In the depths of the murky waters of Oklahoma a predator lurks.

For many years only the locals knew the whereabouts of these 50 to 60 pound beasts that live in the mudholes or underbrush of their local rivers and lakes.

They were flat-headed catfish, and instead of using hooks to catch them, people found using their bare hands not only worked better, but served as a titillating experience, one that could literally cost a person an arm and a leg.

This experience, called noodling, began as a primitive practice by the Native Americans and has been passed down from generation to generation around the rural parts of the United States unbeknownst to any mass demographic until 2001, when documentarian Bradley Beesley brought the sport to light in his documentary “Okie Noodling.”

The Austin-based filmmaker is an Oklahoma City native and an OU alumnus. Beesley said he found out about noodling though distant cousins who did it at family get-togethers . He said he was intrigued by their battle wounds from hand-fishing.

Beesley first gained experience and notoriety as a filmmaker in the ‘90s, when he began filming and co-directing The Flaming Lips’ music videos.

Beesley and The Lips lead singer, Wayne Coyne, were neighbors on Eufaula Street and were introduced by Coyne’s girlfriend at the time. Since then, Beesley and The Flaming Lips have had a long standing working relationship.

When Beesley asked Coyne to record the original soundtrack for “Okie Noodling” Coyne, like many other people, was confused about exactly what noodling was, Beesley said.

“When I first told Wayne about it he thought it was a group of rednecks masturbating,” Beesley said.

“Okie Noodling” won many awards, including the “Audience Choice Award” and runner-up for “Best Documentary” at the 2001 South by Southwest film festival in Austin.

Beesley will screen and discuss the sequel to “Okie Noodling,” titled “Okie Noodling II,” at 7:30 p.m. tonight in the Edith Kinney Gaylord Library in Gaylord Hall. The screening is part of the documentary “Dream Course,” a class taught by Gaylord College professors Ralph Beliveau and Kathryn Jenson White, but is free and open to the public. The designation of “Dream Course,” assigned by President David L. Boren, provides the funds to bring award-winning documentarians to OU’s campus.

According to the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication’s Web site, White said the filmmakers were chosen on the basis of their innovative approach to documentary filmmaking.

Beesley said “Okie Noodling II” brings back two of the original characters from “Okie Noodling” and adds three new characters. One of the new characters is Gary Webb from Missouri, who fights to make noodling, which is only legal in 11 states, legal in Missouri. The documentary follows his plight and examines whether a sport like noodling should be legalized and commercialized or remain an underground backwoods sport.

Beesley, who is now an avid hand-fisherman, said the hardest part of filming both of these documentaries has staying focused on not losing the camera to the water and been avoiding the urge to noodle.

In his biography on Beesley, Coyne said he struggled to adapt his music “to suit this very organic story.”

Coyne decided to let Beesley offer his input on exactly what a soundtrack for this non-traditional documentary should entail.

“After I told [Coyne] it wasn’t masturbation and that it was hand-fishing, I told him I wanted a soundtrack that sounded something like Glenn Campbell’s ‘Rhinestone Cowboy,’” Beesley said.

Coyne described the final culmination of the soundtrack as “acid rock meets country storytelling meets religious space themes” and “a new sound and a new direction that we, perhaps without the challenge of Bradley’s film demands, may not ever have pursued and developed.”

When asked why he chooses the topics he does, Beesley responded that the projects choose him.

“A lot of these themes are things that have resonated with me as someone who grew up in Oklahoma,” Beesley said. “It’s something that I knew would have vast appeal and gives my life a sense of purpose. And since I’m not a very employable sort of person, you have to work for yourself and give yourself ideas.”

For more information about Bradley Beesley, visit www.bradleybeesley.com.