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I have noodled many channel cats in FL rivers back a few decades. Got some quite large, 25lbs +. Got started when I was diving hunting for artifacts and fossils.
As I learned about the reason they were willing to give their life without fleeing I developed such a respect for the animal I quit doing it.
Remember pulling a large male (thought it was a momma at the time) out of a hollow log. He would not wiggle so as not to disturb the golden mass of eggs he was covering, until I got him out of the log. Then he exploded into twisting and got free. The next thing that happened surprised me. He was clear and free to swim away, but instead he went right back into the small opening in the side of that log to cover those eggs. The water was clear in that river and I layed there for a while watching him in that log. I left him there and that was the last time I ever noodled.
As I learned about the reason they were willing to give their life without fleeing I developed such a respect for the animal I quit doing it.
Remember pulling a large male (thought it was a momma at the time) out of a hollow log. He would not wiggle so as not to disturb the golden mass of eggs he was covering, until I got him out of the log. Then he exploded into twisting and got free. The next thing that happened surprised me. He was clear and free to swim away, but instead he went right back into the small opening in the side of that log to cover those eggs. The water was clear in that river and I layed there for a while watching him in that log. I left him there and that was the last time I ever noodled.
