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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:06:42 PM EDT
[#1]
They have spines on the tip of their fins, and on young fish they are needle sharp
It is not a sting like venom from a wasp, but it hurts like hell. I "think" it is the slime on their skin that makes it so painful. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:06:47 PM EDT
[#2]
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. 
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:10:06 PM EDT
[#3]
I bet the guy that catches them barehanded doesn't think the tips of their fins are "urban legends" 
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:13:59 PM EDT
[#4]
the saltwater cats do. seriously!!
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:14:38 PM EDT
[#5]
No it is not an urban legend... it hurts like a bitch and I am speaking from experience. There are people that hand fish for catfish… big catfish. I knew a guy once that actually reached under the bank and in to their mouth and pulled them out… which struck me as foolhardy considering a big catfish could easily crush your hand with the strength they have in their mouths. He said there was a certain spot inside the mouth that if you grabbed it right immobilized the fish. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:16:16 PM EDT
[#6]
The method is called "noodleing" Saw it on Dirty Jobs on the discovery channel. The good ole' boys doing that made Larry the Cable Guy seem sophisticated. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:17:11 PM EDT
[#7]
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:19:38 PM EDT
[#8]
I have no idea why but getting poked by a catfish fin is one of the most painfull things in this world, the instant dull ache, throbbing and swelling. I've been hit more than few times over the years, mainly in the thumb and palm. Saltwater cats seem to cause more pain than freshwater IMO. I immediately take my pair of tin snips and clip the fins off when I catch one now.
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:19:59 PM EDT
[#9]
nothing in the whiskers but definately poison in the top fin
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:20:42 PM EDT
[#10]
Spines hurt like hell.Worse I ever had was from a 4" channel cat : spine broke off under my thumb nail.I got it all out,but MAJOR,PAINFUL infection followed.
Little old madtoms/stonecats actually have a poison that'll light you up but good. BS on the "crushing" mouths.I've handled 40+ lb blue cats that way. Some good "noodlin'" videos out there.Wade Bourne had a show some yeras back.One of the guys was underwater a LONG time.Pops up struggling.They haul him back into the boat.Has one big cat through the gill and out the mouth up on his bicep,and a bigger one on his forearm!Maybe 80 lbs total.That's one bad MOFO! (Bourne declined the offer) |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:22:02 PM EDT
[#11]
It strikes me as a very foolish practice. I stuck my finger in a 4 pound catfishes mouth once and the fish clamped down… it felt like my finger wan in a vice, I could not get it off the guy with me had to use a screw driver to pry the fishes mouth open. My finger looked just like I had hit it hard with a hammer… black and blue and hurt like hell for days. I cannot imagine what a 20+ pound catfish could do. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:28:44 PM EDT
[#12]
Oh really… you are aware that catfish eat freshwater mussels… they crush the shells in their mouths. A catfish mouth has tremendous power. The cushing mouth is fact and my finger taught me all I needed to know better than to put my finger or hand in a catfishs mouth. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:31:33 PM EDT
[#13]
man, you armchair warriors need to get out a bit and visit southern mississippi.
find a bar with pickups out front. go inside, buy everyone a beer, and start talking about fishing. bring your camera and have fun. big secret: they're americans too. they might show you something you've never even dreamed of, right in their own back yard... most of those guys know the backwoods like you know your own room. drunk or sober, they're by and large, the real environmentalists. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:42:12 PM EDT
[#14]
Absolutely. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:47:07 PM EDT
[#15]
Yes, the saltwater cats around here in FL come out of the water with those fins sticking out nice and rigid. You can slowly work your hand down from their head, pushing the fins down slowly. However, they are slimy, and when they start shaking around, they can and do stick you with them. Hurts too... I use a cheap pair of pliers to hold them by the roof of the mouth while getting the hook out...
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:52:23 PM EDT
[#16]
No, it is definately not a myth.
On the bigger cats I hold em down with my boot while I remove the hook, only took one sting to learn my lesson. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:52:41 PM EDT
[#17]
The pain and infection from the spine sticks is probably due to the slime and crude on the spines. I dont remember them having any glands or venom.
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:56:54 PM EDT
[#18]
Correct.Mostly.Now look up madtoms/stonecats. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 12:58:30 PM EDT
[#19]
SW catfish will put a real hurt'n on you if you're not careful! not to mention the wound usually gets infected.
I kill everyone I catch before trying to unhook it, it's just not worth it, even with pliers. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 1:03:47 PM EDT
[#20]
I've always believed that too. The pectoral fins (sides) and dorsal fin (top) of younger fish all have spines in the front that are used as <partial> protection from being eaten. The push them straight out when threatened, which makes them as large as possible and fairly formidable. They are best grabbed from the bottom, which mostly avoids the erect fins. The only time I've been spined I was carrying a smallish one (about 14" long) and it give a good flip and managed to drive one of the dorsal spines into the web between my thumb and forefinger. It went in about a half inch and when I tried to throw it down it stuck there, as the spines have a slight row of backward pointing "teeth." I pulled it out and was overcome with an aching agony that went all the way up my arm and into my shoulder. It was overwhelming and the only way I finally got a bit of relief was by plunging my arm into the cold water of the pond. After maybe fifteen minutes it subsided and then just hurt a little like any other puncture wound. No infection followed and it ended up being NBD, but I have been more careful since. Once they reach 6-8 lbs. the spines become blunt and are no longer used/needed due to the fish's size. In my area they call the hand fishing "hogging" them. The idea is to plunge your arm as far as possible into the fish's mouth--hopefully out the gill opening so you can grab it by the gill cover. They do NOT bite hard when you do this. Those that think they have such strong jaws probably think crawdads hurt too.   Edit to get my fin names right.  |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 1:18:01 PM EDT
[#21]
Yall have not lived until you have gone noodling...
Nothing like getting in the river near a brush pile or lots of rocks, and feeling along that dark murky water for a fish. Heck you can ease up on them big ole cats just a laying there waiting for dinner to swim to them and pet them damn fish.....just take your hand and run it along that cats body and then on up to its head and get your fingers near it smouth and that cat will open up and stick your hand in there and grab hold of whatever you can and DONT LET GO. Also dont forget to take a big breath of air, you may need it. Then the fight is on as ole Mr Whiskers is thrashing around and you there trying to drag him out of his hole, and before you know it, you landed you your first flathead, ya your hands may be a little tore up, and the rest of you may be scraped up for the rocks and brush and such, but hey, it is worth it, later on as you are chowing down os some fried catfish, hush puppies, fries and cold cold beer.... 
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Posted: 3/4/2006 1:26:07 PM EDT
[#22]
venom for real..
i have an uncle that had to carry a epipen set when goes after cats. he has anaphalatic reactions to when he gets finned. we fish mainly for bass and crappie. but chase channels and blues a few times a year. i noodle..(very carefully)...as well as trotline and reel fish. we jug fish as well. my crazy assed granpa..a WWII and KOrean ( KO rea, as he says it) once pulled in a 78lb flathead into our boat from a jug line when i when i was 10-11. that cat looked bigger than me. man, i tell ya.. we have alot of city slickers on this board..i mean..they like guns..but have never fished or hunted.. i never would have "thunk" it.. my biggest fish noodling is around 38-40 lbs..and i'm not ashamed to tell you i really dont want to tangle with one larger than 30. my biggest with a rod and reel is straight up at 38lbs. but there are a ton of larger blue cats.. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 1:40:37 PM EDT
[#23]
I used to cut their fins off before I put them in the cooler, it is not venom. The fins are not hollow all the way to the tip. They do not inject you with anything like a bee or wasp. The poison and in turn pain, comes from contact with that slime with a wound. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 1:51:33 PM EDT
[#24]
I was the San Diego, Calif Wild Animal Pk, and they have a small man-made lake. Inside the lake there is cat fish hatched from eggs that birds dropped in. According to one of the long time workers there, she saw a cat fish attack and eat a duck that was swimmnig on the surface. 
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Posted: 3/4/2006 1:56:27 PM EDT
[#25]
Yes; you'll never get that smell to wash out.
(Sorry, couldn't resist) |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 1:59:18 PM EDT
[#26]
I'd bet it was a snapping turtle. Birds don't drop catfish. That's a wive's tale. 
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Posted: 3/4/2006 2:03:33 PM EDT
[#27]
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Posted: 3/4/2006 2:03:44 PM EDT
[#28]
Sorry, I mis-type it, I meant to say fish eggs. People can't fish in the pond, so the catfish grow to H-U-G-E sizes, so the staff is paid to fish the cat fish. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 2:14:05 PM EDT
[#29]
I have encountered madtoms and have learned to treat them with respect.
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Posted: 3/4/2006 2:25:22 PM EDT
[#30]
www.catfishgrabblers.com/websites/grabblers.nsf/content/CECDBB209C2B65DC88256F9F0051101F?OpenDocument
Don't really know what to say to that... |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 2:29:16 PM EDT
[#31]
Just an observation.
From some of the responses here; it would appear that civilization, urbanization, and our disconnect from nature is gaining some serious ground. Not meaning to demean anyone; I suppose what was common knowledge for one generation isn't always common for another. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 2:43:23 PM EDT
[#32]
+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. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 4:00:16 PM EDT
[#33]
Heh,,, I agree with so many others here.
I remember as a kid--being stuck with a catfish fin hurt about 10X more than it seemed it should. For a kid who could barely get their hand around its slimy body, getting a 5-inch catfish off your fishing pole hook was a test of pure detirmination in the face of fear. They can fold them down along their body when they want--but when you pull them out of the water, they keep them things sticking STRAIGHT out all the time. ~ |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 4:25:10 PM EDT
[#34]
Hooking small hardheads is just part of the fun when you go jetty fishing. I to am a member of the brotherhood of the throbbing thumb. After the first time getting gaffed I started carying a rag in my back pocket to wrap around the little bastards while unhooking them. Other people just beat them repeatedly on the rocks before taking the hook out. You can always tell someone who has been stuck.
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Posted: 3/4/2006 5:16:23 PM EDT
[#35]
African electric catfish can shock and sting you good.
You can buy them at fish stores. CRC |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 5:25:00 PM EDT
[#36]
I have been catching and using madtoms (mini catfish) for bait ever since I could walk. They will sting the hell out of you with the three spines on the side and top. It hurts worse than a yellow jacket sting because it goes in so deep. How other fish are able to eat them, I don't know.
Big cat fish will bite the hell out of your finger as well. Lost a lot of skin on my thumb back when I was 8. I will never lip one again. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 5:27:43 PM EDT
[#37]
Fuckers hurt like a cast Iron Bitch when they fin you...I had one nail me THROUGH the sole of a tennis shoe.
I've stepped on a nail after the house was damaged by a storm and it didn't hurt that bad. A fucking sailcat (saltwater cat) hurts even worse. Catfish are useless unless pond raised and fed. Otherwise they taste like what they eat: Shit. SG |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 5:32:17 PM EDT
[#38]
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Posted: 3/4/2006 5:40:42 PM EDT
[#39]
The last time I was stuck I said something that could be loosely translated as,"Oh darn, I have pricked myself with a catfish spine. That smarts!"
It turned nasty red and stung for days, whether it was actual poison or just debris that got injected, I don't know but it hurt... Those guys that are grabbling aren't near the catfish's spines, they are in their mouths. Crazy, but it works. If you don't drown by getting caught yourself. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 5:42:23 PM EDT
[#40]
OMG this thread hasn't died by now...
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Posted: 3/4/2006 5:45:57 PM EDT
[#41]
They sure are tasty even if they can sting you.
I love catfish and hushpupies. |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 5:46:32 PM EDT
[#42]
+1 still got a small scar on my hand from an incident with one at padre island when I was a kid |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 5:51:44 PM EDT
[#43]
Yes, they most certainly sure do! There side fins are like needles and it pricks you, stings like a mother. Had it happen more than once getting them off my line. 
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Posted: 3/4/2006 6:27:44 PM EDT
[#44]
I managed to have been struck with a spine by every species
of fish that I have caught. The catfish and bullhead spine does hurt more than others for sure. GM |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 6:44:54 PM EDT
[#45]
About 5 years ago I was fishing around the wells in Trinity bay and caught a really fiesty hardhead.
Now this wasn't my first encounter with these little bastards since I have been saltwater fishing my entire life. Somehow, after I had unhooked the fish and went to throw it back, I got stuck between my thumb and index finger. In less than one minute I knew this was going to hurt real, real bad. I felt like it must feel to have a heart attack. My entire arm and hand went from numb to extreme pain. I could not even crank up my boat to get back to shore. After a while, I put some ice on the site of the fin puncture and tried to stow my gear the best I could. (I didn't want to screw up my new Calcutta reel) I cut my bow line since pulling up an anchor was out of the question and cranked up the boat. I putt-putted for a few minutes and finally said "fuck it, I must get back to the boat ramp" and pushed the throttle all the way. After about twenty minutes of cruising I was back in the river channel and the pain was subsiding but, still hurt like hell. I managed to trailer a 22 ft boat back to the house and cleaned the wound. After about a day and a half the hand was starting to turn all kinds of weird shades of blue and black. I left work to go see my doctor and he wasn't available and they made me see some kind of fill in doctors assistant that was not from the coastal area. (read Apu into this) They gave me an antibiotic and sent me on the way. I guess in the meantime he talked to some other folks about this or clicked on wwwdotdumbdoctordotcom and figured there was more to the pretty colors my hand and arm were turning and asked me to please drive back to their office now. All the doctors in the office now came in to take a look at my hand and were all murmuring about how they had heard about this but never seen it in person. My treatment ended up being wide spectrum antibiotics with a course of the stuff they use to treat people with flesh eating bacteria!! (I know, paragraphs are my friend and I should use them) |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 6:52:09 PM EDT
[#46]
these guys are you using gloves. I've seen stills of much bigger fish.
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5147588904853938607&q=catfish |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 6:54:49 PM EDT
[#47]
Once I was swimmin across turtle creek Man them snappers all round my feet Sure was hard swimmin across that thing With both hands holdin my dingaling a ling |
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Posted: 3/4/2006 7:24:00 PM EDT
[#48]
Around here they just use a hand-cranked electric shocker to fish for catfish.
Vulcan94 |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 8:31:52 AM EDT
[#49]
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Posted: 3/5/2006 9:05:43 AM EDT
[#50]
After you get stuck with a catfish spine, turn the fish over and rub his belly on the wound. Instant relief.
AB |
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