Fishing Report for the past week

Fishing on the Red River for the past week has been pretty good. We have had some rain and that has muddied up the river quite a bit. The walleyes are slowing and starting to move away from the dam areas.

The catfish on the other hand are showing up everywhere. We have caught fish where ever we have dropped our anchor this past week. Fishing for cats will only get better as the water temperature warms. The water temperature is still in the upper 40’s. Catfish fishing will explode when we get some warm weather.

Big catfish are being caught more frequently as the water temp rises. Fishing for these monsters of the Red will only improve as this happens.

Good Cattin!

The catfish fishing on the Red is starting to pick up. Although I am not seeing as many big fish as I would like the numbers of good size fish is picking up.

The water temperature is finally in the upper 50’s and should move to the mid 60’s with the warm weather that is forecast for this week.

The water level is on its way down after the rains we had last week had raised the river a few feet.

Some of the better fish we caught this past week included a 29 1/2 inch walleye and a 15lb catfish caught by a 13 year old boy. Most days we caught around 30 catfish with most being in the 2-5lb range. Just fun fish to catch.

Good Cattin!

May 28th

The catfishing on the Red River continues to be steady with numbers of fish in the 3-6lb range being caught daily with a few bigger fish starting to show up.

The water temperature has reached the mid-60’s and will continue to climb as we have finally moved out of “winter” and into summer. The river is dropping with the lack of rain we have had as of lately. The river is at good average depths right now.

My best guess is that we will have about two more weeks of good fishing before the catfish slow as they move to spawn.

Good Cattin!

Dennis

Fishing is on the way downhill as the catfish are starting to spawn. We are still catching limits of fish but just not as fast as we would like. Also the bigger fish have been a little hard to come by as of lately.

The water temperature for the past week has been staying at about 70 and the fish are about to drop their eggs. The river is starting to get quite low for this time of the year. It is still boatable in the Fargo area but with a little extra care. I would recomnend to fishermen to try the Grand Forks area of the river right now as I am sure the catfish spawn will be a little later up there. The water temperature up in Grand Forks has been a little cooler than here in the Fargo area as they have alot more water than this part of the Red River.

I fished yesterday with Larry G. and family from MO and although, we did catch our limit of good sized channel cats, they sure were not jumping onto the pontoon. Our biggest fish was just 9 lbs and we did have several over 5 lbs, the cats just did not come as easy as we are use to catching them here on the Red River.

Once the spawn is done, the catfishing will get better and better until the river starts to cool in the fall.

Dennis

June 13th

Fishing this past week has had its ups and downs. We had a good rain on Sunday and the river rose about 6 feet. With the rise in the river the catfish began feeding heavily and we had some of our best fishing of the year.

Since Tuesday the river has been falling steadily and is back to levels prior to the rain. Fishing has been steady with numbers of nice fish still being caught. The water temerature is now in the low 70’s and the cats have began to spawn. This will last the next couple of weeks and then fishing will improve to what the Red River is famous for.

The Red is out of its banks from Grand Forks and further north and I would not recommend fishing that section of the river until the river drops back within its banks. The river is well within its bank in the Fargo area.

Good Cattin!

Dennis

June 25th

The catfish are spawning on the Red River. This is the toughest time of the summer to catch numbers of fish. We are still catching fish, just not the numbers that we are use to catching here on the Red River.

The Red is actually somewhat low in the Fargo area but out of its bank from Grand Forks and to the North. Some big fish are starting to show up so that is a sign that the spawn is coming to an end.

This is the time of the year I spend time catching bait for the rest of the summer. Goldeyes can be a blast to catch, along with everything else you catch when fishing with worms in a river.

The water temperature is now in the upper 70’s so when these cats get back to eating they will be hungry. I would guess that the fishing should start to improve in about a week as most of the cats have spawned already.

Good Cattin!

Dennis

July 16th,

Sorry I did not get a report up for last week but my computer crashed and I was without one for almost two weeks.

Well a lot has happened in the last two weeks. The fish are well past their spawn and are getting quite agressive. Today, in just two hours we limited out with eaters and had a few big fish for pictures.

The river is running bank full here in the Fargo area but is out of its bank to the North of here. Make sure to check river levels before heading up this way, as the river is not worth fishing when it is well out of its bank. The water temperature is about 80 right now.

With the hot temperaures we have been having, I have only been fishing in the shade and not the most ideal spots but we are having no problem catching fish.

We are at the best time in the summer to catch cats, so if you can make a trip up here in the next couple of weeks, try to.

Dennis

Catfishing on the Red River is heating up just as fast as the weather.

High and muddy water was the norm although the Red is on the slow fall at this time.

Over the past week we have found many cats out of the main channel and up on the flooded grass feeding on worms, bugs, and whatever.

As the water falls back into the banks again the cats will be moveing back to their more predictable channel and structure habits.

The next 30 to 60 days will produce the biggest cats of the season, they have been feeding well and are nice and chubby.

It’s piggy time on the Red.

We-We-We! Go Piggy!

“I would rather go fishing and think of God, then go to church and think of fishing.” Grandpa Art.

July 25th,
The big catfsh that the Red is known for are starting to show themselves a little more often as we have been catching them everyday now.

The water levels are falling and the fish are holding close to snags and other structure in the water. The water temperature has been going up and down lately and with that the fishing has been a little up and down. Great one day, then a little tough the next.

The Red is within its bank throughout now and hopefully will stay that way. I do suggest if you are planning a trip up this way to check water levels though as fishing gets almost impossible when the river is out of its bank.

Good cattin!

Fishing is going strong on the Red River and also on some of the tribs feeding into the Red.

Cut Goldeye continues to be the best overall bait closely fallowed by shrimp. We have caught a lot of sumo fat 30″-33″ cats this week along with plenty of eater sized 18″-20″.

Just as Dennis said you get slow days and good days but on average the bite is on the upswing as long as the Red stays insider her banks.

Gity- up go….Piggy……>
—————————————–

Catfishing remains good despite the cold fronts rampaging through the region.

Cut Goldeye and frogs are producing well for me, maybe cutbait more so then frogs so far.

Goldeye have been best found in the early morning near dams or up into the tribs where you find a drop dam or a hard bottom riffle. On the main Red they have been hard to target over the past couple of weeks.

I have been doing great with the Scenic Tackle Angal Eye Jr’s for Goldeye and Mooneye near dams. I find by replacing the treble with a #4 or #6 Kahle hook helps on hook ups. Just add a 1″ chunk of crawler and rig it short below a float, then toss it up into the faster water alowing it to work back across the current breaks. Pop the float frequently to get the Angal Eye Jr to flash and draw the Mooneye up for a look.

The gold or gold and red have been the best producers for me, ocasionally the glow pink or yellow & black with silver flash. They really work great guys!

Good bait can be hard to locate at times and this rig has sure helped me this year.

Good Fish’n to all!

Ed Carlson

Backwater Guiding “ED on the RED”

8/9/2002 Red River.

The past few days have seen some of the the biggest cats of the season, so far, on the headwaters and central region of the Red River.

Today we caught easy limits of eater (17-22″) sized channel cats and C&R 3 33-34″ cats, the biggest C&R channel cat of the day went 37+, it was a real solid sumo piggy.

The big sumo cat was caught by Tyler Pemble of Scranton Iowa who also on a past trip was fortunate enough to catch a big cat that won the C&R division of the In-Fisherman’s Master Angler program in 2002. I bet he and his Dad John will be entering again this season by the looks of the past two days catch?

Cut Goldeye continues to produce well as do frogs.

I am finding by paying close attention to details on river structure you will up your catch considerably. Transitional structure in mid river channels have been producing the largest cats overall.

Lets hope the storms passing throughout the region tonight don’t mess up the bite or the river.

********************
Sat Aug 10th

Friday cats still going well, a bit pecky at times. We picked a few from most locations, a slowing of agresion was notacable and they took a bit of work to get to hang on. One exceptional cat that went 36 1/5 and a few 28″, mostly 19″ to 24″ fish on average.

More storms last night but not much of a wash so we should be cool.

Good luck to the teams fishing in GF this weekend!

I be headed to Canada on Monday for the week and hope to see you up there Dennis. Staying at Cats tell next Sunday or Monday, that is the plan, let me know if your in need of a room or anything. Big Shanon B is my partner this season and he will be headed up with me on Monday for the week too.

Should be a fun week eh!

Good fish’n and God Bless.

Ed Carlson……….>

Good Luck to both of you guys. I wish I was going with you.

Bowfinhunter

August 12th,
Fishing in the Fargo area remains steady. We are catching somewhere between 15-25 catfish each outing with most days getting some large “picture” cats.

We are in the middle of a heavy Mayfly hatch right now. Catfish are surface feeding right at dusk. It is fun to see all the fish this river has. I still am able to get the bigger fish off the bottom of the river while this is going on though.

The Fargo area of the river is LOW. Watch out for deadfalls! They have a tendancy to sneak up and surprise you. From Grand Forks and North the river is a little high but well within its bank. The fishing to the north of here is somewhat slow as it is dropping fast. This past weekend the Cats Incredible Catfish Tourny was held in EGF and only 9 teams out of 150 limited for both days.

Good Cattin!

Dennis

How is it going Dennis? The nice weather has the cats hanging in there nicely.

Any word on the sauger bite yet?

Thanks Dennis,

Ed

Sept. 23,
The water temperature has taken a tumble this past weekend with it falling from the upper 60’s to the upper 50’s and still going down. With that the catfishing has become extemely difficult the last couple of days. We did have a pretty good outing on Friday though, with good numbers of fish and with a couple in the high teens.
This slow fishing will last until the water temps stabilize. The Walleye and Sauger are starting to show a little more frequently now and this fishing will be on the upswing with the cooler water temps as these fish start their migration upstream.

The water level is extremely low on the Fargo area of the Red. The rest of the Red River has somewhat normal flows right now.

Ed, I have not tried the Drayton area but would expect the Saugers to start up there any day now with the falling water temps.

Good Cattin!

Oct. 10
The fishing for catfish is getting tough as the colder weather has dropped the water temperature into the 40’s. We are still catching a few but numbers of cats are hard to come by. We are getting a few big fish though, most coming in deeper sections of the river right now.

The walleyes and saugers are starting to show up below the dams. There have been some reports of some huge walleyes being caught. Right now the water clarity is good (at least 3 inches) and these fish can be caught “crankin” or with live bait rigs or jigs for that matter. Expect the walleye fishing to improve as the water cools unless we get a rise in the river and the river muddies up.

Dennis