NOODLING—CATCHING CATFISH WITH YOUR BARE HANDS.

NOODLING—CATCHING CATFISH WITH YOUR BARE HANDS. Noodling is the sport of catching catfish with your bare hands—or bare hand because one technique is to thrust one hand into the fish’s mouth and grasp a bone inside the fish. Ana Campoy wrote an article about the sport in the Wall Street Journal (May 16). The sport takes some courage. Catfish have lots of “small but very abrasive teeth.” The catfish can weigh 60 pounds or more (the article has a picture of a noodler with a catfish that is almost as big as he is.) It is important that the noodler control the catfish by wrapping his legs around its tail.

Although hand fishing is legal in 17 states, it has been illegal in Texas. A bill legalizing hand fishing is now on the desk of the governor of Texas for signature.