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(New York, NY) - This summer, Animal Planet dives into murky Oklahoma waters, hoping to reel in the king of all catfish in HILLBILLY HANDFISHIN', a 12-part series premiering on Sunday, August 7, at 10 pm et/pt, where bustling city dwellers and suburbanites travel to rural Oklahoma for some good ole'-fashioned handfishin' - the sport of catching catfish with your bare hands and feet.        

Self-proclaimed hillbillies Skipper Bivins and Trent Jackson are Oklahoma hand-fishermen with decades of experience and unlimited enthusiasm for a sport that's foreign to many Americans. It's a family affair with the entire Bivins clan running "Big Fish Adventures" and working nonstop to give groups of city slickers a taste of hillbilly livin' by guiding them through the paces of noodling catfish without tackle or bait.

Also known as graveling, grabbling, hogging, dogging, gurgling, tickling  and stumping, handfishing/noodling has been around for hundreds of years and is a way of life in some southern cultures. The experience might be uncomfortable, completely odd and downright terrifying, but it promises to alter lives and send each newly crowned noodle home with great fish tales long after his or her catfish adventure ends.

"Most people aren't prepared to walk blindly into the water with mud up to their thighs and then submerge themselves to look for 40-pound catfish," says Skipper. "It's a baptism of sorts when we dunk these adventurers. They come back up with a renewed sense of excitement, a catfish that will blow their minds, and a look on their faces that never gets old for Jackson and me!"

The process of noodling actually is quite simple: locate catfish in underground caverns, wait for them to bite your feet or hands, and then pull them out onto the surface with assistance from a spotter and rope. But it isn't all fun and games; noodlers must always be on the lookout for snakes, beavers, muskrats and snapping turtles that take over abandoned catfish holes as homes of their own.

Each hour-long episode of HILLBILLY HANDFISHIN' features a new group of novice noodlers who are hungry for experiences that take them completely out of their comfort zones and give them the story of a lifetime.  

• No-nonsense Chicago cops think they've seen it all, having patrolled the rough city streets for more than six years. These toughies say they won't back down for anyone - criminals or catfish!
• Young Midwestern mommies claim they're not your typical moms as they share a love for all things outdoors, including fishing. Will they sing a different tune once they dip their pedicured toes into murky waters?
• Six feet under takes on a whole new meaning for a funeral director and his girly-girl, college-bound daughter who wants to have one last hurrah before she ships off to school.

            HILLBILLY HANDFISHIN' is produced by Half Yard Productions for Animal Planet. Sean Gallagher and Abby Greensfelder are executive producers for Half Yard Productions. Keith Hoffman is executive producer for Animal Planet. Director of development is Sara Hellman.

Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment.  APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 97 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions.

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