What happened to our cats?

What has happened to our catfish? Are they all at a convention somewhere? Is there a big time catfish party going on somewhere?

As you may guess the bite with our catfish has taken a big nosedive the last couple of days and I have not a reason for it. The water temp is going up slowly and is now at 64. The river is now falling, but very slow. The catfish are not up the tributaries where they go when the Red slows.

I have put in my new RiverPro boat and have traveled to areas that have not been fished this year at all. All this with very little success.

If anyone is catching fish please let me know as I know a so-called catfish guide that has had a couple bad days trying to catch these fish.

Dennis

Dennis, Don’t be saying to me the cats arn’t biting I am comming up with some people from work next week and I have been braggin up the Red for a year now. I might get linched
if we don’t catch some cats.
If you get any ideas send me a P.M.
Thanks, Bowfinhunter

Ed, how are you doing with the catfish?

The cats have been moody at times, fickle on what they want to eat. They have been feeding well, very well. Fat as can be, some look like they ate a volleyball.

I switched baits many times to get back on them Kitty’s. Sour cuts were the deal, then fresh-fresh only, then shrimp, then crawlers, then dip baits. Getting tough when I resort to super funky dips…yup!

I have a hunch they are considering spawning early this season? The water levels are right and they can feel it. It was low early and until we seen all this rain I was thinking they would not spawn at all in 2003. My guess is they are changing habits almost daily and all the new food and run-off made them consider staging up to spawn, when they have a chance to do si.

Channel catfish in the upper Midwest and Canada will and can spawn at 65 degrees if they get a hankering to do so. The more common scenario is about 70 to 72, but they can at 65. Water temps are up, down, up again, then down a bunch, they have to be a bit confused too.

Some stable weather may bring back a more stable bite? I suspect this will be the case for a week or so yet if they do not spawn as early as the first week in June on the central region of the Red River system.

Be prepared to try a bunch of baits if need be. Odds are still good the Sumo Mama’s will go for fresh cuts, for numbers you may need some sniffer power, some dips.

I am headed North today Eh……….Gona catch me a Sumo…or two…Yup…Yup! The bite has been hot and solid on the lower Red, gona get me some Eh…Weeee—Haaa!

Good fish’n and don’t let them Pussy’s out smart ya Eh.

Thanks Ed,
I’ve never been out smarted by them pussy’s yet, at least not when I’ve been sober….er or are you talking about cats now?….. I’ll just shut up now…

Bowfinhunter,
The bite has been much better this week than last weekend. I still have no excuse for the slow down in the bite but everyone that I know who fished the river last weekend came up shy on numbers.

The best bait right now for good sized fish seems to be suckers, with cut goldeye not too far behind.

The water temp today was 68, the cats have not started their move up the Sheyenne to spawn as I am catching more fish on the Red. This should change within the next week or so though.

Hope your trip here goes well,

Dennis

The mystery is solved! I think. The catfish are not getting ready to spawn, they are just full. The catfish are gorging themselves with Elm seeds. Yes, I did say Elm seeds. The Elm trees started dropping seeds about a week ago and they are all over the place including the river. About half of the fish that I have cleaned the last couple of days are chuck full of this tiny seed. It is amazing that this tiny seed can screw up fishing so much!

Hopefully this new eatery for the fish will end as fast as it started. Most of the Elm trees have shed their seeds by now and I would guess that most of the seeds that ended up in the river are already eaten.

Better fishing is on its way!

Dennis

Dennis that is great news.
My “friends” just bought a new rope.
And I was getting scared. Thanks for the tips
See ya,
Bowfinhunter