WEBVTT - How Noodling Works 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:07.480 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you should know 0:00:08.080 --> 0:00:16.439 from house Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.400 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. With me is always as 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:23.680 Charles W. Chuck Bryant. You can call me Rusty. Yeah, 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:25.919 no doubt, Chuck. This is the first time in eight 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:29.080 or nine years since we've done this. Weeks. Everyone should 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.199 like years. This is the first one back from my 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:36.120 elementary school Christmas vacation. Yeah, it's been weeks. Yeah, it's 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:39.199 our first one in two the future. Yes. And I 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.280 told Josh I'm having re entry problems like I always do. Yes, 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:44.720 I like walk to my cube and everything looks strange, 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:46.599 and it was like being it's like the first day 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:50.839 on the job. He's constipated. Huh yeah, a little bit. Actually, 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:53.520 that's what happens when you stay away for too long 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:56.520 and you wake up, sit up like a stiff as 0:00:56.560 --> 0:00:58.160 a board, and you're like, I have to work today 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:02.640 and poop and how was your good good break? Yeah, 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:04.960 it was great. I went to the Isle of Palms 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.319 and Charleston. It was very nice. It was super cold, 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:11.920 but it was nice went to Drayton Hall. I don't 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:16.240 know what that is. It's the oldest intact preserved plantation 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:18.680 of its kind on on the Eastern Seaboard as far 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:20.480 as I know. You know the difference between a farm 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:24.320 and a plantation the plants. I'm gonna start two thousand 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.600 ten with the fact plantations only grow one crop. Is 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:30.480 that right? That's what I'm told. I would have thought 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:33.240 it had to do with the size or something. One crop, 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.000 farm many crops? Very nice? Is that is farm Latin 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.720 for many crops? I think. So there's a good fact 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.160 for Mr Charles W. Chuck. Quit while I'm ahead, and 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:45.600 we'll check out here. Yeah, we'll give you the email 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:48.560 address so you can say congrats, Chuck. We'll give it 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:50.600 to you at the end of this podcast, which happens 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:54.320 to be on a little something called noodling. Yes, you 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:58.520 may also know it as hogging, dogging, stumping, hand fishing. 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:01.800 That's that's yeah, that's a popular one. Actually, that's when 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:03.800 the city folk call it. And now, actually I was 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.800 on the YouTube's and they were all all those dudes 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.920 were calling hand fishing. Have you ever done this? No? No, 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.399 nor have I, And um, it doesn't seem like a 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:17.480 sport that will ever become real popular because it's so 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:21.800 thoroughly terrifying. Yes, absolutely, I would never ever do this. 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:25.200 What we're talking about is, as Chuck said, hand fishing, 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:29.080 but it goes by all sorts of colloquialisms. We called 0:02:29.120 --> 0:02:32.919 it noodling in this article on how stuff works dot com. Uh. 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.680 And basically what it is is you stick your hand 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:40.960 into a underwater catfish nest, which they tend to nest underwater, 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:42.920 and you're in the water. We should point out you're 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:45.519 not doing this from a boat, no, um. And you 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:47.600 get the fish to bite your hand and you pull 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:51.000 it out and there you've just fished. You've just noodled. Yeah, Yeah, 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:53.480 that's it. That's pretty much it. Of course, there's all 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:57.280 sorts of other interesting stuff that surrounds this, which we 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.400 will discuss at length starting now. Right it You know 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:03.880 what it reminded me of was you saw the eighties 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:07.120 Flash Gordon movie? Right of course? Oh, come on, tree, 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.880 did I didn't You didn't see Flash Gordon. No with 0:03:10.960 --> 0:03:14.520 the Queen soundtrack and all that. No, definitely not. Wow. Well, 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:16.920 Timothy Dalton in one scene they have this it's like 0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:21.120 a test of courage where they reach into this these 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:25.360 different holes in this big like rock type thing, and 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:27.200 there's a creature in there that will bite you if 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:29.280 you stick your hand down the wrong hole. So they 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:31.840 go down to the elbow and then of course one 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.120 of the guys got tagged on the wrist and like 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:39.480 green ooze, who's out his wrist? That's did he perish? Um? 0:03:39.920 --> 0:03:42.800 Noodling reminds me of that sand monster in Return of 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:48.240 the Jedi, Yes, except you know it's smaller, not much no, uh, 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:52.360 and actually noodling can be deadly. There's all sorts of 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:56.200 peril that the sport is fraught with. Let's talk about 0:03:56.200 --> 0:04:01.960 the history of it. First Native American and its roots. Evidently, yeah, 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.920 apparently the first time it appears in Western literature is 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.720 in seventeen seventy five. This trader historian named James A. 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:14.120 Dare traveling the South and he said, uh, yeah, the 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:16.520 Native Americans have this weird thing where they get in 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:19.480 the water and they actually apparently used like red cloth 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:23.040 like you know, enticed to fish like toro toro to 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:25.280 the catfish. And then yeah, but then they'd use their 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:27.600 hands to pull them out. I imagine that the Native 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:30.039 Americans would use kind of whatever means they could to 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:31.520 get the fish out, and this is one of them. 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:35.240 And since catfish are so huge, this was you know, 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:39.680 a prized catch. Yeah, apparently they, like you said, there 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.599 was all sorts of other methods used to to fish 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:45.040 among the Native Americans, including clubbing them over the head, 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:50.880 using spears, bows and arrows, um, and I think scaring 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:53.039 them up with torches and then just grabbing them like 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:56.520 as they came to the surface. So yeah, no dynamiter 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:01.120 or right, that occurred in the night eighteenth century. And 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:03.880 they also actually in the article said that the Great 0:05:03.880 --> 0:05:06.520 Depression clearly, probably in the South, it was a good 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.600 time to go noodling. Yeah, because it's totally completely free, 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:13.200 using nothing but your hands, your body, uh, and whatever 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:15.279 gas it took to get your pickup truck to the 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:19.000 noodling hole. And that's about it. So yeah, and then interesting, 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:22.280 I mean like it, I guess it was still around, um, 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:24.840 but then in the Great Depression, everybody's like, we need 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.240 to start this up again, right, and then it's passed 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:31.640 down from father to son. Although there are female noodlers, yeah, 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:34.440 much braver women than I am. What's that one? Girl's name, 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:39.200 Mr McFarlane, I don't know, Champagne. Yeah, she she's pretty good. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:42.920 Her father's like this well known noodler named Rusty McFarland, 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:46.640 who's a plumber slash noodling philosopher. Yeah, he was in 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:48.800 that documentary I watched. Yeah, I think he's a big one. 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:52.040 He likened plumbing to noodling, actually, I'll bet. And he 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.559 even said the word turd, he did. I hate that word. 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.520 It's awful, So, chuck, Yes, this is uh as you 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:04.279 might have imagine, a fairly rural activity. Yeah, the rural south. 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:06.960 And then Oklahoma is a huge noodling state. Yes, so's 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:09.880 Missouri as well. And it's only legal in thirteen states 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.000 as far as we know right now, right, and that 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.039 is up from just eight years ago, only four states 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:19.279 allowed noodling. Two one. That's nine years ago, now, buddy, 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:24.200 that's right. Welcome to the future, twentie century man. Uh. Yeah, 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:28.039 the thirteen states up from four, that's that's a big increase. Yeah, 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:31.840 it's it's definitely gaining popularity, thanks in part to that 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:35.320 documentary you vaguely referred to earlier. That's right. What's the 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:39.120 filmmaker's name. The filmmaker's name is Bradley Beasley, and he 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:41.960 I believe it's called okay noodling, right, And he really 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:44.080 put it on the map. Not not only did he 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:47.120 put it on the map, he established the first noodling 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:50.560 tournament for the documentary, right, so we could get better 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.640 shots or whatever, because, as as it says clearly in 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:57.360 the documentary, there ain't no noodling tournaments because no one's 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:00.279 taken the initiative. Nic that's one of the guys, well Liver. 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:02.640 So Brad said, hey, you know what a great way 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.120 to end this documentary. I'll start my own noodling tournament. 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:07.480 And that's exactly what he did, and it's taken off 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.720 from them, right, all right, So Chuck, we talked about, um, 0:07:10.920 --> 0:07:14.080 just the generality, just your hand in a hole. Little history, 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:16.200 let's get a little more into it. Yeah, why would 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:21.160 a catfish bite onto your hand? Josh, what's the reason? Well, 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:25.120 actually the reason is that they're What you're doing is 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:29.200 you're reaching your your hand into a catfish nest um 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:32.480 where there are thousands of eggs waiting to be hatched. Exactly. Um, 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:36.080 what I find interesting is you're not catching the female. 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:38.800 The female comes and lays the eggs, and then the 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:41.880 male comes along, chases her off and takes over the 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.280 duty of protecting the eggs. So that's what they're doing, 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:48.120 catching males. They're guarding when they come after your your 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.360 hand and apparently how you noodle as you wiggle your 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:53.240 fingers around to get their attention, which may be the 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.200 reason that it's called noodling, is your fingers look like 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.240 wet noodles, although no one is No one is quite sure, 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:02.720 no they're not. It remains a mystery. Um. But yeah, 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.800 So you stick your hand in, the catfish goes to 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.400 bite you, um, And sometimes it will nibble and you 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:12.280 can kind of get a grasp on it. Sometimes it'll 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:15.880 try to swallow your entire um arm. Ideally, it sounds 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:17.720 hard to say that, but I think that's what you're 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:20.800 looking for. Either way. Once your hand makes entry into 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:24.320 the catfish is mal you you wiggle it down as 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:26.840 far as you can to the gills and hook the 0:08:26.880 --> 0:08:30.040 gills from the inside out. And then all of a sudden, 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:33.640 now you have a real firm grasp on that catfish. Plus, 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:36.720 when you have your hand in and something's gills, it 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:38.959 tends to really focus on that and freak out a 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.120 little bit, right, So then you pull it to the 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:45.040 surface and there you have it. You've got your catfish. Although, 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:48.000 as we said, this thing is kind of fraught with peril. Yeah, 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:51.040 the first thing you're gonna encounter is the teeth, right, Yeah, 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:54.080 there are. They're not super sharp, but there are lots 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:57.080 and lots of them. And they likened it to sandpaper 0:08:57.080 --> 0:08:58.880 in the article. Actually, this is written by my good 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:02.200 friend Debbie Rnka, who's a freak girl. Yeah yeah, freak 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:04.760 girl dot com. And she's about the least likely person 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:06.880 on earth that would ever write an article in Newdling. 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:08.480 She did a good job with it. Well, that's the 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:10.720 great part about our job. I'm writing about giving a 0:09:10.760 --> 0:09:15.760 facial at home and uh, she's writing about noodling. We 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.880 should switch articles occasionally, it seems like. But anyway, Debbie 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:20.400 wrote this and she did a great job. And she 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:22.760 says that it's like sand paper on your arm, which 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:25.040 doesn't sound too bad, but if it's really they said, 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:26.960 they start twisting and turning when it's on your arm, 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:28.599 and then it can, you know, cut you up a 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:31.480 little bit, right. I read a quote from a noodler 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:35.640 that said once they start twist spinning. Um, it can 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:38.559 rub your hide, It can plumb, rub your hide to 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:43.000 the bone something like that. Right, Um yeah, that's good. 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:45.920 So um yeah, that's your first problem is that this 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.959 catfish who's gills you have your hand in is is 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:53.120 rubbing its sand paper teeth all over your wrist and 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:56.800 that can turn to hurt. Um. Also, some catfish can 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:00.040 get pretty big. Yeah, I mean, um, forty six the 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:03.520 eighty pounds, that's the flathead. I think the blue cats 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:07.240 get even bigger, upwards of a hundred pounds, I believe, right. So, 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:10.319 if you were in water that's say chin deep, it 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.640 can pull you under, hold you under, and you were 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.480 a drowned noodler. Yeah. And you know in the documentary 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:20.000 to that was, um this one one of the legendary 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.040 guys noodles. There were these I'm not sure how this works, 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:25.760 but these highways where the lake and the river is 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:29.560 now over the highway. So I guess it's just poor 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.840 planning or something. But these old broken roads basically in 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:36.120 the water cool and they will go under the asphalt 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:39.440 to uh, these broken asphalt to get because that's where 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:42.240 the prime layer is and they will get trapped into 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:47.600 there sometimes and yeah, um apparently it's also something of 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:51.280 a pastime. When you're searching a lake for a drowned person, 0:10:51.880 --> 0:10:55.080 people will also noodle while they're looking for the dead person. 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:59.000 That's called killing two birds, right exactly. And um uh. 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:01.840 Every once and while, somebody who's looking for a drown 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:04.640 person and noodling in the meantime will end up drowning 0:11:04.640 --> 0:11:07.480 themselves and getting found. They did this in rivers too. 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:11.000 I saw one guy drowned from the current sweeping him 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:15.199 under like a beaver den, which is why noodling is 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.319 not a sport to ever be engaged in alone. Yes, 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:22.160 they always want noodling buddies. You gotta have partners spotters, 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:25.520 because once you bring the fish up, generally your spotter 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.079 will help remove the fish from your arm and get 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:29.960 it into the boat or on land. If you're by 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.880 the banks, or if the fish pulls you under, it's 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:34.880 good to have a two pound friend to pull you 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:39.040 back above water. Um. Also, they helped barricade the way 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:41.079 so that if the catfish tries to escape, it will 0:11:41.080 --> 0:11:43.360 just bump into their legs or something like that. Right. 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:45.640 There's there's one funny part in the end documentary where 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:48.160 they're interviewing these two guys that are like chest deep 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:50.480 and there's only two dudes in the scene, and they 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:52.360 talk about, you know, do you ever worry about your buddy, 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:53.800 you know, when he's under there for a long time. 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:56.360 And he says, well, you know, we worry about him 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:58.079 sometimes when it's been a long time. That's usually when 0:11:58.080 --> 0:11:59.880 he pops right up. And as he said that, the 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.400 guy like comes up from underwater, like you didn't even 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:04.559 know now at it, and you didn't know there was 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:07.640 a third person there, but he was noodling underfoot during 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:11.720 the interview, right, So, because you can drown Chindi water 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.320 is kind of dangerous, but you know, you have to 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:17.880 go where the catfish are. Sometimes you dive down underwater 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:22.200 completely and sometimes your head is above water. Another danger 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:25.280 to noodling. And if you're picking up that this is 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:28.559 kind of a dangerous sport, you're you're very sharp person. Uh, 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:30.400 And we should probably take the time to say that 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:33.960 how stuff works does not recommend you try noodling alone 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:38.160 or as an inexperienced person with other inexperienced noodlers. I'll 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.839 just say at all, sure, go ahead, at all? Okay Um. 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:45.000 You can also every once in a while, stick your 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.800 hand into a catfish nest that turns out to be 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:56.120 a beaver's dwelling. Yes, a underwater snake. Muskrats. Muskrat snapping 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.320 turtles are real bad too. They'll take a finger off. Um, 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:01.439 And if you encounter one of those guys, you want 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:05.439 to take off. Yeah, as Ronka says, get out of 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:08.520 there right. Well, unless you're Jerry Rider. That's kind of 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.720 the legendary noodler that was on Dave Letterman. He um 0:13:11.920 --> 0:13:14.400 is a big snake guy too, So when he sees 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:16.479 a snake, he sees that as a as an opportunity, 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:19.720 not a bad thing. Oh yeah, oh yeah. So he 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:21.920 grabs the snakes. He'll grab snakes, and he bait him 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:23.320 a few times and he was like, see there, I'm 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.160 bleeding from these three spots, and that's what it felt like. 0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:28.680 He was like, just kind of like a little hypodermic needle. Yeah, 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:31.160 he said yeah, And he said I'll have him tame 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:34.560 pretty soon. So he was so he catches him and 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.679 tames him. Well, that's what he said. Well he's a 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:40.920 snake guy. Wow, Jerry Riders snake circus. Yeah, he's the 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:45.560 toughest guy I've ever seen. He sounds pretty tough. Actually, Um, normally, 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:48.319 unless you're Jerry Rider. Uh, you don't want to put 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:51.080 your hand in a snake hole now because most snakes 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:54.920 that live underwater near the water are deadly poisonous. Um. 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:58.559 But most noodlers will tell you that they can tell 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:02.240 a catfish nest from any other kind of nest just 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:05.280 by feeling the outside of the nest. Sure experience. Um. 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:09.240 The reason for that is that the opening will be 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:12.880 uh sandy, uh and clean, got you uh, and pretty 0:14:12.920 --> 0:14:16.480 compact because a once once the mail comes in and 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:20.120 is guarding the uh, the the eggs. Um, he's just 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:24.720 moving back and forth constantly keeping sand analgae off of 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:27.680 the eggs and out of the nest. So the male 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:31.480 catfish keep a pretty tidy nest. Apparently, you could not 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:33.360 pay me any amount of wanting to do this. Man, 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:35.680 I get a little weirded out, Like I go trout 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:37.680 fishing in the North Georgia mountains and I'm up to 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:41.760 my waist and beautiful clear mountain water where you can 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:43.600 see what's going I can see what's going on, and 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:45.440 I'm still my head is still on a pivot. When 0:14:45.480 --> 0:14:47.080 I'm near the bank because I just know I'm gonna 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.200 look up and like a snake is gonna drop on 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:51.760 my head. But these are like the muddy waters of 0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:54.360 these river banks. Muddy river banks, well, yeah, that's where 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:58.280 catfish twell. And actually, the fact that noodling has become 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:01.520 such a popular popular sport, noodlers are kind of um 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:05.560 barometers of the health of a waterway, depending on how 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:08.840 you look at it. The Army Corps of Engineers love 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:11.920 to keep a tidy river way, right um. And so 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:14.720 do most trout anglers because you can see what you're doing, 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:18.160 and that's where you know, trout generally living in clean water, 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:23.000 but catfish like a murky, shady, muddy um. And so 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.480 you can. But that's that's how a waterway is naturally, 0:15:26.520 --> 0:15:30.560 they're not naturally clean or tidy, right um. So apparently 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.720 the the Army Corps of Engineers kind of fell asleep 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:36.560 at the switch for a couple of decades in the 0:15:36.640 --> 0:15:41.680 seventies and maybe eighties. Uh, and basically let the Mississippi 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:45.720 Delta go to pot unless you're a catfish fisherman. And 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.880 then you're like, the catfish population came back right right. 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:53.240 So the fact that newdlers are finding catfish easily. Uh, 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.400 is a an indicator of the health of the waterway. Right, 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:01.400 But there's also a lot of contray diversity over noodling. Yeah, 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:03.920 we have to mention this. Yeah, And apparently it's it's 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:08.080 a cultural thing most neodlers, um, you know, like like 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:13.040 Chuck said that they there legal in southern states. It's 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:16.840 legal in southern states. In Midwestern states, very rural activity. 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:19.920 Most city folks aren't going to go stick their hand 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:24.440 in an underwater hole and hope a catfish bites their hands, right. 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:26.080 You know why. One of the guys in the documentary 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:30.160 addresses that, he said, because they're own golf courses. That's 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:34.840 that's excellent points. Excellent point. Chuck and I are fairly cidified, 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:37.480 and of course neither one of us would ever ever 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:41.480 do this. Um. But so I think part of the 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:44.520 part of the reason why noodlers are kind of looked 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:48.360 down upon by regular anglers, um, is that it's a 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:53.520 rural city. Yeah. Yeah, head collision, I guess you could say, 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:57.120 because there's plenty of you know, city types that grab 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.560 their their trout boots and go out on the weekends 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:01.720 and go trout fishing, that kind of thing. But there's 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:05.879 also a um an environmental concern which may or may 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:08.760 not be true, right, because what you know, clearly what 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:12.200 you're doing is you're pulling out a catfish that's guarding, uh, 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:16.080 you know, a big stash of eggs. And many times 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:18.200 you don't return that fish back to the water. You'll 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:21.760 keep it and eat it for food, because catfish is 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.920 good eaten. Uh. And even when they do return these 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.040 fish to the water, which they sometimes do, they you know, 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:29.159 just like catching release fishing, there's a proper way to 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:31.119 do it. And they you know, they get beat all 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:33.360 the heck on the on the shore, so they think 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:37.120 they might not survive from just massive injury. Right. And 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:41.400 like you're saying, you're removing this catfish from its role 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:44.840 of protecting these eggs, which means that once that catfish 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:47.479 has gone, all manner of petitors go, I'm gonna go 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:51.399 eat meet thousands of catfish eggs. And how could that 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:54.439 not logically have an impact a huge impact on the 0:17:54.480 --> 0:18:02.280 population of the catfish. Here's how. Because most people don't 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:05.400 stick their hands in catfish nests in the hopes that 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:07.480 it will bite them and they can pull it out 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:09.639 and eat it. Yeah, it has gained in popularity, but 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:12.040 it's still a fringe sport. We're talking like maybe a 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:15.719 thousand people across the country that do this, maybe three thousand. 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:17.919 That's why there's been no studies. They can't prove anything 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.399 because no one wants to put any money into a 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:22.679 noodling study. Right, Well, I think we should study it 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:24.720 to see if it does have an impact. But in 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:28.119 the meantime, most um fish and Game d n R 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:32.080 departments in the various states where it is legal are 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:35.880 hedging their bets and are keeping the number of catches 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:38.280 a new ler can make from May to August, which 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:42.840 is spawning season. Um it's three in Missouri. I think 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:46.159 that's the average, and that's lower than if you're just 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:48.879 a hook and line angler. You can get ten in 0:18:48.920 --> 0:18:51.880 that per day, three per day and tem per day, 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:54.640 depending on if you're an angler. Noodlers, of course find 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:57.520 this unfair, but again, there haven't been any studies, so 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:00.920 I think three is an arbitrary number. Probably. I wonder 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.960 if anyone's ever caught a noodler A dead noodler probably 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:08.199 cooked a noodler underwater. Apparently there's this boy in the 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:11.720 nineteenth century who went noodling and he got held under 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:15.080 by the by the catfish he caught. But I guess 0:19:15.200 --> 0:19:17.399 his grip was so tight that like a day or 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:20.680 so later they found the boy and the catfish dead 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:24.120 side by side on a sandbar. Really yeah, hand in mouth. 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:26.719 Still wow. And that's something that's the way to go 0:19:26.760 --> 0:19:29.800 if you're a noodler, that is the way you die. Well. 0:19:29.840 --> 0:19:32.359 And that's what Jerry Rider said. He said, I'll noodle 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:35.680 till I die unless noodling kills me. And he shouldn't 0:19:35.680 --> 0:19:38.879 have said it unless he probably meant especially if noodling 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:42.560 kills me. Should we talk about the tournament? Yeah, we 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:46.840 mentioned it briefly. Uh. It is the biggest North American 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.080 hand fishing tournament. I thought it was the only one, 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:52.800 but apparently it's the one. It's the Oakey Noodling Tournament. 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.960 That's what it's called, and straightforward. It's in July. It's 0:19:57.000 --> 0:20:01.400 at Bob's Pig Shop in Paul's Valley, Oklahoma, and there's 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:03.920 prizes up to like two grand I think if you win. 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:06.959 There's different categories like Fish of the Day and then 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:10.800 total catch of total pounding of your three Yeah, stringer. 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:15.200 There's also natural and scuba noodling, and scuba noodling is 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:17.360 exactly what it sounds like. Yeah, imagine they're frowned upon. 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:20.040 It didn't get any working. So so is gaffing, which 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:23.119 is noodling with the hook, right, because basically you're a woose. 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:26.600 Is that what that means? Pretty much? Yeah, because you're 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:28.400 not sticking your hand in there, you're sticking a hook 0:20:28.440 --> 0:20:30.560 in there and their gills and pulling them out. Number one, 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:33.399 you're immediately doing more damage to them, I imagine, but 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.600 you're not using your hand. It's hand fishing, not hook fishing. 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:38.959 But they they even frown upon gloves, dude, So this 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:41.160 is how these guys are. Well, yeah, they frown upon 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:44.560 gloves because you can't tell. You can't tell from touching 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:47.680 whether it's a snapping turtle or a muskrat or a catfish. 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:50.439 But also they can get snagged on things underwater and 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:54.480 keep you under So yeah, these are tough fellas and women. Yes, Josh, 0:20:54.520 --> 0:20:58.520 there is a DVD series even called Girls Gone Grabbing. Yeah, 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:04.000 I heard or grabbling grabb No, No, I don't think 0:21:04.000 --> 0:21:07.600 it's a typo. Maybe it's called then um and and 0:21:07.760 --> 0:21:11.480 the there's been some records. Apparently every year somebody sets 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:13.680 a new record at the Okay Newling Contest. And what's 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:15.720 cool is these people aren't like all in the same hole. 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.120 They're all over the state. As long as the fish 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:22.399 is caught within Oklahoma within a twenty four hour period 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:25.840 from seven thirty pm on Friday to seven thirty pm 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:30.520