I have never seen a whisker that could hurt you, but watch the dorsil fin. It is the same as the pectoral fins. ouch. I got hit yesterday. The channel cat took a 2'' bucktail at 2 in the afternoon. That shakes up the normal line on catfish.
Gerry L
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I have never seen a whisker that could hurt you, but watch the dorsil fin. It is the same as the pectoral fins. ouch. I got hit yesterday. The channel cat took a 2'' bucktail at 2 in the afternoon. That shakes up the normal line on catfish.
Gerry L
As every one so far has said, it's not the whiskers, those are just a food sensing/smelling organ. The pectoral and dorsal fins are the ones to look out for. There is a mild toxin involved in most catfish, with some species being worse than others (bullheads seem to be the worst in freshwater. Gafftops, found along the gulf coast can cause extreme pain and even bad swelling if they get you good enough). Some cats also have a saw tooth ridge on the pectoral fins that can cut if you get slashed by it. As for broken bones, if your dumb enough to lip an eighty pound blue cat and he shakes hard enough, yeah, he could break a wrist or an arm. The real danger in noodling and one reason it's illegal in a lot of states is the danger of drowning. If you go under, and get your hands on a fish that's bigger than you think and/or bigger than you can handle, he may not let you get backup for air until its too late. This does happen occasionally. I'll catch mine on a black woolly bugger and a seven or eight weight fly rod, thank you. Besides, the big ones aren't as good to eat as the small ones (up to about five pounds) anyway in my opinion.
There been a good bid of good advice on this subject, I was surprised a Canuck knew the trick about rubbing the cat stomach where you get finned. A old Alabama fisherman taught me that. The most dangerous catfish in my opinion is that little fellow too small to hold down the dorsal with the heel of your hand while you grasp him on the back. I remember catching dozens of them when I was about 11 yrs. old. We learned to just cut off their heads.
I wonder if Tench slime would make it feel better.
Ed
Yeah, I've heard it all too about cats. I've been stuck with the spines in the fins before, it hurts. Never knew about the belly though.
However, about the jaws of those little critters. I caught a small cat 2 years ago, around 6-8" long. Put my thumb in his mouth just to hold onto him for a second, and the strength in this fish was quite incredible. I'll never lip or put anything near thier mouth if it's much larger.
Shane
Just watched a show on PBS that featured women grabbling catfish. I thought y'all said noodlin or grabblin would separate the men from the boys. Neither one of the gals on the show looked to be very big. The only thing I noticed different about their technique was the fact that they used gloves and the okies I saw on PBS didn't.
Catfish 'whiskers' are actually very sensitive sensory organs. The venom glands are encased in an integument sheath around the pectoral spines. When the sheath is torn, the toxin is released into the punture wound.
Catfish injuries can be more serious than what is commonly accepted. While the venom is mild in most species, it is a combination of hemolytic (damages blood cells), dermonicrotic (damages skin cells), inflammatory (irritates nerve cells) and vasoconstrictive (constricts blood vessels, especially capillaries) factors. Some people seem to be hypersensitive and may need medical attention after a catfish envenomation. Another problem is that pieces of the spine may remain embedded in the wound and can cause serious infection and nerve damage.
The main danger from a catfish 'finning' is infection from atypical virulent bacteria. Due to the catfishes habitat, many species of serious pathogens can be involved, even from very clean waters. Some of the most prevalent are Klebselia, Nocardia, Chromobacterium, Mycobacterium, Aeromonas, and in salt water, Vibrio. Infections involving Aeromonas and Vibrio can be serious, especially in immunocompromised individuals. The antimicrobials effective against these species are different from standard empiric therapy given after common soft tissue injuries. Isolation of these organisms is difficult and easily overlooked on standard deoxycholate agar plates. There are newer tests involving molecular genetics, but they are not widely available at this time. It is important that your Primary Care Professional be aware of the association of these pathogens with catfish injuries in order to institute proper treatment.
After a 'finning', the first step is to aggressivly clean and debride the wound. Remove any remnants of spines or foreign tissue if possible. Then, since the toxins are heat sensitive, immerse the injured area in water as hot as you can stand it without scalding for at least 10 minutes. Leave the wound open. If there are any signs of an infection within the next few day, see your Primary Health Care Provider as soon as possible and inform them of the possibility of Aeromona or Vibrio infection. Get a tetanus shot if you are not current. Inform your doctor if you experience erythema, thrombosis, muscular 'tics', hemorage, or tissue necrosis.
Antibiotic therapy will vary according to the age of the victim, immune system status, time of the injury and other factors. Ciprofloxacin, or other flouroquinolones are popular due to thier efectiveness against gram-negative bacteriums.
If in doubt, always seek medical attention. It's better to be safe than sorry.
Semper Fi!