I haven't done this yet but I have heard pros and cons about this practice. I have heard that it can harm the population of yellows because you are going into a nest. It also seems a little dangerous. But, then again, I have to admit that it looks like fun. So I am putting this out there. What, if any, is the general consensus here about noodleing?

Keith
Fishing the way it used to be...

"Hold my beer and watch this sh@#"....

everyone that doesnt do it will say its awefull and destroying the cat population and everyone that does do it will say its great and they love it.
thats gonna be the general consensus lol
personaly i wouldnt do it but it does look kinda fun.

Yeah, the only thing stopping me is the big scar I remember on my great uncles shoulder that ran all the way up to his neck. He was in his nineties and said he got that scar when he was 10. But a lot of folks seem to know what they are doing.

We called it grappling. My grandfather taught me and my cousin when we were 13. We had a lot of fun but I have not done it in a long long time. We only did it when we were having a fish fry. It didn't seem to hurt the fish population.

Story of my life!

I'm point blank scared to noodle. I've got tiny hands and arms. I know I'd ram my fist in some place and pull my arm out with a water moccasin flailing around.

If someone could guarantee me it was a fish in a hole and not a turtle, I'd do it.

But as far as blindly feeling around looking for a fish, I ain't sticking my hands where I can't see them.

turtle? what about a gator?

Yes, its got to be crazy. What about that dude in Oklahoma who grabbed a beaver ? He said he quit noodling right there.

Not much different than working on a catfish hatchery. You spend all day every day robbing catfish nests of thier eggs. Not too bad if you are raising channel cats....a big breeder is eight or ten pounds.

BUT, if you are raising blue cats its another matter altogether...they are very protective of thier nests, and some of my breeding stock was well over 100 pounds, some over 120.

Five times I've had to go to the emergency room with blue catfish bites on workers. Once the worker was admitted and stayed three days!

Let's see ... reasons not to noodle:

1) turtles

2) snapping turtles

3) water moccasins

4) angry beavers

5) drowning

6) gators

7) alligator snapping turtles

... did I mention drowning?

One time a person released two sharks into medina lake they were caught two weeks apart. We hope we got all of them but think.

Does this mean we need to add sharks to that list???

Bull sharks are known to travel up rivers.

Just saying......

Gator doesn't scare me as much as a turtle. Every since I saw what an alligator snapping turtle Paw-Paw caught on his trotline did to my little zebco reel when I was a kid, I don't put my hands where I can't see them.

yeah snapping turtles would take what they bite but a gator will death roll you TO DEATH lol

I am also too much of a "fraidy cat" to do it. But like Richard Pryor said, 'There are a lot of brave folks who are deader than a @#$%.' It still looks like fun. But I prefer to watch someone else do it on TV. I think I will stick with my rod and reels.

Thanks Folks.

Keith