Now for something different.
In addition to yo-yos, Bill Eldridge fishes open water at Lake Ouachita with noodles.
It’s another passive fishing method similar to jug fishing that is effective for catching striped bass, white bass and catfish.
A “noodle” is a hollow, foam cylinder for use in swimming pools. Eldridge cuts small lengths and wedges coat hanger wire into the hollow ends. He puts a swivel on the wire and attaches a leader, sinker and hook to the dangling end of the swivel.
He baits it with a minnow and lets it float in the lake. If a fish takes the bait, the noodle acts as a big bobber. It races through the water like the buoy attached to the shark in the film Jaws.
On Friday morning, Bill and Matthew Eldridge chased a noodle around a wide arm of the lake. When they got close, the fish sounded and dragged the noodle underwater for up to a minute. Eldridge said Matthew finally hooked the line with a crappie jig on a long pole and fought what turned out to be a bragging size striper.
“We let it go,” Bill Eldridge said. “I don’t like eating those things.”
Sports, Pages 33 on 03/23/2014