Bucket list a little shorter now for first-time noodler

Pauls Valley‘s Jennifer Samford poses with one of the large flathead catfish she helped pull out of an Oklahoma creek during her first-ever noodling trip earlier this week. Courtesy photo
Pauls Valley‘s Jennifer Samford poses with one of the large flathead catfish she helped pull out of an Oklahoma creek during her first-ever noodling trip earlier this week. Courtesy photo

Pauls Valley’s Jennifer Samford is no stranger to the sport of hand-fishing.

Samford has helped organize Pauls Valley’s Okie Noodling tournament for years, first as a volunteer with the local chamber of commerce and then through her position as Pauls Valley’s Parks and Recreation director.

The annual tournament, billed as the world’s largest hand-fishing tournament, regularly draws hand-fishermen, b…