noodle

v. to hunt bare-handed in water for fish or turtles. Subjects: English, United States, Sports & Recreation

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Citations: 1916 Fort Wayne Daily News (Ind.) (Aug. 18) “‘Noodling’ is the Newest Way to Fish” (in Kansas City, Mo.) p. 21: “Noodling” is only possible in rocky streams, where ledges project into the water. 1938 Progress-Review (La Porte City, Iowa) (Sept. 8) “Noodling” p. 6: Down in Kansas they have “noodlers.”…Iowa also agrees that “noodling” is the lowest and most despicable method of fishing. It is prevalent in all parts of the state, particularly during the catfish spawning season. 1968 Hank Kozloski News Journal (Mansfield, Ohio) (Jan. 14) “Ohio Scene: There’s More Hunting” p. 8: For the fishermen, they can whet their fishing appetites watching Frank Davis and son, Jon, catching large catfish and noodling for turtles. 1982 Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) (May 11) “Warnings Issued After 3 State Fishermen Drown”: Sheriff Thomas Johnstone said Hargraves was noodling (attempting to catch fish bare-handed) when he apparently stepped into a deep hole in Salt Fork River. 2004 Patrick Joseph Kansas City Star (Mo.-Kan.) (Aug. 1) “Some fishermen think outside the tackle box”: If blasting away at fish strikes some as crude, it’s nothing next to noodling. Variously known as hand grabbing, hogging, grabbling, stumping and dogging (depending on what part of the country you’re in), noodling, as they call it in Texas and Oklahoma, does away with all artifice—rod, reel, line and hook—and uses only the bare hand instead. For bait, there is nothing but the noodler’s own fingers, which are wagged enticingly in front of promising catfish holes. 2004 Scott Charton @ Columbia, Mo. Boston.com (Dec. 28) “Missouri approves fishing with bare hands”: Known variously as noodling or hogging, handfishing has long been a misdemeanor punishable by fines, because state officials fear it depletes breeding-age catfish.

Posted 6 Aug 04 | Permalink | Tell a Friend