United States Catfish Association - Blogs

Other hazards of noodling, my worst fear is rebar! Rebar sticking out of concrete will catch a human like a fish hook catches a fish. Here in Oklahoma we have a noodler killed about every year from drowning. Not turles, snakes, or beavers. The man that was killed last spring, put on scuba gear for the first time, rolled on his back to reach under a rock, got hung up on rebar, coughed, and aspirated. When my brothers and I started noodling we used a lot of liquid courage, it will make you throw caution to the wind. Five years ago my daughter's Orthodontist wanted to go with my brother and me. So we took him. Never again, he used liquid courage and sucked in some water. We did get him on a nice flathead and he said it bit me to many times and swam away. I went ahead and caught the fish and he never asked to go again.
Noodling is a Team Sport, Noodling is a usually a team sport however my little brother, who is the "King of Noodling" usually goes by himself. He is like a machine looking for holes. Noodling is very hard work, treading water for hours at a time if you’re in a lake, if you’re in a river a heck of a lot of walking. You have to be ready to bust your butt to find a fish.

Team Members:
1. Bank Man, my uncle Frank is the bank man. He likes to hold the stringer and tell jokes. He is a riot! ( Smart man, he has never stuck his hand under a rock.)
2. Boat Man, my dad is in the pontoon boat, fishing off the back for blue gills. He likes to cheer when we string a Denison of the deep. He keeps the boat in place.
3. Blockers, use whatever body part they have to block the hole. The area of the belly is usually used because it's larger than the other parts of your body. The fish will wedge itself into the hole at the back, side, top bottom or where ever it can. The fish will slam into your belly as hard as it can to either bite you or make an escape. Believe me it can jar air out of your lungs. (oh yea, blockers are under water too) My older brother can hold his breath for five minutes under water. He can hold it for about two minutes when a catfish is biting his fingers.
4. Stringer Man, uses a stringer to run into the mouth of the fish and out its gill flap or through its bottom lip. Gill rakes can chew your fingers up like a garbage disposal. Amazingly once the catfish is on the stringer it will bite any body part that gets near it. Flatheads are biting machines. They look docile once on the stinger, until you focus on the next hole, then wham right on the leg or butt.
5. Noodler, the noodler is the person who is fearless, holds their breath forever, will drag a beaver out of a hole and throw it at you. Some men have been chewed on by beavers, (my grandfather Vern), they bite like a wood chipper, (it's ugly) I have had snakes strike at my face. I have pulled 40 pound snapping turtles out of a hole. The water temperature is freezing cold. Your legs are cramping and in knots.

In my family my younger brother is the super Noodler, the rest of us just watch in amazement. I have noodled a few big fish in my life, but, I am no match for a real noodler. The key is to work your tail off finding the hole that the fish is living in. My brother moves his hands through the rocks and creek bank like a monkey looking for a bananna.

PS I read many of the comments about noodling. I dare not answer them myself, please watch Okie Noodler volume I and II. It’s a documentary and does an excellent job separating the myths from facts about noodling.
OK, I can't resist, one quick fact: Pulling the male or female off the nest. The male liken to many fish species is the brooder of the eggs. His body is generally smaller but his head is built to bite, big and powerful jaw muscles. Yes, many times you are pulling him off of a nest of eggs. The eggs can survive if left alone, however, the other fish in the water eat them up quickly. With that admission, I did observe an R&R fishermen catch a trophy size flathead catfish, it was not on a nest at that time, however, it would have been on a nest next year if it got enough to eat.
From all the years I have been fishing R&R and Noodling, I maintain that a cast net does more to decrease trophy fish population than any other means of fishing. If the fish can’t put on enough weight to produce, fertilize and guard the nest they must wait until they can. It’s a math equation not a mystery. My dad refuses to use a cast net. He buys his bait or catches it in a small pond. How many cast nets have you seen lately? There not an infanant number of shad living in our waters.
Kindest Regards