Conservation Commission approves experimental hand-fishing season for catfish

Knowledge gained during the trial will guide future decisions about "noodling."

JEFFERSON CITY--Missouri will give hand-fishing a try next year, tightly regulating the activity and gathering information about how it affects the size and number of fish remaining in streams.

At its meeting in Jefferson City Dec. 17, the Missouri Conservation Commission approved an experimental season for hand fishing. The season will run from sunrise to sunset June 1 through July 15 in parts of the Fabius and Mississippi rivers in northeastern Missouri and part of the St. Francis River in southeastern Missouri.

Hand fishing, commonly known as "noodling," has been illegal in Missouri for decades. The most productive time for hand fishing is early summer, when female catfish lay their eggs in natural cavities. The females then leave, and males take over guarding the nests. This behavior allows hand fishers to reach inside cavities, grasp fish by the jaw or gill plates and pull them out.

Some other states allow hand fishing, and the activity has supporters in the Show-Me State. One Missouri group, Noodlers Anonymous, has sought legalization of hand fishing here for several years.

Approximately half of anglers surveyed by the Conservation Department said they favored a regulated hand-fishing season as long as it does not harm the catfish population. Fifty-one percent of catfish anglers surveyed were in favor of the idea.

Because hand fishing focuses on large, nesting fish, Conservation Department officials have expressed concern about how the activity might affect the size and number of catfish. However, without data to back up these concerns, they could not say with certainty whether hand fishing would hurt catfish populations. The experimental season is intended to provide such information.

Under the provisions approved by the Conservation Commission, hand fishers must have a resident or nonresident annual fishing permit, a daily fishing permit or an exemption and buy a $7 Hand Fishing Permit. The daily limit is five blue, flathead and channel catfish in the aggregate, with a possession limit of 10. Flathead and blue catfish less than 22 inches long must be released unharmed immediately.

Hand fishing is restricted to feet and bare hands. Hooks or other devices are not allowed. Furthermore, hand fishers may take fish only from natural cavities or those created by bona fide construction, such as bridges and boat ramps.

Finally, hand fishers will be required to report all fish they take.
The Conservation Department is designing the study to measure the effects of hand fishing in the three rivers. The study also will explore the effects of other fishing methods on catfish populations.

"Part of the Conservation Department's job is to ensure that activities like fishing and hunting don't harm the resources that support them," said Resource Scientist Vince Travnichek, who is part of the study design team. "To do that, we need solid biological data. We don't have those data for hand fishing right now, so we are going to get them before deciding how it might be regulated in the future."

The river sections included in the experimental hand-fishing season are:

•The Mississippi River from the mouth of the Fabius River upstream to the mouth of the Des Moines River
•The Fabius River from its mouth to the Highway 61 bridges and the South Fabius in Marion County from the Highway 61 bridge upstream to Dunn Ford Access.
•The part of the St. Francis River that forms the boundary between Arkansas and Missouri.

- Jim Low -

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