Sunday, July 24, 2022

Catfish Noodling and Jugging

If you see a chunk of pool noodle apparently moving under its own power, leave it alone.

We were out kayaking at Wind Creek State Park in Alabama when we came upon a small cove with several small chunks of pool noodle attached to small lines.  What were these?  Floats marking crab traps?  But we were in fresh water.

Suddenly, one of the noodles started moving - jerking up and down - and then it started moving toward us.  It was creepy as fuck and we paddled the hell out of there!

What was on the other end of that pool noodle?  Why did people leave those noodles out there?

Well, it took us a while to figure it out - we were out of cell service the next day.

If you google "Catfish Noodling" you get a whole other meaning of the term.  Noodling a catfish is a technique to trick the catfish to emerge from his "hole" and then grab him and haul him out of the water.  Apparently, the catfish doesn't like this and will bite you if he can.

Jug fishing or jugging is another deal, and the name comes from the iconic milk jugs which used to be used for this kind of fishing.  You attach a baited line to a milk jug, set it out, and wait for a catfish to bite on it.  If you see the jug moving, you've caught something.  You can leave these out for days at a time (depending on the jurisdiction) and come back later and pick up your fish at your leisure.

As milk jugs went by the wayside, people started using pool noodles - which created confusion as to the use of the term "catfish noodling".  The noodle chunks - about 10" long - float flat when there is nothing on the line.  When a fish is hooked, however, the noodle stands straight up, or will bob up and down, which makes it identifiable from a distance.

At about the same time, Mark saw a news story about a "Florida Man" who shot someone who was messing with his catfish jug line.  You don't mess with a man's jug line!  It is akin to messing with a lobster trap in Maine or a crab trap on the Chesapeake.  They ain't yours and the locals don't take kindly to people poaching their seafood.

I've never been much of a fried catfish aficionado myself.  They sure are ugly beasts to be sure.  While farmed catfish can have a mild taste, wild-caught catfish can have a fishy or muddy taste to it.  Of course, this is because they are bottom feeders - like shrimps, crabs, or lobsters.  Sadly, as we scoop out more and more sea life from the sea, we are working our way down the food chain further and further - we are becoming bottom-feeders as well.

But in the country, fried catfish has a long history and a rabid following.  And jugging for catfish - where legal - is a time-honored tradition.

It just is creepy to see these pool noodle things moving around and apparently following you.  But I'll take an animated pool noodle over a 10-foot gator any day.  And yes, we've seen both, at close range, while in the kayak.

Paddle faster - I hear banjo music!