Talk about BIG catfish!!!

[Andrew Zuber]

Someone sent me an email today with 4 or 5 pictures like this one...all had HUGE cats...

The text of the message said that these were 'caught' in Missouri by "noodling" for them...

"Noodling" being the practice of walking in the water along the bank or around structure where the catfish live and then sticking your bare hand into the likely holding areas and wiggling your fingers...When the cats come after the fingers they are grabbed by the mouth and hauled up!

Sounds like fun to me!!!

However...I would hate to stick my hand in a big snapping turtle's mouth or worse yet, a gator's!!!!



Maybe MO or other members can enlighten the rest of us on this exciting fishing method!!!



az

 

[Anotherdink Scott Chambers]

have seen guys wading the little river up the road doing this, Me personaly NO WAY IN HE double toothpicks. I have cuaght to many snappers on rod and real to even think about it., Check out his knuckles they are pretty red, looks like he took on a concrete wall. guess Im not that adventurous lol

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Last time I checked, there weren't any gators in MO Country!! They dont come after your fingers, in that kind of cat water there's no way they can see a thing. They usually sink boxes or know of holes on the riverbends where the big cats like to hide. They put their hands in and grab them by the jaw. That's not to say that the cats don't clamp down good and hard on your hand AND when they get to thrashin' they can rip up some pretty good chunks of skin. BTW, they fish for snappers the same way except they grab them by the tails. How noodlers know the front from the back amazes me.



TOXIC



and oh yeah, more than likely that big cat in the pic was not caught by noodling...he's toooo big, I've seen them pull guys out into the river and try to swim off with them!! If they have got your hand in a jaw lock, you're in trouble!!

 

[Michael Snow]

I believe those are "welsh" catfish from over in Europe. That one looks WELL over a hundred pounds and flatheads in the US don't get WELL over a hundred pounds.

 

[Eddie Keefe]

You're right mikesnow. There is no way that those fish are from North America. I got the email a couple of days ago with someone saying that they were in the states, but that's not possible.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

What's he doin' to that poor fish anyway, is this the new breeding program?!?!



TOXIC

 

[TrepMan]

Tox - It's PETA's new HUG a Fish program!! LOL

 

[Mark Hofman]

Yes, the river rats in Missouri do go fishing like this, and I believe it's illegal. However they don't wiggle their fingers as "bait".



I can't remember what they call it here in Missouri(I'll ask my brother-in-law; he knows). The basic technique is to wade some of the shallower Ozark rivers (Big River, lower Meramec River, Osage River, etc.) and look for rootwads and deadfalls along the bank. Stick your hand down in the rootwad or deadfall and feel around for the catfish. They usually won't swim off, so you just grab them by the jaw and pull them out.



Some of the catfish below Bagnell Dam (Lake of the Ozarks) on the Osage River can get that big feeding on the shad and other fish pulled through the dam's turbines. There's NO WAY I'd go after a big catfish using that method.

 

[Michael Snow]

Also, there's NO way a flathead would let you touch it like that. You'd be pulling a fin out of your head.



Noodling or grappling is legal in TN, OK, LA, and some other state. Flatheads spend their non-eating times in "holes", usually with one way in and one way out. Therefore, anything that comes in gets bitten. The other issue is beavers, snakes, and turtles also have this tendancy to bite and like these same kind of spots.



Welsh catfish are supposed to be EXTREMELY docile. Flatheads aren't.



I've never seen a domestic catfish that big, and it would break the record for sure.

 

[Jr. Dunn]

I have seen some ugly girlfriends but............LOL

 

[Jr. Dunn]

Here is a MO river cat.

 

[James D.]

just looking at the pic it is hard to tell the weight. It definately looks like a flathead to me. From what I have read, back in the olden days while america was being settled, there were truly monster catfish in the major river systems. i believe there are still a few monsters swimmin around where conditions might be right. not trying to validate the picture or anything, but you just have to believe in monster catfish. I have seen on tv a noodling tournement which is held each year either in southern oklahoma or texas. lot's of big cats, but no two or three hundred pounders. I think the work IGFA record for flathead catfish is 98lbs. A couple yrs ago, a 51lb cat was pulled from a small city lake in chandler oklahoma by rod n reel. i definately do not have the nerve to noodle even for the small ones (have enough fun trying to get them out of my livewell after a nights fishin without getting finned).



THE MOST FEARED CATFISH ?? (taken from infisherman catfish book - titled channel catfish fever, p. 23)



S. American natives dread the infamous "candiru", a small parasitic catfish that enters the urinary tract of men or women who urinate while bathing. Once inside, the candiru erects spines to prevent removal. The effect is every bit as painful as you'd expect. If the fish is not removed before it gets to the bladder, a candiru invasion can be fatal. Surgery is usually called for, which is difficult deep in the jungle, thought there are reports that eating the fruit of a certain tree will purge a victim of the parasite.



if ever in s. america, don't go swimming.



jd