Thank You EFN

Thank you EFN for putting together this forum. I hope to teach as much as I can about the mighty Red River of the North and the fabulous fishery it is. Not only about the catfish but also other fish that live here in the Red. We do catch a few of those ugly green fish too. I think everybody calls them walleyes.

With that I would like to encourage anyone with questions about the Red River to please post them.

I am proud to be part EFN team!

Thank You

Dennis Flom

Hi Dennis, welcome to FTR. do you guide on the Dakota sections of the Red River, or are your trips up into Manitoba ? am looking to try and get up in that section some time this year. What do you think are some of the better months, or is it pretty much good fishing for most of the year ? thanks Jack.

Hi Jack,

I only guide on the US portion of the Red. But I do go up into Manitoba whenever I get the chance. As good as the fishing is here once you drop below the last dam at Lockport Manitoba the fishing goes from great to UNREAL!

I would suggest to go up there in May, July or August. The fishing usually starts out good when it opens the second Saturday in May and through that month. But in June these fish move downriver to find a place to spawn. Once the spawn is over they move back upriver until the river cools in the fall. If you need phone #’s for lodging or anything else let me know and I can get them for you.

Dennis

Hi Dennis

Just curious about what makes the northern stretches of the river more productive than the southern stretches. We see better fishing on the Mississippi River on pools 2-5, closer to the Twin Cities, than we do further south. This can be contributed to better habitat and water conditions I believe and I was wondering if that was the same case out there or if you had some very successful protective regs making the difference?

Thanks for any info you might have.

James,

I wish it would be so simple as to change a few regulations. But the truth is the regs have nothing to do with it. The Red River flows north so the farther you go north the bigger the river is. Also there are about 10 dams on the Red and during certian times of the year, mainly Fall, catfish tend to move downstream looking for deep water or slack water areas to Winter. What happens as they move down river they go through a dam and can not come back unless there is high water during the time they are moving upriver.

The Red River drains into Lake Winnipeg. A lot of catfish Winter in that big lake, come Spring they make a run upriver and only make it to the first dam and pile up below it.

This also happens with the Walleyes in the Fall. They make a run upriver, coming out of Lake Winnipeg, and will stack up below that dam as they can go no farther.

The Red does have great fishing from Wahpeton all the way to Winnipeg, its just when you drop below the last dam does the fishing improve dramatically. Thats just because the dam is there to block the movement of the fish upriver.

I hope I have explained this good enough for you to understand.

Any other questions, just ask.

Dennis

Confinement behind the dams makes sense to me.

Out here on the Miss. our walleye will run the dams during the spawning runs. Sometimes through several lock and dams on their way to their desired spawning areas. Do you see much of that out there with the cats… or maybe your dams are built differently too?

Thanks a bunch for the info!

The dams are different, there is only one with a lock. It is the last one on the river at Lockport Manitoba. It does not get used enough for many fish to pass. I have been up there for a week and only see 1 boat go through. All the other dams on the river are just lowhead dams.

The lock and the dam has almost lost all its original designed functionality now the Red River floodway is in place.

Like Dennis said you see very few ships using the lock. The new floodway was the best bucks they ever spent up there to protect Winnipeg from flood damage.

As far as fish movement I would like to see the dam rehabilitated much as the rest of the dams on the red have been. If they feel the lock is critical it could remain in place for the occasional use it receives. The resulting reinstitution of the natural migration patterns of fish of the system would greatly help the system as a whole.

There is still talk of rehabilitation (filled in with rock) of the Selkirk gateway, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one. Besides the cost, it is in their advantage to hold them piggys back (so to speak) behind the gate.

If the entire rehabilitation plan ever gets fully instituted all the dams on the Red will be partially or totally rehabilitated, maybe someday?

We will see I guess?

Ed Carlson