Quoted: Urban legend. Here in TN there's a guy who goes catfish fishing/hunting & does it barehanded. He just reaches into their little water hole & pulls them out. A) He has more balls than I ever would. B) The first time he latches onto a snapping turtle, he may change his method.

You never went noodling?  Damn boy!  What kind of Tennessean are you?  

Catfish have spines on their dorsal fins.  (as do most fish) Always slide hand from front to rear as you pick them up, or just grab by mouth.  As for the pain, it is like a splinter.  The bigger and deeper it goes, the more it hurts.  

Catfish also purr.  Hold freas caught catfish in both hands facing away and upright.  With forward hand apply pressure to underside of catfish at the base of the gill area.  This will cause air to be forced out of the swim bladder and the catfish will purr.

Quoted: Yall have not lived until you have gone noodling...

Not just no....But HELL NO!




I like my hands/fingers where they are...as in attached to my body.



BC

"Hardhead" Saltwater Catfish have the sharp dorsal fin spine that will get your attention.  They get infected easily unless you clean it out well and quickly.

That will not buff out.

Quoted: Quoted: Yall have not lived until you have gone noodling... Not just no....But HELL NO! www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/Caresheetpics/cs-alisnapper.jpg I like my hands/fingers where they are...as in attached to my body. BC

Heck, they aint nothing, whats real fun, is runnning your hands up in a brush pile, and find yourself petting a beaver, not the kind of beaver that our 2 legged human females have either...

A lot of natures creatures have all kinds of Nasty suprises, it's called evolution. All Spines are meant to screw with you for a reason! Ask any dog who screwed with a Porcupine. I have catfish in my Aquarium and they Do have "spikes". Some even have one under the gill that they can "whip out" to stab enemies with. Also here is a well known fact, ever hear of horseshoe crabs? They are buttugly and got a spine tail? Well there was this kid who was in shallow water in a raft and he fell out backwards and landed on a horseshoe crab spine when it was sticking up and got impaled, happened right here on long island.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Yall have not lived until you have gone noodling... Not just no....But HELL NO! www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/Caresheetpics/cs-alisnapper.jpg I like my hands/fingers where they are...as in attached to my body. BC Heck, they aint nothing, whats real fun, is runnning your hands up in a brush pile, and find yourself petting a beaver, not the kind of beaver that our 2 legged human females have either...

I met a cottonmouth climbing out of a deerstand when I was 9.  Stepped on a stingray fishin' for snapper.  Lost a bit of fin to a baracuda diving aroudn the rigs off Galveston.


These days I tend to like nature where I can see it.....behind glass.


BC

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: the saltwater cats do. seriously!! Yes Sir! Salt water cats are some nasty basturds, I was taking the hook out of ones mouth, it started flopping, and slipped out of my hands. I was  barefooted, and the fin stuck in the top of my foot, all the way to the bone, it hurt as bad as any pain I have ever had, I soaked my foot in ice water, salt water, and anything else I could think of. Nothing would stop the pain. I was on vacation for a week, and my foot started to feel better, but the first shift back at the FD, it started swelling real bad again. I called my doctor, and he told me to go to the ER, they gave me some mean antibiotics. They said  the bacteria in the fins is some bad shit, and if the infection didn't get better within a few days, they would have to think about amputation! It got better. I could not believe that a fish fin might result in losing my foot. +1 again on those GD salt water cats. Hard heads are the devil!  I've never been gaffed by one but when I was about 7 or 8 me and my dad were fishing at the Sabine Jetties and he got stuck by a hard head and it was exactly as you describe.   I always was told it was some sort of venom, but either way it was a bad deal.  My dad fished salt water for 25 years prior and never got stuck until then. After that we rigged up a little "tool" to pull the hook from a hard head to avoid it. Man that was years ago and never thought about it until now.       As bad as that virus you can catch from crabbing. I think if you stuck by them or pinched they have some sort of bad ass virus. I've never personally known anyone that caught it, but an officer at work caught it and was in the hospital for a while. What is the crab virus you are talking about? I go crabbing every now and then, but I haven't heard of it, and if it is close to the CF fin, I don't want  to find out the hard way, I've been pinched, and stuck by crabs, with no problems so far. Also there was a story in the paper awhile back, where a kid was on a innertube getting pulled, he felt somthing hit his ankle, his mom checked him when they got to shore, and thought it was a bee sting, later in the day, he got really sick, they took him to the doctor, and the doc gave him somthing for it, but pretty much dismissed it, he got even sicker, went to the ER, and had a 3/4" fish fin  stuck well under the skin, and the bacteria was killing the kid.  He got better after it was removed, and  a lot of antibiotics. He had hit a dead rotting fish, and hit it so fast, he didn't realise a fin had broken off in his ankle. He ended up being lucky. I have been innertubing several times, and never even thought about somthing like that happening.

I'll see if I can google it and find something. It might be just some sort of bacteria infection. I've crabbed everytime we go fishing and never heard about it until a couple years ago when the coworker got sick. From what I remember they said you can get it if cut yourself on the shell or get pinched hard enough to break skin.   I'll see what I can't find on it though.

ETA:  The only thing I could find was this: Blood
poisoning from claw pinch    Not a virus but nonetheless deadly.

I grab them with my bare hands, it's easy.   You just have to reach up from behind and grap around the spines.  Just don't try and grab the lip like you would a bass!   I learned that the hard way.  They do "sting", I got it in the thigh once and it hurt like hell.  By sting I just mean you get stabbed by their spine.  There's nothing special about it except for the fact that it hurts.  

I've got a 12-13" catfish in my aquarium right now that I "captured".  

Just reach inside the mouth and grab the noodle (like a tongue), the fish will bite down (it don't hurt........much) and then whip it out of the water.  

Quoted: After you get stuck with a catfish spine, turn the fish over and rub his belly on the wound. Instant relief. AB

I heard that, after I got stuck, but everyone says I heard this from so and so, I never heard anyone with first hand knowledge of it, but if I ever get stuck again, I will try it, at that point there isn't much I wouldn't try.......... Maniac, keep us posted, I've been wounded by a bunch of crabs, without problem, and never been to careful with them. I may have to keep some good gloves in the boat from now on. I'm like you, if I'm out fishing, and will be out awhile, or in the same spot in a day or two, I will put a trap out, and leave it. Some of the funnest times I had as a kid were crabbing with my Dad and Uncle. I've tried to teach my cousin's kids how to go crabbing, but they aren't patient enough, and pull the traps constantly, maybe when they are a little older I'll will try again.

I have known a few noodlers and seen some videos. I know it sounds crazy but I think I might just have to try it someday.
What the hell, I have done crazier stuff before, wtf......

Quoted: I have known a few noodlers and seen some videos. I know it sounds crazy but I think I might just have to try it someday. What the hell, I have done crazier stuff before, wtf......

Try it at least once....if this fat bald guy can get in there an ddo it, any one can...