Texas penalizes catching catfish by hand

[josedesucre]

Long Arm of the Law Penalizes Texans Who Nab Catfish by Hand
By ANA CAMPOY (WSJ)
DALLAS—Brady Knowlton believes it's his inalienable right as a Texan to shove his bare hand into the mouth of a 60-pound catfish and yank it out of a river.
But wrestling a flapping, whiskered giant as it latches onto your arm with its jaws isn't among Texas's accepted methods of capturing fish. It is, rather, a class C misdemeanor, with fines of up to $500.
So Mr. Knowlton, a 30-year-old-private citizen, oilman and outdoor enthusiast here, is pushing a bill in the state Legislature to legalize hand fishing, also known as noodling, grabbing or hogging. Noodlers go into the water, then reach into holes, hollow tree trunks and other underwater nooks to find the fish.
Nothing beats "the heebie-jeebies you get underwater, in the dark, with this little sea monster biting you," he says. He recalls that his arm looked like "the first stage of a chili recipe" after his first noodling experience about 15 years ago. Catfish are equipped with bands of small but very abrasive teeth.
The bill swam easily through the state house, but now rod-and-reel anglers are speaking up against the proposed law, currently in the state Senate.
They say noodling is unfair to the fish, since they're grabbed in their burrows without a chance to swim away.
It's more sporting, antinoodlers argue, to dangle a hook and give the critters the option of biting or not. Snatching a catfish from its underwater nest also leaves thousands of eggs exposed to predators, they add.
Jesse Zuelly, a 50-year-old project manager for a telecommunications company and a lifelong catfish angler, is concerned the state won't have sufficient manpower to keep legal noodlers from taking too many fish out of smaller lakes and rivers.
He'll give hand-fishers some credit, though. "Those guys are brave to stick their hands in them holes, I'll give them that," says Mr. Zuelly, who fishes with a line in Lake Lavon, northeast of Dallas.
While noodling has a long history in the U.S., only 17 states permit hand fishing, including Louisiana, Georgia and Oklahoma, home of the Okie Noodling Tournament.
In Missouri, which prohibits fish-grabbing on grounds that it would deplete the fish population, a group called Noodlers Anonymous is supporting a bill similar to the one in Texas.
The origin of the term "noodling" is unclear. A columnist at The Oklahoman newspaper polled readers about it a few years ago and got several theories, including that catfish are as slippery as wet pasta and that a hand fisher's arm hangs like a noodle after battling a catfish.
Noodling can have some image issues, as suggested by the title of a reality show scheduled for this summer on Animal Planet: "Hillbilly Handfishin'."
Mr. Knowlton says noodling opponents "want to paint people who do this as lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut." Many people are under the erroneous impression that "everyone who noodles is an uneducated, toothless hillbilly," he says, noting that he is a college graduate. He also has all his teeth.
Noodling is illegal in Texas because officials didn't consider it a "sporting way" of taking fish when they sat down to write the rules decades ago, says Ken Kurzawski, regulations director at Texas Parks and Wildlife, the agency that oversees fishing in the state.
So anglers are allowed to use a variety of tools, including fishing rods, some kinds of nets and jug lines—baited fishing lines that are attached to plastic bottles that float on the surface—but not their hands.
Noodling practitioners say the tradition comes from American Indians, who transferred the knowledge to settlers. Since then, it has been passed from generation to generation, particularly in the South.
Many noodlers see it as the purest form of fishing because of the direct contact between man and underwater beast. Some sportsmen use protective gloves when they venture into the darkened cavities that catfish prefer, but others say bare hands are better to identify what lies within.
It's not always a fish.
"There's muskrats and snapping turtles and snakes," says Gary Webb, a 67-year-old farmer and noodling authority in Missouri. His brother had to get 13 stitches on his chin after inadvertently encountering a beaver, Mr. Webb says.
Techniques vary. When the fisherman puts his hand into the hole where the fish is, the fish usually bites. Then he can grab the catfish by a lower-jaw bone, or, if he sticks his arm in deep enough into the fish's body, he can poke his fingers through its gills.
But most important is controlling the tail, Mr. Webb says, which is usually done by the noodler wrapping his or her legs around the fish. "If you don't get that tail immobilized, I don't care how big or strong you are, you're not going to whip that fish," he says.
Mary Grigsby, 58, a rural sociology professor at the University of Missouri, Columbia, is working on a book on noodling, tentatively titled "Fishing for Collective Identity—The Intersection of Gender and Class in the Identity Work of Rural Men and Women Noodlers."
Noodling, she notes, is usually done by a group of people and "instills close ties of trust, respect, reciprocity and provides recognition of manhood for the initiates."
Ms. Grigsby spent many hours in the water with noodling families for her research and tried hand fishing herself. "I can affirm it requires skill and endurance," she says.
She has no opinion on whether it should be legalized, she says, because she's not sure what effect that would have on catfish populations.
Texas has plenty of catfish at the moment, says Tim Bonner, a biologist who heads the aquatic research station at Texas State University in San Marcos, south of Austin. And as long as it is well managed, noodling shouldn't threaten that, he says.
To some in Texas, the ban on noodling is a sign of government run amok.
Gary Elkins, a Republican state lawmaker who represents part of Houston and sponsored Mr. Knowlton's bill in the house, says the state should have no role in telling noodlers how to go about catching their prey.
That does not mean he has any desire to try their methods, he says: "I'm not sticking my hand in a fish's mouth."

[rojodiablo]

Hell, Kelsey just grabbed my noodle not 10 minutes ago.


I don't care if it's legal or not......... the fishin' was GREAT!!

[BenSpearing]

Originally Posted by rojodiablo

Hell, Kelsey just grabbed my noodle not 10 minutes ago.


I don't care if it's legal or not......... the fishin' was GREAT!!

Heard it had to be thrown back cause it wasn't big enough...

hahaha, sorry man....it had to be said.

[STITCH]

Originally Posted by BenSpearing

Heard it had to be thrown back cause it wasn't big enough...

hahaha, sorry man....it had to be said.

You set yourself up for that one.

[Alexrom1207]

Originally Posted by STITCH

You set yourself up for that one.

I would direct this thread back to the topic, but this derail is just too good to let die too quickly.

Continue on gentlemen

[BenSpearing]

We called it "stumping" when I was taught how to catch catfish by hand, in Texas. The hook-and-line guys protesting this method are stupid. I've seen plenty of noodlers, and most of them have better luck when they use hook-and-line. A law passed by people who don't understand the issue at all...seems like noodlers and spearos have a bit in common.

[STITCH]

Originally Posted by Alexrom1207

I would direct this thread back to the topic,

10-4 That was pretty funny though

Originally Posted by BenSpearing

We called it "stumping" when I was taught how to catch catfish by hand, in Texas. The hook-and-line guys protesting this method are stupid. I've seen plenty of noodlers, and most of them have better luck when they use hook-and-line. A law passed by people who don't understand the issue at all...seems like noodlers and spearos have a bit in common.

It's sad when one group doesn't understand the methods of another and they cry "cheating, reef raping, etc" Its no different here. Someone is too scared to go in after them and got tired of coming home with an empty cooler. Haters will be haters....

[rojodiablo]

Hey you bastards..... I resemble that "Stump" remark. Don't pick on the handicapped!!!

[Alexrom1207]

Originally Posted by STITCH

10-4 That was pretty funny though
....

Oh absolutely, that was great. Which is why I didn't want to change the subject too soon. When someone opens themselves up so easily, they must be exploited for the entertainment of all. That's just man-law 101.


But while we're back on topic. Unless this method is a serious risk to the population, I don't see a problem. For instance, I know Florida has laws about how lobsters can be taken that are different from other states. I'm not sure (obviously some one here would know) but I don't believe you can use a noose style system...but nets are okay. Etc.. etc...

If noodling will result in serious population declines, fine, ban it. But if not, then why hate on people who are too poor to buy a fishing rod...and even if they did buy one...too stupid to figure out how to use it? Don't these people have it bad enough already? Why try to pick on them even more?

Just joking. I think it's a cool method of fishing, although I'm not sure I'd be sticking my hands in stumps and holes when a large snapping turtle may be hanging out...but I'm sure others value their hands less than I value mine. So if they want to risk it, who am I to stand in their way.

[zenspearo]

Oh no.

I live for these videos...j/k

http://youtu.be/Bx52x-_kowM

[josedesucre]

Originally Posted by zenspearo

Oh no.

I live for these videos...j/k

http://youtu.be/Bx52x-_kowM

Very nice. Catch and release at its best!!!

[STITCH]

I'm surprised no one has been Irwin'd by one of the fins on those big bastards.

[Aaron Proffitt+]

We "noodle" here ...in fact we're about to begin. And the take is so miniscule in the grand scheme of things that it isn't even an issue. Gawd, it's fun though. And scary as shit.

[riplipper]

""Noodling is illegal in Texas because officials didn't consider it a "sporting way" of taking fish when they sat down to write the rules decades ago""

I would like to see one of the legislators try it and then we would see if they think its sporting or not......

[IrieSpearo]

Always the H&L people hating on anybody that gets wet...