Irish Catfish Noodling Information
Do you Noodle? What is Noodling? Noodling Catfish, Grappling Catfish, Hand Fishing...
Pat O'Kelley the "King of Irish Pond Noodling":
"Irish Noodlers are a dying breed. Not a lot of people want to stick their hand up in a hole and get bit by something."
- Shamus "Paddy" O'Kelley
What is Catfish Noodling?
Irish Pond Catfish Noodling Information is about the practice, and some would contend drinking sport, of fishing for catfish using only one's bare hands. Irish Pond Noodling (IPN) may be called grabbling, graveling, hogging, tickling, or poking slimy leprechauns, depending what southern state or country (IRL) you're in (Kentuckians call it dogging, while Nebraskans prefer stumping.) Despite these colorful idioms, it's better explained by the name 'leprechaunfishing,' however this term is less popular among those who participate in irish or american noodling. Only four states in the United States have laws permitting hand fishin': Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee and now thank God - Georgia.
Pat O'Kelley - Creative Manager, Catfish Noodler
"Just Pour Guinness Down Their Throats"
-Pat O'Kelley
Catfish Noodling Information
The term noodling, although today is used primarily towards the capture of flathead catfish, can and has been applied to all hand-based fishing methods, regardless of the method or species of fish sought. Irish Pond Catfish Noodling Information as a term has also been applied to various unconventional methods of fishing, such as any which do not use bait, another appendage (I wouldn't recommend one), etc.; but this type of usage is much less common. This is easily explained by noting the origin of the term noodling, the word noodle is slang for a foolish person. Go figure - irish men sticking their hands down a dark wet hole hoping to catch a lucky leprechaun - but instead get a slimy, ugly, and smelly.
How to Irish Noodle - Do you Noodle?
Although simply enough, catfish noodling information is about fishing with only the use of your hands, feet, or even your elbow - and the process of noodling is more complicated than first burp. The choice of catfish as the prey is not arbitrary, but comes from the circumstances of their habitat. Flathead catfish live in holes or under brush in rivers and lakes and thus are easy to capture due to the static nature of their dwelling. To begin, a Noodler must drink at least one pint and shares with the pond Gods by pouring over the diving spot. He then goes underwater to depths ranging from only a few feet to up to twenty feet. Placing his hand inside a discovered catfish hole, a Noodler uses his arm or leg as bait to entice the flathead. If all goes as planned, the catfish will swim forward, swallow. and then latch onto the fisherman's hand and arm. Just hope it ain't a snake or a snapping irish turtle.
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From here most noodlers have 'spotters' who help them bring the catfish in, either to shore or to their boat and act as the designated driver on the way back to the Public House. The first order of business after catching a catfish is to get them unstuck. When a catfish bites onto a noodler it holds on for quite a while, believing it has caught some food or thinks someone threw in a unopened pint of stout. With gills and teeth scraping and cutting into the Noodler's skin, the spotters helps to secure the fish by other means such as pouring Guinness between the arm and the open mouth. They then proceed to ease the catfish's grip off of the proud irishman's arm.
With some of the bigger fish caught weighing in at up to 50-160 pounds, very few noodlers are strong enough (or brave enough) to attempt noodling by themselves. Kids don't go noodling by yourselves - leave it to your Dad - he is dumb enough if he's Irish. Although carrying the fish after they have been subdued is little problem, trying to secure the fish and remove them from one's arm at the same time can be quite the challenge. Guinness works every time. The fish just starting chugging the brown gold and releases the arm in between swallows. Catfish love Guinness and if you have enough to share go ahead and make his last drink a good one. Plus you'll be pre marinating from the inside out. Damn good fish and chips! Bloody hell damn good. Make sure to stock your cooler full of Guinness Stout Pub Draft before partaking in any Noodling Adventure.
The Sport of Noodling, and Noodling Outside of the South of North Ireland, was introduced by The Late Show with David Letterman and made by the popular American culture in 1987. The local phenomenon of noodling went crazy when Oklahoma noodler Jerry Rider climbed into a tank on stage with a catfish and caught it using his bare hands. For a time Rider became the face of noodling, and appeared in countless news stories and numerous newspaper articles around this time as well. Most of theses stories were light-hearted variety pieces with little information, very few of them looked at the practice as a serious sport as noodlers may have wanted. Rider is said to be the founder of the now public backwoods fishing practice. Soon the story went overseas and Irish men were running from the pubs to take off their shirts and knickers and jump in the likes of Lake Shannon and such.
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Ireland hasn't found any 60 plus pound catfish since O'Kelley catch last March, but like the Americans - but they are getting upto 50 pounds now. The Irish have started the practice of feeding catfish left over stew and shepard's pie - heck they even feed them fish and chips - those sick bastards.
The closest thing to a serious examination of noodling accessible to popular culture was a documentary released in 2001 called "Okie Noodling," directed by local documentation Bradley Beesley. The documentary covers the history and current practice of noodling as it is practiced in Oklahoma. During the course of the documentary the realization that there were no official noodling contests spawned the First Annual Okie Noodling Tournament. The tournament brought in young blood from across Oklahoma to a sport mostly passed down from father to son. The release of the documentary and its subsequent airing on PBS affiliates has, if not made the sport more popular, raised its profile to more than just a local phenomenon. You should see the turn out. We have strong Irish lassies and wee bits too. Pat O'Kelley and Erik Brown will go for the title this year in Okie (Oklahoma) 2006.
Dangers of Irish Pond Catfish Noodling Information:
Although no deaths have been recorded in the recent history of noodling, this could have more to do with the fact that very little about noodling has been seriously documented until recently. Despite that, almost every instance of noodling involves minor wounds, due to the 'arm or leg as bait' process of irish catfish noodling. Although superficial cuts are received with every catfish caught, this can be avoided to an extent by wearing gloves, vaseline, extra large trojans, and other protective clothing (although most noodlers take no such precautions as true Irish men feel no pain after a round of pints.) A slight danger of drowning exists, as most holes are far enough down in the water that diving is required to reach into them. At the bottom of a lake with a 50 pound catfish latched onto your arm is not a position you want to find yourself in without help. Your Designated Driver and Spotter can alleviate this danger, but it is still present. Your Spotter could have lied to you and took a few sips of Jameson while you were jamming your toe in the hole. It is possible that statistics on noodling deaths are not available or accurate due to the depths at which many catfish live. God and St. Patrick forbid, but severely wounded noodler ten to twenty feet underwater might not have the physical capacity to return safely to the surface of the water, resulting in the official cause of death as death by drowning. If you can't swim don't listen to your buddy saying "You Can Dooo It!" ---- leave it alone and grab some fish and chips at the Pub.
By far the most prevalent danger posed to noodlers are other marine life found in catfish holes. By far more dangerous than catfish are angry beavers, snakes, and snapping turtles, who will take over abandoned catfish holes as homes of their own. These animals are always on the mind of experienced irish noodlers, and although they can level much more serious and lasting harm than the catfish themselves, most noodlers are not too worried about them. Okie Noodling provided anecdotal evidence that beavers have gnawed off the hands and arms of an Alabama former noodler, but no disabled noodlers were presented as proof - and no one cared since they were from Alabama anyway.
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Do you Noodle? What is Noodling? Noodling Catfish.
