Evidently there is a catfish catching technique wherein you grab a handful of bait
reach your arm up under a bank and wait for the lunker to attempt to swallow your
hand-
always sounded a bit too intimate for me- have you ever smelled catfish bait.

Kathy Follett wrote:

> Sounds like an interesting interlude from the point of view of the fish,
> which probably had not read the same book. - Kathy Follett
>
> << I'm reminded of spending several hours of afternoon
>  laying in pine needles beside a small stream pursuing a catfish that I caught
>  underhanded and threw up on the bank, then let go. I'd read in some
>  wilderness survival book that this could be done. >>