Red River of the North

In the United States, the Red River is often referred to as the Red River of the North to distinguish it from the Red River that is a tributary of the Atchafalaya River, which forms part of the border between Texas and Oklahoma.

The Red River of the North poses many interesting aspects, one which has always been a question of mine; why does this river flow north? Near the river’s source in White Rock, SD the elevation is roughly 200+ feet higher in elevation allowing the water to flow naturally down-hill, eventually leading to Lake Winnipeg.

Every year we make the 700 mile round trip up to the Canadian border to fish one of the best channel cat fisheries in the states, the Red River of the North.

Knowing we were on the down slope of the already flooded river and coming into some great stable conditions, we were confident the bite would be on.  Rigged up with an arsenal of bait; frogs, suckers, gold eye, and chubs, we hit the river Wednesday night around 10pm and with a plan of staying in the boat until Friday morning.

The boat was dropped in to a beautiful scene; a river that looked like complete glass, moon gazing overhead, and no bugs in sight. We headed up river (south) to our last known waypoint from years past, roughly 7 miles upriver.

Now, since none of you will have these waypoints, I want to touch on what we are looking for up here and why we target the areas we target. Now I wont tell you that on every part of the Red River these same techniques will work, however, this is what has worked for us best through the last few years we have been going up there all the way from Canada down to Grand Forks.

First I want to touch on electronics when fishing for Channel Catfish, this is something I have spent very little time on over the years and just this year started to utilize even more and more. Never in my fishing career did I believe that I could actually mark a channel catfish on my Humminbird then actually target that specific fish. I’m here to tell you we did this multiple times over our stay. We were able to do this with both the 2d sonar and the side imaging, mark a fish, move your cursor to the specific fish and drop a waypoint. After the waypoint has been created we would then turn over to GPS and set up right in front of the marked fish. More times than not after getting set up we would start marking multiple fish as seen in the picture of this beautiful 20lb female channel catfish who was caught in 27 feet of water on the outside bend of a 35 foot hole.

Using the side imaging has been an immense help in finding these true beasts.  I’m not saying you need side imaging to catch these fish, we also use the 2d sonar in the deeper holes. My theory is that if I mark one fish on the 2d sonar in a hole, we are fishing it because these fish seem to travel in packs.  Now in other areas of the Red this may not hold true, a little more south of the Canadian border the Red River can get very shallow.  In these shallow runs the holes are much more prominent and can only hold a certain amount of trophy catfish.  In these type of areas we use a ‘run and gun” method.  Pick off two channel cats, move, rinse and repeat.

Here is one of my all time favorite channel cat pictures taken last season employing these same tactics described in this article.

Let’s now talk about what kind of gear is used to get these monsters boat side. As far as rods, we use 7-8 foot medium/heavy action rods.  We combo this with 80lb braid and 6” to 8” braid leaders.  I know many people use longer leaders, but we have found through the years that longer leaders get wrapped up in the weight more times than not, which leaves less time for your bait to be at the bottom of the river in their strike zone.  When targeting these trophies we like to use a bigger circle hook, 8/0. This gives us the ability to get a nice big piece of cut bait on the hook and thread it a couple times without it falling off within the first couple of minutes.

Since we are on the topic of bait, let’s quickly cover this important topic.  The biggest issue we have with any form of cut bait is keeping it from getting soft and unusable.  Whichever kind of cut bait you are using; frogs, chubs, gold eye, or suckers, it is of vital importance to keep these baits either frozen or as cold as possible before use. You can lose a whole weekend with your bait if it thaws out and starts falling off the hook in every cast. Lets remember we need bait on the hook to catch these fish.
Now that we know how to find the fish, what gear to use, and baits to use, lets talk about a simple theory of mine.  In shallow water, I will back off these fish and make long casts to reach them as to not spook them.  In deep water I like to set up virtually on top of them or just in front of them as to keep the casts short.  Now when using circle hooks, we make the cast and set it in the rod holders. If you fishing with a buddy this is an important part, DO NOT let them pick up the rod until it is completely loaded in the rod holder.  Many times these channel cats will come pick up the bait, drop it, pick it back up and run with it.  Now if I was to grab my rod on the first sign of any bite, I am moving the bait away from the strike zone and eliminating my chance that he will come back to the bait.

Hopefully my overview of electronics, bait, gear, tactics, and what to look for is enough for each and everyone of you to head up to the Red River of the North and target these amazing trophy Channel Catfish like we have. Even if it’s not the Red River, these same tactics will work on most every river system in Minnesota.

Last thing to remember, have fun while you’re out there!!