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Explore the vast world of fish — aquatic vertebrates inhabiting freshwater lakes, rivers, and the deep ocean, ranging from colorful tropical species and sharks to bizarre deep-sea creatures and popular aquarium fish.
522 stories
Ice fishing laws in Iowa are mostly the same rules you follow in open water, with a handful of winter-only twists: tip-up limits, shelter labels, and a removal deadline that recently moved.
Reaching into a muddy riverbank hole and pulling out a catfish with your bare hands sounds like a Southern tradition, but you can legally do it in Wisconsin too.
Ice fishing laws in Washington are not a separate rulebook.
Ice fishing laws in Maryland are short and specific, and a few of them catch anglers off guard.
If you’ve watched a noodling video online and thought about trying it on a Minnesota river, stop and read the fine print first.
Ice fishing laws in Arizona surprise many anglers, because the state is better known for desert heat than frozen lakes.
Ice fishing laws in Minnesota are mostly the same as open-water rules, but a handful of winter-only details trip up anglers every year.
Ice fishing laws in Montana are shorter than most anglers expect, but the exceptions are where tickets come from.
If you’ve watched noodling videos online and wondered whether you could try grabbing a catfish barehanded in the Missouri or Red River, North Dakota has a firm answer for you: no.
North Carolina lets you grab catfish with your bare hands, and the state’s own wildlife regulations even give the practice an official name: grabbling.
If you’ve ever waded into an Iowa river and felt the urge to reach into a submerged log for a catfish, you should know the law is not on your side.
Wading into a muddy riverbank, sticking your arm into a submerged log, and wrestling out a 40-pound catfish with nothing but your hands sounds like a dare.
If you grew up wading creek banks in the Missouri Ozarks, you’ve probably heard someone brag about grabbing a giant flathead bare-handed out of a submerged log.
Grabbing a catfish by hand out of an underwater hole sounds like classic Southern noodling, but Maryland’s rules on this practice look nothing like the season-and-permit system you’d find in Oklahoma or Mississippi.
Reaching bare-handed into a submerged log jam to wrestle out a 40-pound catfish sounds like a dare, not a legal outdoor activity — yet Oklahoma has written it directly into state statute.
Wading into a murky Louisiana bayou and shoving your arm into a submerged log to wrestle out a catfish sounds like something you’d get arrested for, and until a few years ago, you actually could have been.
If you’ve heard that noodling is a Southern-only tradition, Illinois might change your mind.
If you grew up thinking wrestling a catfish out of a submerged log by hand was strictly an Oklahoma pastime, Texas might surprise you.
Noodling laws in Tennessee do not actually use the word “noodling” anywhere in the state code, and that gap creates more confusion than most hand fishermen realize.
South Dakota may not be the first state that comes to mind for fly fishing, but its Black Hills streams deliver some of the most rewarding trout water in the Great Plains.
