Missouri Sees Something Fishy About ‘Noodling’

The noodlers are revolting! And their uprising is being felt all the way from rural streams -- where they plunge bare-knuckled after big catfish -- to the Missouri Statehouse.

Noodling is one of several nicknames for hand fishing. Noodlers jump into rivers and creeks, then reach into bank crevices or logs in search of catfish, wrestling barehanded with what they grab -- sometimes snapping turtles or snakes -- all the while holding their breath under water.

Noodling is a misdemeanor in Missouri, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that the practice is alive and well despite the law.

A group calling itself Noodlers’ Anonymous claims scores of covert members. But some are coming forward to press the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Legislature to legalize hand fishing, which is lawful in the neighboring states of Illinois, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

The department responded last fall by approving its staff’s recommendation for an experimental noodling season starting this summer along the Mississippi, St. Francis and Fabius rivers.

Noodlers were initially encouraged.

But they say the fine print, and their own research, led to disappointments.

“We went to Conservation in good faith and they hand us something that is doomed to fail,” said Gary Webb, a noodler from Ludlow.

Why?

Two of the rivers -- the Mississippi and St. Francis -- “are no good for noodling,” too dangerous or otherwise undesirable, said Howard Ramsey of Paris, Mo., president of Noodlers Anonymous. “And the Fabius may be OK, but it would only be allowed on a relatively short stretch” -- too many noodlers in too little space.

“This is no good,” he said

Webb and Ramsey have promoted noodling legalization to sympathetic rural lawmakers. Last year, both chambers of the Legislature gave lopsided approval to legalizing a noodling season, only to have the final version of the bill bog down.

Conservation officials say that they are listening to noodlers and that their willingness to approve an experiment shows it.

But they must balance the noodlers’ demands with their state constitutional mandate to protect fish and wildlife. The experimental season will let the agency check the effect of noodling on populations of breeding-age catfish, officials say.

“The commission is receptive to looking at changes as both recreational and biological information comes in. But the commission needs this information to study the science and balance the interests,” said Denise Garnier, assistant to Conservation Director John Hoskins.

Lawmakers and noodlers are impatient.

State Rep. Wes Shoemyer and state Sen. John Cauthorn have reintroduced bills legalizing annual two-month summer hand-fishing seasons for catfish and carp. Both acknowledge that they are nibbling at the influence of the constitutionally independent Department of Conservation.

“This is to keep the pressure on,” Shoemyer said.

“This just lets Conservation know we are serious. I received a petition backing this with almost 2,000 signatures. I’m a country boy, and folks from the country don’t ask for a lot, but they do want to have their opportunities.”