I have never fished the lower Red above the Fargo area except for the Lockport section, but I do know that it contains some truly immpressive cats.
You hear of upper 20’s all the time and even a 30 here and there.
Would a 24″ regulation produce more trophy fish? I don’t know for a fact.
Some bodies of water need some harvest to reduce the population so that they can produce tropy fish. But usually this harvest contains the smaller fish.
The Red however is a very fertile system and I beleive that a 24″ inch regulation would produce larger fish.
Besides, like Brian said, the best eaters are under the 24″ lenght anyway.

I keep smaller channels from the MN.
Haven’t noticed any different in the taste or texture from fish I have caught on other systems.
I know a lot of old timeres that have been fishing that river and they aren’t any crazier or glow any more than other old timers.

The question is…how are you going to stop us from messing with Manny?!

Ive eaten bass….ONCE!
I doubt even a cat could aquire a taste for that!

Channel cats however are yummy! Under 4lbs for me.
Couple reasons…
The big ones can accumulate toxins from our rivers and they just don’t cook up well.

Nice fish there Dave!

WOW!
That is one big gold eye.

Tarpon fishing is something that has been on my list for years.
One of these days… one of these days…

Kahle hooks still are my favorite for the fact that they are very hard to straighten. The sharper the bend in a hook the more the more difficult it will be to straighten that bend. That is the biz end of a kahle hook.

I also don’t seem to have as much of a problem with a kahle turning into the bait as other hooks. Even less if you give that kahle a little extra twist with the needle nose.

I did find some bigger kahles at CC. They are called King Kahle Lazers and are 8/0. They also seem to be a lot sharper than the 7/0 lazers.

Why are frogs hard to find?
Are they just not around this year, or do most guys not know where to look?
Just wondering ‘cuz I know a spot.

Is it happening while the rod is loaded slightly or after the the initial hit?

If its after the initial hit its just the rod “rocking in the holder. I have Cabelas or Scotty holders on my cheap river boat and they do the same thing.

I have also seen a slow back and forth action on the rod when under load from a cat comming upstream. I can only assume its the line moving back and forth in the current. With a bow in the line , especialy with braids that may tend to flatten a little , the line can move farther distance from side to side in the current. Of coure this is only a guess.

Its fairly common and something I watch for to indicate a cat has picked up the bait and started moving upstream, but it is weird!

I like the idea of bending some fiberglass in the corners.
To add to that.If you were to drill lots of holes into the fiberglass,add some filter material and sick the suction end of a pump behind the fiberglass and into the filter material.You would have a very nice filter system too.

I am heading up in a little while.We are going to fish the stretch just east of Baudette.
Great tips on the walleye.
Be fun to get into a few nice smallies.Any tips on what to fish or what to use?

Very nice cat!

I like your photo shop play also.Cool way to remember a nice catch.
Kinda looks like I am seeing it thorugh a fly’s eye.

Hi guys.
Been a long time since the last post.
Anyone visiting this forum regularly?
I fish the river as much as I can.Looking forward to catching a few walleye this fall.