Do you know what noodling is? Hillbilly hand fishing?

Pat, the guy that works with Troy, has been doing it for years. Troy, adventurous guy that he is, is fascinated with the sport. He has been able to go with Pat a few times over the past couple years in lakes and rivers in the area. He went again this weekend. This weekend was the first time Troy "got bit"!

Noodling is catching fish with your hands. Usually it's Flathead Catfish. Big ones too, like 40 lbs or larger sometimes. The males are protecting eggs on a nest in a hole somewhere, under a rock by the bank or in some kind of structure there or under a boat dock, for example. It can be in shallow water, or sometimes the guys have to dive under water to get to it. That's what Troy had to do yesterday.

Anyway, the fish is protecting the nest so he will be very aggressive and bite whatever tries to come into the hole. Troy reached in, his hand got bit, he grabbed the fish (about a 25 lb. fish) and pulled him through the tight hole. He had to sort of wrestle with the fish, so one of his fingers got pulled and twisted and his hand got pretty beat up. In the end, he wasn't able to hang onto the fish. But he was very excited to have gotten so close.

I went back with him today to the spot where it "almost happened", so he could try again. But, we got an awful lot of rain yesterday (oh, yeah, they went noodling in the rain!) and the area rivers are quite swollen. Too swollen to give it a try today, unfortunately.

This story is to be continued, as he will not rest until he has gotten one!

That's me and Troy, in front of the water falls.