So I just watched NDYakAngler catch a huge catfish, and hold it by the lower jaw.  I've never caught a catfish, but I have caught some large bullhead, and occasionally when lipping them like a bass, they bit hard enough to cause pain.  I kind of assumed a much larger member of the catfish family could bite down hard enough to be unwise to put your fingers in their mouth.  Is this not the case?

It has been for me.  I still remember the last time I stuck my hand down in a catfish mouth. 

Richard gene has a video where he’s catching 10-20lbers from bank and at one point has no choice but to grab it by the mouth. His “Yowch!” Is hysterical. Happens to him a couple times and at the end he holds up his hand for you to see the bruising and cuts. 
 

Been there done that. Rather lose it now (I don’t eat fish anyway.)

Nah!  Man up and go for it!  Most you’ll end up with is “sandpaper rash”.   Just get a tight hold on him. He’ll flop out of your hand. 

They have rough teeth, but nothing like a pike or musky, typically you get a sandpaper rash.

39 minutes ago, Boomstick said:

They have rough teeth, but nothing like a pike or musky, typically you get a sandpaper rash.

Yes. I was thinking about the strength of their bite.

1 minute ago, billmac said:

Yes. I was thinking about the strength of their bite.

Right. I never heard of the strength of their bite specifically being the problem, but we only have channels. But their teeth, they will tear up your skin.

They will chomp down and won’t let go but can’t really do too much damage unless you are noodling and one tries to drown you . They can certainly pull the skin off your hand but it will grow back 

You can hold flatheads by the bottom jaw. They wont chomp down too bad on your hand. Blues and channels will bite and hold on. Especially channels. I've lost some thumb skin lately to several channels i tried to pick up by the mouth. Not a good idea.

I would trust @Bluebasser86's response in this thread.  I haven't caught all the species of catfish that he has, but I generally get the gripper for bigger channel cats (the main type I that end up as bycatch for me).  

Grab them under the gill flap and you don’t have to worry about it. Here’s some examples of the technique. Make sure you get cornmeal and hush puppies 

Flatheads are fine but you're taking a risk with any of the others. A local guy got his wrist broke by a big blue that he tried to hand land when she clamped down and did a death roll like a gator. Channels, blues, and bullheads have tooth pads that come together and crush food. Flatheads have a severe underbite so you'll only lose some skin if they clamp down, just don't jerk your hand back if it happens, that's what makes it the worst.

Ever see people noodling for catfish?  They practically stick their arm down a big catfish's throat.

 

Our local channel cats seem to clamp down hard and not let go.  It's quite unnerving if you haven't experienced it or forget that it's going to happen.  I use a Boga Grip on them.  Either way, it's handy to have a good grip (either you on them or them on you) because getting barbed hooks out of their tough mouth can be challenging.

I catch a lot of bullheads, and they have a surprisingly strong bite…

11 hours ago, moguy1973 said:

Ever see people noodling for catfish?  They practically stick their arm down a big catfish's throat.

 

Those are flatheads for most part. Most noodlers despise finding blues in their holes because they bite so hard compared to a flathead. Back either right when they first started the season here, or maybe before it was legal, a guy noodling in the Kansas River where I've fished many times was drowned by a big blue cat. It was in the 90-100 pound range if I remember correctly. 

they are not going tout your fingers, But sanding it like #40 or #60 sandpaper(feels like that haha).

It is best to use a lip gripper or a pair of gloves when you want to lip a big catfish.

On 9/13/2021 at 7:17 PM, N Florida Mike said:

I catch a lot of bullheads, and they have a surprisingly strong bite…

It is amazing how strong the jaws are of a bullhead.