If I were to ask the average reader if they were willing to waddle into a lake, stick their hands into the lakebed beneath and try to grab a living, breathing, flailing catfish with only their fingers, most would say “no.” This is not the case for the proud Noodlers of the American countryside. These brave, likely calloused individuals have traded out their fishing rod for a more hands-on approach, formally called “handfishing,” but colloquially known as “Noodling.” Although not widely practiced, noodling commands a dedicated following. It has been met with some resistance and criticism from both animal rights activists and lawmakers who protest the often violent removal of these catfish from their homes.
Since there is no definitive technique for catching catfish with your bare hands, noodling is defined by what’s absent. There are no shortcuts in noodling: no bait, no rod, no reel. Most noodler’s just plunge their fists into catfish nests submerged underwater. Once they feel the catfish retaliate, they reach down the throat of the fish and grab its innards while the fish dangles and flails on their arm. If it sounds excruciatingly painful and unpleasant, that’s because it is. In every video I could find of noodling, both fish and noodler seemed to end each encounter worse off than they were before. The noodlers are red-faced, soaked to the bone, and covered in welts from the catfishes barbs. And the catfish? Well, the less said about what happens to the catfish, the better.
The history of noodling likely dates back to the first time primordial man met catfish. The modern history of noodling is a bit murkier than that. Like another classic American sport, baseball, it’s unknown who started noodling first, or even where it originally emerged. The first noodler to come to nationwide attention was Jerry Rider, an Oklahoman who appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, in 1989. From there, noodling has had a bumpy ascent to mainstream attention, being the subject of documentaries, many longform articles, and a one-season Animal Planet show called “Hillbilly Handfishin.”
So, wherein lies the appeal of noodling? With regular hunting or fishing, you are kept at a distance, your gun/spear/sharp rocks keep you safe. No one is wrestling a twelve-point buck or trying to German suplex largemouth bass. There is an answer, but it comes from an unlikely source:, Republican Speaker of the House, and fellow bottom feeder, Paul Ryan. In a 2012 interview with the New York Times, Ryan talked about why he liked to noodle catfish, saying that although it sounded crazy, it was “really exhilarating.”
It was an unexpected admission from a man who seemed every bit the opposite of a noodler. Satirists, like David Brensilver, speculated that he was playing it up to seem more down-to-earth and macho to voters, but it was all true, Ryan was a noodler. In conversations with Oklahoma State Representative, James Lankford, Ryan joked about his status as the only Noodler in the House, saying “That’s true. I am the only one at this table has been noodling. I’ll take you all out on Texoma.” Of course, Ryan’s well-documented P90X “workout bod” has to be put to work somewhere, but digging around the muddy lakes and rivers of Oklahoma wasn’t what most voters likely had in mind. Still, it was a big hit with the noodling crowd and briefly brought noodling back into the spotlight. If nothing else, Ryan’s passion for the sport is indicative of noodling’s startlingly wide appeal.
There’s even a national gathering of noodlers, if you want to see it in action. The annual Okie Noodling Tournament in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma draws an average of 8,000 visitors annually, making it the world’s largest hand fishing tournament. Initially started in 2001, it was the product of a student documentary, Okie Noodling, which brought together many different Noodlers across Oklahoma. The first tournament was an elaborate release party for Okie Noodling, and it has only grown since then. It did not take long for the tournament to grow too large for Bob’s Pig Shop, the BBQ spot where the First Okie Noodling Tournament was held. The event is now held at nearby Wacker Park, although there has been some concern over attendance numbers dropping in recent years. Some noodlers want to bring the event back to Bob’s Pig Shop, but regardless, the Annual Okie Noodling Tournament is here to stay.
Despite the unpleasant tendencies of the sport, it seems to generate a fair amount of goodwill from Oklahomans who grew up in and around the sport. Like hunting, its a communal sport, with parents teaching their kids the ins-and-outs of how to best wrestle a catfish. For the people who still practice it, it’s a family tradition. In a video published by Sportsman Channel, we meet the family of Nate Williams, a star in the noodling scene. In the video, we can see him and his children all trying to noodle catfish. Even his six year old daughter pitches in to give her dad a helping hand. Nates twelve year old son, Jayce, is ecstatic about noodling, describing it as “an extracurricular for kids” and Nate even recalls his own kids bugging him to go noodling.
However, noodling has received its share of criticism for justified reasons. In fact, only fifteen states have legalized noodling. In most other states, you will be subject to fines. In an interview, Missouri Department of Conservation spokesman, Joe Jerek, justified his states reasons for banning the practice saying that by removing male catfish from their nests, their eggs are much more likely to die, disrupting the catfishes delicate breeding cycle. As one may expect, noodling is regional, mostly relegated to the Southern United States. Since it is so niche compared to other ways of hunting for sport, policymakers have felt little need to police it. Jerek joked that most people wouldn’t understand the appeal of noodling saying, “Many folks go, “what, are you crazy? Why would I stick my hand down in muddy water in a hole? What if there’s a snapping turtle?””
If there’s any place to go and see this sport in action however, it is without a doubt, Oklahoma. Oklahoma is the nexus for any and all noodling activity. Its impressively easy to find noodling advice on the internet. It’s a popular topic on extreme fishing message boards and there is enough noodling content on Youtube to fill a lazy afternoon or ten. Noodlers are a helpful bunch, and seem to like to pass on their craft to any interested folks. Some companies, like Big Fish Adventures, give noodling tours that teach customers how to noodle like a professional. It could be your new thing, a hobby for you and your kids or your s/o or your bros/girl-bros. Maybe, if you are lucky, you’ll see a certain former Speaker of the House enjoying his retirement, yanking catfish out of their homes.
Featured Image Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters under CC2.0
