Hoges
01-06-2005, 04:54 AM
The Melb Age Newspaper
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Noodlers-drag-the-catfish-in/2005/05/30/1117305557224.html
Noodlers drag the catfish in
By Patrick Barkham
London
May 31, 2005
Real fishermen come up bloody: a noodler with his prize.
First you strip to the waist and clamber into the river. Next, you bend under water and rootle blindly along the muddy riverbank with your bare hands. When you find a promising hole, you waggle your fingers so alluringly that a large catfish locks its jaws around your arm. Then you simply wrestle the 45-kilogram giant out of the water and serve it fried with cayenne pepper.
For the first time for nearly 100 years in Missouri the sport of noodling - fishing by hand for these ugly creatures - will be legalised this week.
Also known as hogging, grabbling, dogging and stumping, the practice will be allowed for a trial period of six weeks on the Mississippi and two other rivers in the state.
The ruling has been greeted with joy by Noodlers Anonymous, a campaign group set up by several hundred noodlers who claimed their illicit "ancient art" made them an oppressed minority in the state.
For conservationists, however, the legalisation of noodling threatens to accelerate the declining numbers of flathead and blue catfish.
"Cats" are a popular delicacy in the rural corners of the southern and Midwest states of America; historians record that southern American Indians used to dive down and catch the fish by hand, a tradition of fishing without hook or line taken up by rural settlers across the region.
Grabbing catfish up to 1.5 metres long and 30 years old with your bare hands has been described as the ultimate fishing thrill, an adrenaline-fuelled extreme sport.
It is thought that the name noodler is derived from southern slang for crazy fool. Some noodlers have drowned trying to grab catfish while many bear the scars of their sport, including fingers bitten off by the fish - or snapping turtles and beavers that take umbrage at being disturbed. The sport is now legal in 13 states, including Arkansas and Oklahoma, but has been banned since 1919 in Missouri, where those caught noodling have faced up to $US1000 ($A1315) fines.
The impact of noodling on catfish stocks will be monitored closely but it has not allayed conservationists' fears. They argue that the practice affects numbers particularly badly because noodlers target mature, breeding-age fish just at the time when they are retreating to natural cavities in the riverbank to nest.
By catching the female catfish or the male that guards its brood, they may kill off a whole family of young fish.
According to Mark Morgan, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri, there are 2000 noodlers in the state. Most are men from the countryside, where noodling knowledge has been passed down through the generations.
Noodlers claim there are so few fishermen and women prepared to stick their hands into the mouths of catfish that the impact of noodling on stocks will be negligible. Last week, just 21 noodlers in Missouri had purchased $US7 licences to begin legal noodling.
Howard Ramsey, 59, the president of Noodlers Anonymous, bought eight permits for his wife, son, granddaughters and himself. Welcoming the legal season as a "very positive step", he said: "If you don't come up bloody, you ain't been hand-fishing."
Sorry for the long article but thought it might have been an interesting read. Hate to tell you some of the thread titles I thought of but did'nt use. LOL
http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Noodlers-drag-the-catfish-in/2005/05/30/1117305557224.html
Noodlers drag the catfish in
By Patrick Barkham
London
May 31, 2005
Real fishermen come up bloody: a noodler with his prize.
First you strip to the waist and clamber into the river. Next, you bend under water and rootle blindly along the muddy riverbank with your bare hands. When you find a promising hole, you waggle your fingers so alluringly that a large catfish locks its jaws around your arm. Then you simply wrestle the 45-kilogram giant out of the water and serve it fried with cayenne pepper.
For the first time for nearly 100 years in Missouri the sport of noodling - fishing by hand for these ugly creatures - will be legalised this week.
Also known as hogging, grabbling, dogging and stumping, the practice will be allowed for a trial period of six weeks on the Mississippi and two other rivers in the state.
The ruling has been greeted with joy by Noodlers Anonymous, a campaign group set up by several hundred noodlers who claimed their illicit "ancient art" made them an oppressed minority in the state.
For conservationists, however, the legalisation of noodling threatens to accelerate the declining numbers of flathead and blue catfish.
"Cats" are a popular delicacy in the rural corners of the southern and Midwest states of America; historians record that southern American Indians used to dive down and catch the fish by hand, a tradition of fishing without hook or line taken up by rural settlers across the region.
Grabbing catfish up to 1.5 metres long and 30 years old with your bare hands has been described as the ultimate fishing thrill, an adrenaline-fuelled extreme sport.
It is thought that the name noodler is derived from southern slang for crazy fool. Some noodlers have drowned trying to grab catfish while many bear the scars of their sport, including fingers bitten off by the fish - or snapping turtles and beavers that take umbrage at being disturbed. The sport is now legal in 13 states, including Arkansas and Oklahoma, but has been banned since 1919 in Missouri, where those caught noodling have faced up to $US1000 ($A1315) fines.
The impact of noodling on catfish stocks will be monitored closely but it has not allayed conservationists' fears. They argue that the practice affects numbers particularly badly because noodlers target mature, breeding-age fish just at the time when they are retreating to natural cavities in the riverbank to nest.
By catching the female catfish or the male that guards its brood, they may kill off a whole family of young fish.
According to Mark Morgan, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri, there are 2000 noodlers in the state. Most are men from the countryside, where noodling knowledge has been passed down through the generations.
Noodlers claim there are so few fishermen and women prepared to stick their hands into the mouths of catfish that the impact of noodling on stocks will be negligible. Last week, just 21 noodlers in Missouri had purchased $US7 licences to begin legal noodling.
Howard Ramsey, 59, the president of Noodlers Anonymous, bought eight permits for his wife, son, granddaughters and himself. Welcoming the legal season as a "very positive step", he said: "If you don't come up bloody, you ain't been hand-fishing."
Sorry for the long article but thought it might have been an interesting read. Hate to tell you some of the thread titles I thought of but did'nt use. LOL