Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the size of catfish. Noodling, the art of catching catfish with your bare hands, took the spotlight in North Texas last month when a pair of adventurous Texans caught an 85 pound, 2-ounce flathead catfish on Lake Tawakoni.
Nate Williams and Kelly Millsap, collectively deemed Team Adrenaline, say they have beat the prior hand fishing national record that was set in Oklahoma, which is considered the birthplace of noodling.
The Quinlan-Tawakoni News backed up the claim, saying Williams and Millsap took the title over the previous record, an 81-pound catch made in Durant, Oklahoma in 2013.
Professional noodling guide Nathan Williams says the 85-pound catfish he hauled in while noodling on Texas’ Lake Tawakoni is a new national hand fishing record.
The duo came together to catch the monster-sized fish at Lake Tawakoni’s tournament on Friday, May 26. Williams said they are still in the process of hearing back from the Texas Parks & Wildlife to see if they will officially verify their catch as a record.Though the monstrous catch could have contributed to a giant fish fry, Williams said that with fish this size, it’s necessary to release it.
“We do it just for enjoyment. We want to make sure that we don’t hurt the population,” Williams, who is a professional noodling guide, told mySA.com.
Keep reading – http://www.chron.com/lifestyle/travel-outdoors/article/Report-Texas-duo-s-85-pound-catfish-sets-11200515.php