It’s Hot. Go Catfish Noodling.

I’ve known a lot of fishermen who didn’t like (or wouldn’t try) noodling. But I’ve never met a noodler who didn’t like to hunt. That’s one way I’m justifying polluting our hunting blog with fish. Of course, the other glaring truth is that it’s 90 degrees, and being on the water is about the only tolerable way to have fun outside.

People can blame their jobs for all sorts of problems, but I can realistically point to Field & Stream for causing my noodling addiction. Ten years ago, when I was fresh out of college, I took my first travel assignment as an outdoor writer to Greenwood, Mississippi, where an imposing band of johnboat-running locals with two rat terriers taught me to grab catfish in the Yazoo River. I was so taken with the sport that my buddies and I started feeling around for catfish holes here at home on the Tennessee River—and finding quite a few of them.

I sold that noodling story to Field & Stream—my first-ever assignment for the title. You can read it here. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the video.