HAND FISHING, 2: What we know about hand fishing: 04 
["...heritage driven."]. Details ahead on Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Hand-fishing for catfish, also called noodling, is a new 
way to fish in Texas even though it's been going on for 
years.

06 -- And it's typically passed on from generation to generation. 
There isn't a lot of new folks being added to the sport.

Hand-fishers use only their bare hands to bring a fish to 
shore. Kris Bodine [BO-dine] is a fisheries research 
scientist. Hand-fishing became legal in Texas in 2011, and 
since then, TPW's been trying to understand this user 
group and their needs.

15 -- What we're finding is that a lot of these people fish with 
their family members -- it's just passed on down the chain. But a 
lot of these folks like this sport because it allows them an 
opportunity to catch really big fish that might be otherwise very 
difficult to catch.
 
Bodine and his cohorts are collecting data about them 
using a voluntary online survey. 

29 -- In recent years we've been working on developing a 
statewide catfish management plan. And that catfish management 
plan requires us to have a suite of different kinds of information. 
One piece of information is we need to know about our anglers: 
what they want, who they are, what they're catching, and how 
they want us to manage the fisheries. Because they are a new 
angling group to us, and we know nothing about them -- virtually. 
We need to consider their needs in our future management 
practices.

The survey's available through the end of this month. 
Find a link to it at passporttotexas.org.

The WSFR program supports our series and is funded by 
your purchase of hunting and fishing equipment and 
motorboat fuel.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I'm Cecilia Nasti.

Total sound bite time:			0.50.0
Maximum Script time:			0:25.0	 	 Suggested show time: 85.0 = 1:25