No, I didn't catch him out of the mud, I caught him out of sand rock. At this particular place in the river there are large sand rocks that the cats burrow under and make their nests. They can be pretty deep and large. We do have other places where we fish car bodies, brush piles, and undercut banks, but this fish came out of rocks. The only time you really have to worry about snakes is in the brush piles. Trust me, I hate them worse than anyone out there. Noodling is so much fun and such a rush, it outweighs all the negative and dangerous aspects of it.