Have you heard of noodling? If you haven’t, you probably will soon. It’s a type of fishing that’s been around for ages, but is just now getting a larger audience. We’re here at the Okie Noodling tournament in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. We came out a few days ago to go fishing with one of the best known noodlers—Lee McFarlin.

If you’re not familiar, here’s how it goes. A fisherman heads out to a river or lake, but instead of taking the usual rod, reel, and bait, the fisherman just takes himself and a steely set of nerves. In a sense, HE is the bait. The hunt is for catfish and they tend to lurk in depths. When it’s the season for spawning, which is now, catfish find a nice murky hole to lay their eggs. Then the male stays to guard them. So, you’ll consider that he’s probably not too happy when some hand or foot out of nowhere pokes into his hole. The catfish take a bite and the noodlers try to hold on for dear life. It doesn’t sound so hard when you’re talking about a ten pounder, but when you’re talking a 64 pound fish, which is the current leader of the competitiion, it’s a whole nother matter.

Noodling can be dangerous—so dangerous that many states have banned the sport. In fact, 69 people died from drowning last year after they went noodling. McFarlin says sometimes people get their arm or leg wedged in the catfish hole and then panic. Many of the holes are five or six feet underwater.

Going out with McFarlin was fun, but it’s hard to see how they do it. The water is brown and so basically all you can see is two or three guys standing around in chest deep water. Then one guy will go underwater and come up with a fish. But at the tournament, they have a demonstration tank with clear water—where you can really see what’s happening. There are thousands of people here. They crowd around the check in station where the noodlers bring their catches. Each new big fish brings cheers from the crowd. There are more than 150 contestants this year from all over the country and top prize is $500. But the noodlers tell us it’s not about the money—they spend that much on gas driving in their catch—it’s about the fun and it’s about the glory. And you have to admit. Someone’s who’s caught a 64 pound fish by hand probably has a pretty good fish tale to tell.