No Hooks, No Bait, No Fear

Okie Noodling is a film by Austin-based filmmaker Bradley Beesley about the art of “noodling” in the state of Oklahoma. For those who may not know, noodling can best be described as handfishing. You jump in the water and start feeling around with your hands and feet for holes, logs, and other structure that may hold catfish. When one bites down on your fingers or toes you’ve got it, and its got you. Grab on and rip that fish to the surface. Now, you can show off your fish and battlescars. The chicks will be all over you.

There’s nothing quite like the thrill of catching 60-pound catfish with your bare hands, and that’s just what Oklahoma fishermen have been doing for hundreds of years. Diving into creeks, rivers, and lakes in search of bank-dwelling catfish, the tradition of “noodling” originated as a Native American hunting practice, but has survived as a rural sport with a unique and colorful subculture. OKIE NOODLING is a one-hour documentary which catches the excitement and sense of community that has hooked three Oklahoma families on handfishing.

Watch the trailer.

Cabelas has a great field guide article on the tactics of catfish noodling and what its like to be a “Noodler”.

Well, granted, you have to be two McNuggets short of a Happy Meal to try this stuff, but for the sake of journalistic integrity, I felt it was my duty to participate–at least once–so I could write a realistic account. And so, one day I found myself taking a deep breath, diving underwater in a lake and reaching into a dark hole while several noodling enthusiasts cheered me on topside. A catfish was home. And when I realized it was indeed a catfish–not some critter that might bite off my fingers–I was, at least initially, happy.

Shaken, not Stirred

Imagine a beautiful hot summer day. The sky is blue and a soft breeze is blowing from the north. You are sitting in your car, with the window open, quietly enjoying all of the scenery Mother Earth has to offer. All of a sudden you are setting the hook on a fifty inch muskie and the mammoth fish breaks your line and swims away. You frown, and then reach over to your glove box and grab a new lure and tie it on, hoping for another chance to catch the massive fish.

I know what you’re thinking, “Why would I be fishing out of my car?” Well why not? If your car could drive on water you wouldn’t need to buy a boat would you? Perhaps fishing from your car wasn’t the reason behind Gibbs Technologies 2003 creation, but if I had my own amphibious car, I would certainly fish from it.

This impressive new car has a 175 horsepower motor and can reach up to 100mph on land and 30mph in the water. And what would you expect to pay for this James Bond-style toy? How about £150,000.00 or more than $300,000.00 Canadian.

Link via BBC news

More information about amphibious cars can be found at Terrawind and Popular Mechanics.

Video update:

Friday Reading

• They say two heads are better then one This healthy two-headed Cuban tortoise was found on a river bank in Havana. Link via BoingBoing
• For the lazy fisherman This strange device will set your hook and you don’t even need to touch the rod! It is a revolutionary fishing rod holder that gives everyone the opportunity to catch more fish. Link
• Got LockJaw? The good’ole boys at Tackle Tour review a truly innovative new lure design. The LockJaw, with an innovative design, creates new opportunities for anglers to fish in and around some normally very hard to access sweet spots.
• Its knot that hard Stren, “America’s number 1 fishing line”, teaches you how to tie strong knots for multiple purposes with easy to understand diagrams, anyone can learn.
• The Real Life Aquatic Bill Murray would be proud. The fluorescent shark was initially observed—though not captured on film until now—during the Deep Scope expedition last year.
• Fish Calculator I know there are tons of these out there, but here is a quick link to a site that offers a fish fish calculator for walleye, pike, bass and bluegill. Yes, even bluegill.
• Life-like paper fish. Are you stuck at work with nothing to do? Would you rather be fishing? Well this is probably as close as you are gonna get for now. At least you’ll be able to kill some time! Link via BoingBoing
• Ever wondered what your lures look like on the inside? Well I have, and apparently these Finish Fishing fanatics did to! (Try saying that 3 times fast.) Link

Whats the Matter, Parasite Got Your Tongue?

I’ve caught a few freshwater fish with leeches, and seen a few pictures from friends of Musky with large ulcers, but I’ve never seen anything like this. One things for sure the next time I catch a fish I’ll be looking in their mouth for one of these buggers. You can find more information and pictures on the Australian Museum Fish Site.

Cymothoa exigua, a crustacean, is the only known parasite that effectively replaces a body organ. It makes its home in the mouth of a fish, where it drains blood from the tongue until it withers and dies. It attaches itself to the remaining stub and the fish is actually able to utilize it as a replacement tongue to draw in and manipulate food, which the parasite shares.

Link via Boing Boing

Photos of a US Soldier Fishing in Iraq

Reguardless of your opinions, or mine for that matter, on war, we are not presenting this in any way shape or form that should draw judgement over the actions of governments or soldiers. That said, I would like to point out a few pictures on undermars.com of a US soldier carp fishing in Iraq. Below, I have linked directly to each image, should you choose to visit the site please read the warning first.

Please keep comments friendly and on topic, any pro-war or anti-war flamebait will be removed immediately.

What is this site [undermars.com]?
This site contains an archive of photos taken by soldiers and military contractors serving in active duty. This site aims only to visually document their experiences and is not a political site. The name “Under Mars” is an homage both to Mars, the Greek God of War, and to the otherworldly nature of the experience.

What is the goal of this site?
The goal of this site is exclusively to share photos of the experience of war, without politicizing, censoring, or editing.

I can not emphasize enough that this site contains graphic and disturbing images of war and what it does to people. Some of the photos are beautiful and some expose the true horror of what we humans do at times. Please do not enter if you are not comfortable seeing such images. The pictures are not sorted or censored and many may be quite upsetting, as is war.

Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3 via UnderMars

Fishing Has Been Canceled Due to Rain

This morning I woke up at 4am to go fishing with Fishermens Fleet, however it rained quite a bit last night and some of the roads were flooded. It wasn’t as bad as Mondays storm, seeing as my house wasn’t all flooded, but it certainly didn’t look good for fishing.

Hoping it would all blow over, I hopped in my car and drove downtown. There were quite a few times where I thought for sure I was going to flood my car and be stranded in a few feet of water, but my tactic of driving extra fast through the rivers that used to be streets worked. Though it left me quite wet, I have to admit it was very satisfying.

When I arrived at Fishermens Fleet, I touched base with David and it was decided that we were still fishing. I had my fill of coffee, exchanged a few fishing stories with other fishermen and jumped in the van. As we got closer to Punta Arenas, where we launch the boats, it became increasingly apparent that the storm was much more intense than I thought and lightning could still be seen flashing behind the mountains. When we arrived at dirt road that takes us out to the beach, you could see a long line of vans and trucks parked and a large group of people standing around. The captains were all standing together in a group talking and examining the washed out road. Wondering if we could even make it the rest of the way to the beach, and more importantly would we be able to get back. It was eventually decided that we had to at least try.

The drive to the beach was slow and extremely wet with large portions of the road completely underwater. We eventually made it to the beach, but nothing but dark clouds could be seen on the horizon. There was to be no fishing today, canceled due to weather, an unfortunate set of events but there was nothing we could do about it.

It turns out that a tropical storm off the coast had upgraded to a full blown hurricane this morning and was looking like it would make landfall around Sunday. Hurricane Otis is being compared to a huge storm that happened 29 years ago, and there are now talks of evacuating Los Cabos and turning off the electrical grid to prevent injuries and fires.

I really hope my house doesn’t flood!