The 12th Annual Okie Noodling Competition or also known as catfish fishing with the bare hands in Pauls Valley Oklahoma had this saying, “If You Ain’t Bleeding, You Ain’t Leading.” This is because noodling, usually ends in bleeding. This is because catfish are living creatures, too. They also have that survival impulse so that when they feel they’re in peril, they bolt or fight if they need to.
Furthermore, when you go catfish fishing with your bare hands, you must put your hands in small underwater caves and corals. So there has to be some gash involved especially when you get hold of that excellent catfish and it attempts to shake from your grasp.
Plus, catfish fishing these days can’t be done in hooks and rods because have you noticed the size of these things? Typically, the catfish are even bigger than a child. It’s great. But the largest catfish recorded is a nine-meter long catfish caught in the Mekong River in Thailand.
The larger catfish are mainly found in rivers. In ponds, you’ll find smaller catfish that we capture through poles. Crawdads or crawfish are said to be the best lures of catfish fishing because these are the supper of catfish. Catfish are baited more during spring until late autumn when crawfish are aplenty and the source of nutrients for catfish. Remove the shell of the crawfish to be positioned on the hook.
When there aren’t any crawfish available, shrimp are fine. Just dice it up in some pieces. One shrimp can be four baits in catfish fishing. Other bait suggestions are the white-meat fish like shad and mackerel.
The largest recorded catfish caught by rod and reel was 55 pounds but the secretive James Eric Auston Jr.’s of Florida declined to expose where he was catfish fishing when he caught the flathead catfish.
Auston said, “A man’s fishing hole is sacred.” It may sound dirty but he just meant that he will not tell anybody else where in the Yellow River of Florida he caught that large fish. He probably would like to return for another record. Another thing Auston didn’t want to do, eat the fish.
But there are lots of others who would want to dig into a 55-pound catfish. For a fish that large, it’s ideal when it’s grilled to feed the entire family and some close friends. Just thoroughly clean the fish, cut up the stomach and put in ginger, garlic, and onions to remove the smell. When it’s cooked, coat both sides with butter, squeeze over a little bit of lemon, and enjoy.