Would you go noodlin for a fish this size?
Although the concept is simple enough – catching fish with only the use of your hands – the process of noodling is more complicated. The choice of catfish as the prey is not arbitrary, but comes from the circumstances of their habitat. Flathead catfish live in holes or under brush in rivers and lakes and thus are easy to capture due to the static nature of their dwelling. To begin, a noodler goes underwater to depths ranging from only a few feet to up to twenty feet. Placing his hand inside a discovered catfish hole, a noodler uses his arm as bait to entice the fish. If all goes as planned, the catfish will swim forward and latch onto the fisherman's hand and arm. If the fish is particularly large, the noodler can hook his fingers around its gills.
From here, most noodlers have spotters who help them bring the catfish in, either to shore or to their boat. The first order of business after catching a catfish is to get it unstuck. When a catfish bites onto a noodler it holds on for quite a while, believing it has caught some food. With gills and teeth scraping and cutting into the fisherman's skin, the spotters help to secure the fish by other means, and then proceed to ease the catfish's grip off of the noodler's arm.
With some of the biggest fish caught weighing in at up to 50-60 pounds, very few noodlers are strong enough (or brave enough) to attempt noodling by themselves. Although carrying the fish after they have been subdued is not difficult, trying to secure a fish and remove it from one's arm at the same time can be a challenge.
Source from Wikipeda
