Anyone Know how to Noodle?

Originally posted by JayinAR
reply to post by sheepslayer247

 

I think it actually depends on the time of the year. I was watching River Monsters the other day and dude went noodling with a couple of kids in Kentucky or Oklahoma and they pulled 3 50 pounders out of four foot of water in a river. Small river too. I was amazed. Flatheads.

River is completely different.

Then you have to look out for water levels and the best spots are bends in the river.

Also, catfish are commonly mistaken as bottom dwellers. They actually feed all over the water table. I've caught channel cat on spinner baits before. Almost on the top of the water. And unlike bass, they don't really have an "on" time. They will eat anything, any time.

reply to post by JayinAR


They will eat almost anything and do travel around different depths, but you will rarely catch one with a jig. They are almost blind...so they hunt by smell.

Thats why chicken liver works so well.

Also, they do not "bite" per se, they like to suck it into their mouth and hold onto it while resting on the bottom.

adventure.howstuffworks.com...

I found this article. It paints a pretty nasty picture of things that could potentially go wrong while noodling. I actually didn't realize that snakes nest up under water. I always assumed their nests would be hidden above water. I am not worried about beavers or muskrats. They are managable. Sticking your hand in a mocassin's nest however would be disasterous. A potential noodler would be smart to educate himself on the difference between a snake hole and a catfish hole, if there is one.

reply to post by JayinAR




That's why I let them come to me! The worst thing you can come across is not really snakes or beavers....the worst is thin tree roots in the banks that provide a nice hiding spot to dig a hole.

Get caught up or confused in muddy water and the next thing you know you are drowning.....lost a friend that way. He was only swimming.

reply to post by sheepslayer247


Yeah, one of the many reasons I do not intend to noodle in a river. Lakes are the way to go.

reply to post by JayinAR

Well good luck, Jay. If you want a challenge, you got it. I'll stick to the banks and lure them in with my goodies.

Thanks.

I think the reward will be worth the risk. All the fun stuff in life comes with risk it seems.

Heck, earlier I was watching that show Off the Hook (excellent show, btw) and that dude went out to Hawaii to do some extreme fishing. He free dove for octopus which was cool. But the real shocker was when he and some other dude went to a rocky shore line as the tide was coming in looking for a certain type of mollusk or something that attaches itself to the rocks. It looked insanely dangerous. They were getting pounded by the waves straight into jagged rock. Ouch.
But again, risk vs reward. That would be fun too. If you didn't, you know, die.

... Expecting Jay's next post in a week from now to look like this:

ey gus ! y oodlin wasn too successfu !



(he returns to ATS missing his right index, middle finger, and thumb... can't type properly anymore)

reply to post by CranialSponge


What you talkin' about? I type like that already.

I will be so pissed if I lose multiple fingers.
I'd have to re learn how to play pool.

I'm not sure if it is legal where you are but there is a way to cheat a bit as a beginner until you learn some holes are at. You can fashion a 12/0 hook and a red rag on the end of a 4' stick and use that to find your holes.

reply to post by deadeyedick


How does that help? I guess the catfish attacks the stick? Smart. Legal? Psssh. Fishing with TNT is "illegal" too.

Personally, I prefer catfishin' with my "Big Bertha" and some freshly cut up Goldeye... that's what the cat's feed off of up here, so they can smell a freshly cut up one from a mile away. Catch a bunch of Goldeye, chop em up, and get ready to fight the 30-pounders all day !

... But if you want the adrenaline rush of loosing a finger or two or five... all the power to ya, friend !

reply to post by JayinAR


Some people get so lazy that they just walk up to a known hole and use the stick without ever getting wet. One thing i would recommend if you are alone is an emergency can of air. They last five or ten minutes and are fairly cheap. Just remember before you go in just check the area and you can feel trails in the mud and the hole will be clean. if you find a hole without signs then it may be abandoned and full of snakes and if a beaver is in the area you will see chewed sticks on the bank above him.

reply to post by CranialSponge


Yeah, under normal circumstances I use a chicken blood and shrimp stink bait concoction. I have also used cheese filled hotdogs (try it. The cats LOVE it).

Catching them isn't a problem when using bait. I also like jug fishin' and limb lines. I just think it would be super cool to learn to use your hands. Catching ANY fish bare handed is quite a feet.

The most insane fishing I have ever seen are those crazy arse free divers who noodle for grouper. Idiots have to wear a steel mesh glove.

It is not unlike offering a shark your flippin' arm as bait.

Then you gotta pull that beast back to the surface. Some of the best grouper noodlers will dive 70' on a single breath and swim back up with a fish that weighs more than they do.

IN SANE

reply to post by deadeyedick


Ok. Thanks a lot, man!
Seriously good info there.

reply to post by deadeyedick


So I take it you probably don't use gloves or water socks? Because either of those are gonna soften your sensibility of touch.

I guess a person could just use a mask and LOOK at the hole.

reply to post by JayinAR

I have also used cheese filled hotdogs (try it. The cats LOVE it).

Funny that !

My daughter caught her Master Pickerel using a taco-flavoured taco chip and a piece of chewing gum to keep it on when she was 10 years old and we were ice fishing on the Red River.

Damn pickerel nibbled at me first, but I failed to hook him, and then he went straight for my daughter's damn taco chip in the next hole !

Missed out on my master that day... *sigh*

Well, at least my kiddo has the pride of looking at her stuffed Walleye hanging over the fireplace mantel.



... but I'm still pissed about that one.

reply to post by CranialSponge


Ice fishing is something else I wanna do! I mean, I have done it here in Arkansas (hunting walleye no less) but it isnt the same. Haha
I went out not expecting the river to be frozen over. So I busted a hole in the ice with a flippin' rock and dropped my worm in.

Didn't do a damn bit of good, and I knew it wouldn't, but that's how much I like to fish. I had planned to go fishing that day for two Weeks and wasn't no ice on the water gonna stop me.

ETA: that's pretty danged inventive... A chip... Hmm. I bet bass would eat chips too. I am gonna have to remember that one. Most predatory fish love salty bait. A chip fits the bill. One neat trick for bass is to cut a slit in your soft plastic lures and pour plain old table salt into it. Bass come to it like a catfish to stink bait.