I like the fear factor of it it is a rush.

Man bet I'd go undewater under some tree roots and pull out a:

but you gotta admit my statement is right on ... BTW what is my position?

you would have to be half crazy to try that in my neck of the woods. thinking of the gators, cottonmouths, snapping turtles. bet it wouldn't take too long to find another way to fish after grabbing one of them.

+1 no noodling for I

Don't think you'd like my answer, so I'd better not say.

For the people that are against noodling, could you tell us your thoughts on why your against it?

Being scared to do it shouldn't be the reason to vote no.

Why "No" to Noodling?
By the way it is illegal to noodle in Missouri!

The same idiots from Austin that brought us bow fishing catfish.
From a state that tried it and stopped it because it was taking too many big cats during the spawn!

A nice article to read!

http://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/regulations/sport-fish-regulations/why-no-noodling

how do you bowfish a spawning fish aren't they all in their nest?

per the article "Catfish are very vulnerable during the nesting season (June � August) because they lay their eggs in natural cavities and then do not leave the nest"

Per article "Catfish on the nest are not vulnerable to being caught by traditional sport-angling methods."

so no one catches yellows or blues during the spawn on rod and reels or lines

if I�m reading the article right, noodlers only target 25% of the catfish population. and they are 60% successful? so if everyone went out noodling and everyone kept everything they caught it would wipe out 60% of 25% so 15% of the catfish population. I would think that rod and reel catch more than that.


If it�s all about wiping out the population just change the bag & size limit for noodlers�

heck....why don't we just make cocaine and street racing legal! i mean, it is not fair to the people that enjoy those things and after all, only a few innocent people die every year at the hands of those that do them............ I do not understand why things can't be left alone when the system in place works. just my .02

+1 Keith. If it aint broke don't fix it!!!!

My opinion is that if we are gonna classify catfish as game fish then they need to be treated the same as all other game fish. If not, classify them as rough fish and be done with it.

I'm against it, I've seen what can be done with my own eyes. When they are spawning, as said above:"Catfish on the nest are NOT vulnerable to being caught by traditional sport-angling methods." I read that as: rod and reels, set lines or baited lines whatever you want to call it. Noodling on the other hand takes advantage of this and cats are very vulnerable. Noodling targets the larger fish and on the river that would be the large yellows predominantly.
I know people that noodled and/or red ragged spawning yellows and they could literally take all the big yellows out of a 'hole' in the river. A hole is a deep area with shallows above and below it on a river. It's too damn easy to clean it out after a few "noodlin" trips. You could catch eaters, but large yellows were all but gone and the little yellows numbers declined in the following years.
Our government needs to concentrate on other issues. Sometimes I think they do [censored] like this to throw us off.
Secure the borders, balance the budget and stop wasting our money.....let TPWD handle the game situations.

I have been noodling for years up here in Oklahoma. With all the shows on TV and guides doing it now we have a lot more people doing it. I pretty much catch and release anymore but didnt used to. you can catch more big flatheads noodling in a couple weekends then the rest of the year. Only thing that is worse IMHO is snag lines & nets. It is fun. The Oklahoma wildlife has said the only reason it hasn't hurt our Flathead population is there just werent that many people doing it, hey its your state but Willow is right I have seen it & done it

The officials in Missouri also stated that there situation was unique in that many of the rivers there have had their beds smoothed out to be flat and shallow not by natural means but by man. They say that this makes there flathead habitat uniquely sensitive and that there study should not be applied elsewhere. Also, the study was extremely small and only 180 or so anglers were involved. Not a strong sample group by scientific standards.