PAULS VALLEY, Okla. — Oklahoma noodlers spent the first part of the weekend looking for big fish.

Then, officials with the Okie Noodling Tournament in Pauls Valley, Okla. set up glass tanks to display some of the catfish caught during the 24-hour contest.

Guests milled around outside Bob’s Pig Shop, a Pauls Valley restaurant, looking at the fish in the tanks and cooling off with soda pop and beer.

Adults picked up children and allowed them to peer into the tanks as cameras and cell phones captured the moment.

“They look almost surreal, primeval” one man said of the fish.

But don’t ask the noodlers where they found the giants.

“Everybody guards their noodling holes,” said Kevin Burgess of Asher, Okla.

Burgess was one of a team brought in by contest officials to weigh the fish during the contest’s ninth year.

The tournament has made Pauls Valley, a small, southern Oklahoma town, famous.

National media outlets such as ESPN and the Food Network have featured the town and the tournament.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) also covered the event.

Rules for the tournament are simple: Using only their hands, contestants catch as many catfish as possible between 7:30 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

They can only noodle within Oklahoma.

Neighboring states such as Missouri and Texas prohibit the practice.

A former noodler who said he used to hunt for catfish in the South Canadian River near Asher, Okla., Burgess said he gave it up after a harrowing encounter with a bluegill catfish.

“I used to noodle, but I haven’t done it in a long time. The fish I used to catch were not quite as big as some of these,” he said, indicating the fish in the display tanks, “But they had quite a bit of fight. One time, I tangled with a bluecat. It was crazy. It turned me off of noodling.”

Burgess said noodling is not for the timid.

“It’s scary. I admit that,” he said.

Some say noodling endangers the catfish population — a notion that Burgess said is probably false.

“Not enough do it to make it really hard on the (catfish) population,” he said.

The tournament is so big, city officials have to block off portions of the city including the streets outside Bob’s Pig Shop, a hub during the event.

The barbecue restaurant does a booming business during the noodling contest.

Locals set up lawn chairs and tables under trees in the neighborhood.

Vendors peddle items such as animal pelts and artwork.

Della Wilson, executive director at the Pauls Valley Chamber of Commerce said the largest fish taken during the tournament was a 60.4 pounder.

She said she’s still tabulating the final counts but is fairly certain Lawton-area noodlers Skipper and Scooter Bevins brought in the heaviest stringer of catfish, “about 173 pounds,” she said.

Wilson said Jennifer Sanford, an official with the city of Pauls Valley, told her this year’s tournament was “the biggest turnout to date.”

“We had a lot of people from different places,” she said.

Organizers plan to hold the tournament earlier next summer, she said.

“The tenth annual event will probably be in the early part of June. It’s better for the noodlers and better for the guests,” she noted.

David Finch, an Oklahoma City artist, said he came to the tournament to get ideas for paintings.

“I had seen the documentary by Brad Beesley. It fascinated me and I had to come and see it for myself. It seems like I’m always out of town for some reason. This year, I was free,” he said.

Sitting on a chair made from a log, Finch talked about the event.

“It’s interesting because it’s such Americana. You won’t find anything like this anywhere else in the world,” he said.

Finch said he did a series of paintings based on the documentary, but expects his work to improve after he sees the fish in person.

“This is a different subject matter from anything I’ve ever done before,” he said.

Reporter Delania Trigg may be

contacted at dtrigg@ntin.net