Nov. 2 -- Kaleb Summers attributes his Hollywood success to his favorite pastime: noodling, the thrill sport of catching catfish bare-handed.
Summers lives in a red-roofed cabin in the woods just north of Claremore, and he's one of the stars of the Western paranormal series "UFO Cowboys." Two seasons of the show are streaming free on Roku, and Summers said he'll receive details about shooting Season 3 very soon.
Along with a crew of four other ranchers, Summers travels to Arizona and Colorado to investigate paranormal occurrences.
Mutilated cattle, mysterious lights and even supernatural creatures appear in the series' 14 episodes -- but no catfish.
"[But] I would always credit everything back to noodling," Summers said. "All right, that's our base skeleton, right here. Everything else fleshed off of that skeleton."
Though Summers' dad was a noodler, Summers grew up in the rodeo scene. He didn't dive into the sport until after he graduated from college in 2011. That summer, some Oklahoma State University friends took him noodling on the Buffalo and Kiamichi rivers.
The sport grabbed him, and he started catching catfish on Oologah and Grand lakes. He soon sold some of his horses and saddles to buy equipment to film his noodling trips and enter competitions. He won the Okie Noodling Tournament in Pauls Valley in 2012.
"I became very popular for being the guy that would go catch fish all day," Summers said. "I'd take my cash from the trips, my friends would pick me up, and I'm still in my shorts and flip-flops. I'd jump in the truck with the horses, and we would go to the rodeo, and I'd pay my fees with my fishing trip money from that day."
Summers' favorite noodling companion is his friend, Parker Howell, from Stilwell. Both men are citizens of the Cherokee Nation.
Summers said he and Howell would sometimes talk about getting on TV together. Summers went to college for broadcast journalism and figured this experience would help him make it one day.
In 2018, he did -- he was part of the team that won "The Brigade," a reality show in which 10 people competed in a 28-day race across Canada.
"That's what taught me that my character, I don't ever have to act like nobody," Summers said. "I can be myself, and that was good enough for television."
The following year, Summers competed in the semifinals of the World Champion's Rodeo Alliance. At the competition, the announcers mentioned Summers' noodling expertise.
That prompted a publication called Western Horseman to reach out to Summers to film a mini-documentary.
"I'm Kaleb Summers from Claremore, Oklahoma," he said in the documentary's opening scene, sitting on his porch in Claremore. "I'm a survivalist, a noodler, a big game hunter, I shoot explosives ... what else is there? Oh, rodeo."
That makes the people standing behind the camera start laughing. Summers does, too.
Not long after, Summers got a call from some Hollywood casting directors.
"They said, 'Hey, man, we were looking for somebody to help lead an excursion of cowboys,'" Summers said. "'We're in search of UFO-style phenomenons that have happened on these ranches throughout the southwestern part of the United States. You seem really well-spoken on camera. You seem like you have some experience. You seem pretty interesting because of this noodling thing. Would you be interested in interviewing with us?'"
Summers said the casting crew had already hired four cowboys for the show but fired most of them after taking Summers on board. They kept on team leader Jeff Sailors, who'd been a rancher for nearly 50 years and had previously observed many of the same phenomena seen in "UFO Cowboys."
The directors told Summers to suggest some friends of his so the show could play off their established chemistry.
"Well, if you're looking for a character, you need to meet Parker Howell," Summers said he told the directors. "That's my best friend. A big Indian boy from Stilwell, Oklahoma, and he's so big that you can't fit his character inside the truck."
He also brought on Hadley Sanders, a rodeo buddy from Georgia; Ora Brown, a professional stuntman and friend from college; and Gabe Burrows, a friend from Kansas who wrangles the group's horses behind the scenes.
Summers said the way the group acts on camera is the same way they do when the cameras aren't rolling.
"It was a unique opportunity to be able to take my friends with me," Summers said. "Parker, I got to follow through with that promise that I made with him all those years ago, and that right there was one of the coolest highlights of my life."
The five cowboys encounter a number of strange sights in the fields and deserts of Arizona and Colorado.
Summers said he's experienced many things he can't explain. Cattle mutilated in unnatural ways. Lights in the sky, changing colors in regular patterns. Overhead objects flying faster than the speed of sound, but with no sonic boom.
"I'm not here to sell anybody a tinfoil hat," Summers said. "I'm the reporter. Don't shoot the messenger. I'm just reporting on what we find. What we find isn't what is normally seen around Claremore, Oklahoma."
Summers said before "UFO Cowboys," he was skeptical of the supernatural but had an open mind. Heading to the West, where he said many people report seeing paranormal phenomena, made a believer out of him.
He said he's not sure where the team will head next.
"It could be Nevada, New Mexico, somewhere in there," Summers said. "...There's always things going on, stories to tell."
Despite the high-flying nature of what the cowboys encounter, Summers said the group's chemistry and roots make for a "down-home and grounded" viewing experience. He said it would make viewers from Claremore feel like they're talking to their neighbors.
He said the show is completely unscripted because the producers liked the way the group talks -- especially Summers and Howell, the Okies. Summers said getting to represent Claremore and Oklahoma on "UFO Cowboys" made him feel connected to Claremore's favorite son.
"It's a really cool feeling to keep Claremore shining as a cowboy, just like Will Rogers did back then," Summers said.