Having settled all the serious issue this legislative session, our representatives turn to solving those that, while pressing, are somewhat less serious. One such issue is popular among our friends of the sunburned neck persuasion.
And no, I’m not talking about shooting up stop signs out in the sticks. I’m not talking about beer-drinking, although it’s likely part of the sport.
The sport in question is catfish noodlin‘, popular among rural outdoorsmen in my homeland. It is a fight to the death between a redneck and a monster of the deep.
Rural outdoorswimmins enjoying themselves some noodlin’:
Rural outdoorsfamilies too!
Big deal, you say? How hard can it be, sez you? How about going down to a lake, diving down 6-10 feet, sticking your hand into a hole in the lake bottom, and hoping a big-a$$ed catfish sees your arm and thinks “lunch!”? What happens if there’s a big-a$$ed snake or snapping turtle in that hole?
I say, let them catch catfish however they can. It’s not like they’re endangered or even close to it. It’s all in good fun, right? Well, not so fast, according to a bunch of city-slicker, Nancy-boy bass-boys with $50,000 sparkly boats.
Oops. This one:
[Rod-and-reel anglers] say noodling is unfair to the fish, since they’re grabbed in their burrows without a chance to swim away.
It’s more sporting, antinoodlers argue, to dangle a hook and give the critters the option of biting or not. Snatching a catfish from its underwater nest also leaves thousands of eggs exposed to predators, they add.
“Unfair to a fish“? They’re wrasslin’ with a sea creature straight from the Pleistocene Era that would like to have them for lunch.
For the noodlers, it’s recreation; for the catfish, it’s survival.
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