[url=http://www.catfishgrabblers.com/GGGMusicVideo300k.wmv:6b07f]Catfish Grabbin?[/url:6b07f] or is it Grabblin? Come on, one of you knows! Not sure if I would wanna try or not.
Don
GRABLIN
I worked with a Mississippi country boy that almost drowned doing that. He went under water and reached into a hollow cyprus stump and a very large catfish ended up grabbing his hand. He couldn’t fit the catfish out through the hole in the stump. After a couple of anxious minutes of tugging, he got his hand free. When he checked closer, he found that there was a larger opening on the other side of the stump that the fish used as an exit. He was a lot more careful where he stuck his hands after that. Never the less, it looks like fun to me.
Jim Smith
Better watch out for those Snapping Turtles too!
Bill
thanks for sharing that video!
As a boy I had a hard time with the fact that my mother was a school teacher and that we lived in Texas. Grammar and diction sometimes clashed!
Grabblin’ could be argued as not a “real” work but it sure seems to work in this case. I suspect that its a local form of “grappling” and 'grabbing".
Those gals sure are having a grand old time. I think I’d enjoy hanging out with them, they’d probably like to try out some fly fishing too.
In closing I will confess that I have passed on every opportunity this lifetime to go grabbling. I just can’t poke my hand up under a riverbank without knowing whos there 
RRhyne56
[url=http://www.robinscustomleadersandflies.com:c3ae4]http://www.robinscustomleadersandflies.com[/url:c3ae4]
IM = robinrhyne@hotmail.com
My uncle called it “noodlin’” and told some scary stories. There was even a show about it on PBS, of all places, not too long ago.
Pulling big old fish out of their holes by putting your arm down their throat sure cuts down on the equipment costs, though.
YUP Tup, Noodl’n is the absolute correct name for it, at least in Oklahoma where I grew up. I also saw a show on ESPN showing some guys doing it. Just never seemed to be the brightest thing to do. But then swimming trot lines at night weren’t too bright either, and I did that. 
Michael (Wooly) Woolum
State Certified Hunter Education Instructor
Hickory, MS
Tup & Wooly,
I saw the shows too…think I’ll stick to my rods.
Mike
That boys is called noodlin’. It’s the areas favorite passtime. Noodlin’ cats and snappin turtles my bio teacher is a old pro. The trick to do in it with a turtle is all turltles usually go into a hole head first. You stick your hand in until you feel the shell then you keep your hand flat on the shell and move your hand to the edge and pray you feel the zig zag things by the butt end of the turtle. Grap the tail and pull. Alot of ppl in my family or friends of the family noodle for both. Turtle soup is surprisingly good.
I have noodled one last summer. Didnt like it that much. A big hook and a chicken liver is what i perfer. Ive seen 2 ppl have the cat clamp down on their hand death roll and ware the skin on their wrist. My uncle had his thumb practically skined 2 years ago.
-Zac
The way to a flyfisherman’s heart is through his fly
Chicken livers for bait??!! Those things were meant to be battered and deep fried! Use some other part for bait - I don’t like chicken gizzards, so use them!
“I do nothing that a man with unlimited funds, superior physical endurance, and maximum scientific knowledge couldn’t do.”
- Batman
It was called noodlin’ in the Missouri Ozarks
back in the '40’s-‘50’s when I was still a kid. Scary business noodlin’. Against the law too in most places.
I saw too many skinned up hands for me to try it, let alone the thought of a big ole
Snapper back in one of those holes. I can only imagine that a startled beaver would be a heck of a surprise too!
Grabbin’ was done with large treble hooks for
rough fish like Suckers, and is still legal
in most places for Suckers or the prehistoric
Spoonbill (Paddlefish).
They are caught by grabbin’ (snagging), because they don’t bite any kind of bait
readily.
Hey friends… Keep both hands and all ten fingers for fly fishing. Noodlin’ isn’t worth it!
Fellows - along the Ohio River it’s called “hoggin”. I did it when I was young and really dumb!
Don’t use those chicken gizzards either! Deep fry them with lots and lots of pepper.
BA-04,
I notice you said snapping turtles usually go into the holes head first. I would sure hate to run into that one in a hundred that either backs in or turns around once he’s in the hole. It could make fly tying a much more challenging undertaking. 8T (I wouldn’t want to become 6T or 4T)
You had better learn to be a happy camper. You only get one try at this campground and it’s a real short camping season.
Used to noodle when I was young, spry, and dumb…now I’m older, and those big cats can whip my a@@…I leave 'em alone now.
do a search for “Okie Noodlin”
They now have a statewide tourny in Oklahoma every summer just for this. I bought the dvd of the show that was mentioned on PBS. Hilarious
You folks must have missed the Old Rupe stories in Old Flies; Here’s a goodie: [url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/oldflies/part14.html:6d9de]http://www.flyanglersonline.com/features/oldflies/part14.html[/url:6d9de]
LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL
When I was a Kid Many moons ago , the Sockeye salmon in a local Creek would lie in the shelter of a cutbank in the Shade , We would sit in the water up to our waists reach under the bank and wait till we felt one , You’d slowly run your hand down the belly ,which never spooked them suprisingly enough , back to the thinest spot at the tail and grab on . It was cold as heck and lots of times You had to quit and go warm by the fire , but it was still more successful than fishing for them . I don’t think I’d want to noodle a big ole gater by mistake .