Noodling Illegal in Texas

... For Now

Noodling is a fishing technique that consists of grabbing a fish with your bare hands and tossing it up on the shore. But here in Texas we do it a bit differently. Noodling consists of shoving one’s fist into the water. Then, when a big ol’ catfish clamps its jaws around your hand, fling it out of the water.

Currently and sadly, noodling is illegal. But that may change. The Wall Street Journal spoke to expert noodler Brady Knowlton:
Nothing beats “the heebie-jeebies you get underwater, in the dark, with this little sea monster biting you,” he says. He recalls that his arm looked like “the first stage of a chili recipe” after his first noodling experience about 15 years ago. Catfish are equipped with bands of small but very abrasive teeth.
The bill swam easily through the state house, but now rod-and-reel anglers are speaking up against the proposed law, currently in the state Senate.
They say noodling is unfair to the fish, since they’re grabbed in their burrows without a chance to swim away.

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