'Noodling' for Giant Catfish (2007)

Yo! Check out this video wherein a dude (Brett, Knightraven1972) and his dad demonstrate an age-old Southern tradition--hand-fishing for giant catfish. This practice usually takes place at the height of breeding season in the summer. 'Noodling', 'hogging', 'grabbling', "dogging", "cooning", and 'hand grabbing' are all various terms used in areas of the midwestern and southern U.S. to refer to the same basic fishing ritual wherein catfish hunters entice the fish to bite by wriggling their hands near the nesting site, literally using their own hands as bait. Once the female catfish has laid her eggs, her partner guards the nest during breeding season, attacking and/or eating any potential threats, including the wriggling hand of a noodler. Once the noodler's hand enters the mouth/throat of the catfish, the noodler grabs hold of the fish from the inside out. And so the game begins.

Part of the thrill saught by noodlers lies in the fact that they literally don't know what they've got their hands on until it bites them and they pull it out of the water. Tales of fingers lost to snapping turtles, snake bites, and beaver bites circulate widely but are generally hard to disentangle from myth since no such encounter has actually been documented (although such happenings would seem, at least hypothetically, far from impossible). Another potential threat is drowning while wrestling large and aggressive catfish underwater, but again, actual documentation of this is virtually nonexistant. There have been a few isolated reports of broken fingers resulting from struggles with particularly aggressive catfish.

Nonetheless, for some communities and families in the south and midwest hand fishing for giant catfish is a deeply cherished cultural tradition around which various identities are constructed and materially embodied. The folks in this video clip are catfishing along the Big Muddy River at an undisclosed location. I really like the documentary style of this video. Check out the size of the flatheads this guy lifts out of the water. This footage was recorded July 7, 2007. Thanx to Knightraven1972 for sharing, good stuff.
-t