True Films 3.0 - Kevin Kelly

Okie Noodling
You simply have to see this one to believe it. A weekend fisherman in
Oklahoma crawls along the bottom of a creek, head submerged under
the muddy water, wiggling his fingers in dark holes and crevices. When
a huge catfish hiding in the muck swallows his hand, the man yanks the
60 pound beast up out of the water, suckered to his fist. It’s call noodling
and your average Okie redneck thinks this stupidity gives rednecks a bad
name. The noodlers think its the only fair way to fish. The filmmakers
decide to hold the first national Noodling Contest for cash, which brings
to light more noodlers than anyone knew were alive. After a while, sticking
your hand into a dark underwater hole to let a monstrous fish bite it
seems like a perfectly reasonable way to fish.
By Bradley Beesley
2001, 57 min.
Available from Amazon
and from
okienoodling.com
The haul after one noodling
expedition (left). The small
sandpaper teeth of a big catfish
can cut up your hand as you
struggle with it.
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