jerry Rider climbed into a tank and caught a catfish with his bare hands in 1989 on Late Night with David Letterman.

After a popular documentary called Okie Noodling, in 2001 by Bradley Beesley, highlighting the history and practice of noodling for catfish in Oklahoma, the Annual Okie Noodling Tournament was established and held in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. This is a sport mainly for men and the skills are passed down from father to son. Noodling catfish was featured in the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs in 2003. Today noodling refers mainly to fishing Flatheads by bare hands.

Noodling carries risk and is recognized as an extreme sport. The common injuries are minor such as superficial cuts. There is a risk when putting your hand into a hole under water because there may be other aquatic life in that hole such as snakes, alligators, muskrats, turtles and beavers. You could easily lose a digit or a hand. There is always a risk of drowning because of the sudden strain under water from carrying a big catfish, clothes could get tangled up and a wounded noodler underwater may not be able to swim up to the surface. Noodling deaths have been reported. The spotters are at hand to reduce this danger and to help the noodler pull the fish out of the water.