Noodling is all about the practice of fishing for catfish with your bare hands. Practiced throughout much of the Deep South, it is a sport or activity often passed down from father to son, although women noodlers are becoming more common. Although the end result may be quite scrumptious, noodling itself can be quite dodgy. No matter what you name or call it, tickling, hogging, grabbing, dogging or noodling, catching catfish with your bare hands is a really man-against-nature experience! You can only imagine that this is the way our caveman associates must have got their fish suppers.  Imagine yourself with a hand full of catfish guts, twisting and turning to extricate that whale of a cat you got down there! The majority of noodlers do not go at it unaccompanied. There is a real jeopardy of drowning if you stick your arm in a big one's mouth. Catfish caught by noodling can weigh up to around fifty pounds. The catfish latches on and tries to get gone. Noodlers report not being able to get their arm or hand out and end up in a struggle with the fish to get back to the surface. This is why some noodlers wear scuba gear when they go underwater. Noodlers usually have a spotter at the surface when they go down for a catfish. The spotter will help them out of the water, help protect the fish and help repossess the hand.

If you want to get better with your noodling success, you can generate a habitat where big catfish will want to spawn. Fish attractors, such as Honey Hole Trees or Shrubs, are very helpful. They produce an area where catfish feel secure. They are apt to hunt and spawn around this type of cover, raising the population of catfish and escalating the size of the catfish. Natural cover can be more hazardous for noodlers because of the unvarying threat of snags. Check with your state before you go noodling, because it is against the law in some areas.

You have to wear the right gear before doing this activity and make sure that it is legal to go for noodling in your place.