As far as noodling goes I do not get into it myself. As far as noodling hurting Oklahoma I agree and disagree. Oklahomans are some of the worst when it comes to catch and release of blue cats. You would stroke out on the number of residents that (1) don't know the regs (2) just don't care what the regs are. I see it every weekend at waurika lake and I try to aware them of the regs and they do not care. And some might say call the gw. The people are long gone by then.

And Bryan I am the same as you I learned almost everything here on the tff and from my best friend who got me to switch from bass to cats people along with myself don't post here anymore is because things get catty here in a heart beat and the keyboard warriors come out.

Noodling becomes more and more popular--people ignore the regs.--flatheads and blues become scarce--noodling gets banned. It could eventually happen in OK.

I'll try and explain my logic. You would not bid to hunt, but bid to buy the animal that was already destined to be euthanized. The idea being that if a person wants to save the animal, they will have to overbid anybody wishing to kill it, and if they win the bid, provide for its care until it dies naturally. I say that even if a person only puts up one dollar to that end, they made a statement and have a leg to stand on when pointing the finger at the person who did put up the money for the animal and for the conservation of the species.

Otherwise, I see somebody with the typical liberal response of "somebody should do something," the government should take that person's money from them and then pay to take care of the rhino even if it is no longer viable. Yeah that's it, there needs to be an "old rhino care tax" leveed upon ALL hunters, fishermen too, so that such things can be done more tastefully. More taxes, that's the fix.

Now I did not bid on the thing either and I have some issues with the idea ("canned hunt"), but also understand the need for revenues to take care of the animals that are viable and this is a way to use what is available, an unviable old male that needs to be culled, to best effect.

you're off base and extreme in your view, so much so you make Karl Marx looked good, he has a name for you, BOURGEOISIE! Go to OT section and open a thread call ADAM SMITH Vs KARL MARX and troll there.

Personally I wouldn't noodle for the same reason I wouldn't shoot a nesting bird, legal or not, just saying. But then again people wouldn't hesitate to harvest other species during their spawning season...

It seems clear that noodling destroy the eggs or frys that the large male catfish are guarding which represents a waste of energy (females ate a lot of bait fish to produce those eggs), that is definitely a minus in ecological term.

But the larger issue is whether this waste of energy negatively affects the catfish overall population and or other fisheries.

Jimbo, you certainly called this one right.

Fishbreeder, they're not many liberals here in the catfish section. I think your criticism is s little off the mark. The majority of us catfish anglers support responsible harvest and herd management. Just none of us are niave enough to think corrupt governments selling hunts to sons of oil executive billioniares is going to do anything to promote black rhino conservation. After all, if they save too many of them the price of hunts will go down.

But this thread really isn't about the black rhino. It is about catfish and our desire to protect our trophy catfish fisheries such as Tawakoni, which is now being invaded by OK noodlers coming to big money tournaments. I realize there isn't very many noodlers in Texas, but these tournaments during breading season take their toll really quickly. 100 noodlers entered the tournament earlier this month.

I really don't expect you to understand our passion when it comes to trophy catfish, because I strongly suspect that you have never caught one before. Go book you a trip with Tom, Salsa, Jackie, or another one of the fine guides we have on the forum and they will put you on some fish and change your perspective.

That's me, a few, well maybe more than a few, years ago with a blue catfish I caught that I had spawned and raised from an egg. The strain I helped develop over 30 years ago is in widespread use on farms across the South, and a lot of the blue catfish in private ponds across Texas were either spawned and raised by me or by farms that got some or all of their breeding stock from me. I've caught a few. Probly my favorite fish of all, Ictalurus furcatus.

I'm sorry, not wishin to be critical and I did seize upon the digression and should not have. I don't know anything about the governments in Africa, obviously not even nearly as much as some here, I do know that the duck hunters on my place belong to Ducks Unlimited and do a lot of work that isn't directly related to killing ducks, in the ongoing effort to conserve ducks for the future. Then somebody says something to me about these meanies killing the poor ducks, when they could just go buy one from a farm if they want to eat duck, and its just a shame that those beautiful wild ducks have to be killed. But that same person, won't spend any time effort or money, on duck conservation. They might, however, vote for some new tax or other that would be to the benefit of ducks everywhere, needing it like they do. Maybe its different with rhinos.

Also, it does seem liberals are rarer'n hen's teeth 'round here.......

Yes, I agree that trophy fisheries of all sorts need protecting. You won't find me arguing against that. You will find a lot of folks that think trophy carp is silly and inconsistent with trophy bass.....or some similar idea. I don't discriminate between fish, al long as its a fish....

I'll also admit I had no idea of the kind of fishing pressure that might be brought to bear, like a 100 person tournament, especially if not CPR. Yes, on some water bodies, that could make a big impact on the available trophies in the lake to be caught.

I mighty not be passionate enough, but I've spent a lot of sleepless nights with a big gizzard shad on the end of a line. I even decided I might have to dedicate a large portion of my life to finding then working to breed and improve, blue catfish strains for the sole purpose of catching them on hook and line.

Especially in East Texas, but also in Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Mississippi, Alabama, as far away as Wisconsin, if you've caught a blue catfish in one of those states, you may just have caught one that came from a hatchery I managed at one time or another.

My biggest egg mass weighed in at almost 30 pounds and hatched out 504,000 blue catfish. The male that tended that nest weighed over 130 pounds. By comparison, even a large channel catfish egg mass will weigh in around 2 or 3 pounds and have 7 or 8 thousand eggs in it.

If the male is taken from the egg mass prematurely (he actually needs to stay around awhile post hatch) yes, even if by a noodle, and is not returned in the vicinity fairly quickly, the eggs in the mass will either be quickly eaten by other fish, or slowly suffocate from lack of moving water (male fanning nest).

I'm rethinking my previous statement about noodling.....perhaps if it came with some special limits.

'Class of '80

Huh? So if I make a lot of money and spend it on what I want, I'm a communist? And the idea that a resource should be utilized to its best effect, is also something other than a conservative value?

Look, all you gotta do is tell me to go away and I will. Sorry to intrude. I really do like catfish, but if all I can do is make folks angry with me I need to go elsewhere.

fishbreeder ... noodling was only past into law this last year or two ... how could it possibly make in impact in such a short while... when your lakes are depleted of fish like the oklahoma lakes you'll then see what everyone is talking about... it's already started and soon tawakoni will be like Keystone ... fished out and it won't take that long with such liberal limits down there on top of the added pressure from noodling your flathead population will eventually suffer. Used to a small lake called carl blackwell was well known for it's massive flatheads that could be caught there ... One family noodled it for years and now all you can find there are average 8 lb fish with the occasional mature fish being caught. Lake El Reno was the location of where a former state record flathead came from until just a few short years later ... you can't even catch flathead there any more. People try but eventually quit trying because they're just not in there any more. I predict that in less than 5 years tawakoni will be just another small fish fishery if harvest continue like they are. Lots of outsiders coming down to take advantage of the healthy population and then you'll have to wait and see if it can bounce back ... keystone has bounced back a little bit from 2010 but still the biggest fish you can find in there is mostly less than 20 lbs with an average at around 4 to 5 lbs. in 2010 I did my last trips there on keystone and went all over the lake and could find nothing bigger than 5 lb fish and only caught between 6 to 10 small ones per trip. If the fish are in the lake I can see them and they just wasn't there ... anywhere! My last few trips there this year I've found some nicer fish but nothing over 20 lbs. So, it's bounced back some but still nothing like it was in the mid to early 90's and hardly any of the flathead I found in there was over 20 lbs ... it takes years for the demise of a good fishery but when there's so many ways to exploit a species and lots of outsiders find out about a lake that's not been decimated like tawakoni it won't take long and you'll lose a valuable resource ... no other fish species has so many ways to exploit them and add noodling to that and most noodlers wont pay any attention to the laws or practice any cpr at all. They'll harvest all species including bluecat even if it's not legal. They pull a 40 lb blue off a nest of eggs and it's going on the stringer. They might get caught but then it's going to be hard to catch them breaking the laws... if noodling was illegal then it's easier to catch them and it'll prevent a lot of folks from chancing it. When you see the fishery destroyed then you'll understand how folks could feel this way. You may have to see it first though... I"ve seen it happen.

Trotlines, jug line/Noodle floats, and Hand fishing are frowned upon by some people. Pretty soon for some people the only acceptable way to fish for cats will be a max 6 ft cane pole with 4 lb line, no reel device of any kind and a 2 fish limit not to exceed 1 lb. Be careful what you wish for.
In my own opinion, look what bass fishin slot regulations have done. Ruined some lakes IMO. Can't even go to the lake on the weekend for fear of getting run over by smart azz guys in high powered bass boats. Who in hell told them guys they owned the lake? I know of one little lake that is unfishable for two to three days after a weekend bass fishing clusterfuk.
I guess some of us will always agree to disagree in some fashion.

A lot of truth in what you write.

I think you are understanding us now Fishbreeder. It is all about timing. Noodlers are taking the fish off the nest at a time when they wouldn't bite a hook. In Texas noodling blue catfish is legal, and the limit is 25. If 25 big blues are pulled off their nests in a single day by a single individual... Then you can see the impact.

25 big blues in one day hand-fishing? smh... the ignorance is strong with this one.

Very well said Olen. Some people will always hate it tho...