Thought you guys might like to see this. These guys show up a couple times a year to "noodle" for catfish. Noodling is going under the water and catching these things by hand. Impressive catch by these boys for sure but it will be long after the sands are gone from the Sahara before I go under water and put my hands under a boat ramp to catch one of these things. Flathead catfish in the 30 to 35 pound range

Wowie! I won't go in water I can't see through, let alone noodle for anything. Really cool photographs, Dave. Thank you for posting them.

Dave, a pleasure to see this but, goodness, shouldn't that be able to bite off their fingers!

I used to watch a show that did that all the time. But I don't remember it called noodling. Maybe they were catching something else under water - can't remember now as it was years ago. I always found shows like that fascinating. Would be more interesting to see it live. Not that you would EVER catch me doing it. I've been afraid of live catfish since I was little and the boys of the family came home from fishing and flung their ugly catfish in my face. Looks every bit like a monster when you are only a kid of 5 or so.

Love to eat them fried, but I wouldn't even eat them until I was an adult.

My brother used to watch that show and he kept claiming he was going to try it one of these days but luckily he hasn't so far. Seems like a strange way to catch a fish. Like, who ever thought of that in the first place? Must have been a weird or desperate person.

I think it is a Southern thing. Catfishing of all kinds is popular here. This takes a special kind of crazy IMO as you never know what you are going to find when you stick your head or hands under these undercut ramps or banks. Could just as easily be a big snapping turtle as a catfish. BTW I forgot to mention they always turn these find back to the river. Well, at least the ones they catch here.

mellielong said:My brother used to watch that show and he kept claiming he was going to try it one of these days but luckily he hasn't so far. Seems like a strange way to catch a fish. Like, who ever thought of that in the first place? Must have been a weird or desperate person.

Or maybe, hungry.

Probably hard to fathom for those where food comes easily, and often prepared and cooked. However, hunting and gathering food without tools is not something new. I think that is one of the reasons why I like to watch these kind of shows, it makes man more evenly matched to the prey. It is all too easy to set big traps, huge nets, and use guns to kill everything from yards away.

As I said, not something I'd want to do because I'm a big chicken. There are enough spiders and wasps in the garden that are about as much danger as this wimp can take on. I only hope I never end up in a situation where I am hungry enough to go after something with a mouth that size. I'd prefer to gather fruits, berries, leaves, and veggies. I can catch fish with a rod, and gut and clean the fish, without problem. But I've only caught small fish, would love to go somewhere to catch big game fish. Just to be there in person, just once.

On TV, or youtube videos, the wild shows are the best to watch. Safe and far away.

nice photos , looks like tons of fun , but I would wear a glove , I have been bit and horned by catfish a lot, the horns /spikes are worse.