Red River Update, 07, 28, 03

[Catmendo]

It's been a while since I've made any reports regarding the Red, we've simply been too busy catching trophy cats....
2003 has been one of the most consistant years for productivity on big channels. It seems they're everywhere. Fresh bait is always the ticket and for those that are following this rule are having a blast catching these whiskered giants.

sauger are begining to make their anual migration in off of Lake Winnipeg. This past week the catch rate for saugerhas steadily increased. There's also been reports of a few 'eyes being caught...this could be a good sign for things to come down the road. The action for trophy 'eyes on the Red and Winnipeg Rivers has been down for the past couple of years....no one really can explain why this has been the case. We're all hoping that 2003 the fishery gets back on track and that the fall run yields plenty of trophies...we're ready, I'll keep you posted!

Fish "Hard" Forever!

Stu McKay
www.catsonthered.net

[Guest]

Sounds encouraging for fall walleye to me Stu.

What has been your observations on the forage base? Food means walleye as we all know. One of the concerns we had in the past couple of years was the shiners not showing up as they should. Is this the case in 2003 or is it too early to speculate?

With all them chubby Kitty's around I would have to assume that food is plentiful?

Thanks,

Ed

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding "ED on the RED"
701-281-2300
[email protected]

[Catmendo]

Bait fish is indeed everything Ed........it appears that so far this year there's a very healthy population of emerald shiners in the system. When the shiner population is healthy, so to is the rest of the fishery.
It's far too early to tell, one can only speculate at this time but I've got a strong hunch that we'll witness a strong run of fall 'eyes this year. We obviously won't know for certain until the season is upon us, we'll just have to wait them out and see how it plays out!
Trying to put line up a trip on the big lake for some 'eyes in the next week or two, again I've got a strong hunch that there's quite a build up of 'eyes along the shores right now. There's only one way to answer that one isn't there......
We'll keep you posted if it gets exciting.

Fish "Hard" Forever!
Stu

ps. By the way my HSOforum under the new address is now officially back up and running. www.catsonthered.net

[Guest]

I hear the sauger action is hot up your way Stu?

Man the heat & humidity has been on HIGH in the Dakotas, Uf-Da, sounds like it will cool off this weekend though. Man O man I am glad to hear that!

Anything over 80 is down right dangerous to us Swede's, don't ja know, Eh!

Things are hopefully getting back to normal here. If so, I plan to pop up and hunt some Kitty's in September. A low stress trip sounds darn good to me about now!

Ed

[Catmendo]

The sauger bite is definately on at this time. The reason being is the river stuffed with emerald shiners! Over the past few weeks there's been a number of walleye showing up as well, this is a good sign.
Don't know what to expect, or how the fall walleye run will progress. I'm otimistic that there will be a strong showing of 'eyes in the river this fall but we'll have to wait to see how it plays itself out.
I hope the bite does happen and the river once again produces loads of big 'eyes. I've got my hands on Salmo's new floating Roach (R9F). It's a deadly looking bait that I feel has tons of potential here on the Red, time will tell!
Cats have been tough during this heat wave, they'll be back on target once things cool down a bit.

Fish "Hard" Forever!

[Guest]

The floating Roach is a winner, as is the perch divers. I have been tinkering with the new Salmo Sliders, they are cool baits, great for toothy critters Eh.

Starting to cool off today, a welcome change. Fishing has been good locally just miserably hot during the day.

We have seen more huge cats the past few weeks then in the past few seasons. When you get several #28 cats and many #20 plus cats on the central Red, that is a bumper crop of Piggy's Eh.

Falling river levels is concerning but the rain will come again soon. Next week may see a wet pattern moving in from the West, if the prediction holds true.

For now caution is wise and well advised when boating. Some areas are not accessible unless your running a jet drive right now. Wadding is not an option on most of the Central Red due to the soft sediments that will suck you in like glue. That gumbo goo likes to eat shoes like cats eat Goldeye.

The upper Red offers more course aggregates and a firmer bottom, so wadding is doable and often productive.

Fishing is always good, we just need to adapt is my theory. In a week we may be cussing high water again, who knows?

Change is good!

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding "ED on the RED"
701-281-2300
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 08-21-2003).]

[Catmendo]

Hey Ed,

Great to hear that the central portions of the river is starting to produce greater numbers of big fish! Now more than ever should there be pressure put on the "powers that be" to implement a no-kill policy over twenty four inches like we had implemented here so many years ago. It's been a total success story and it keeps folks coming back year after year. Every twenty pound plus cat that is removed from the river is a fish that will never reach thirty pounds!

Fish "Hard" Forever!

[Cheers]

When is the best time to fish for fall walleys ?

[Guest]

Stu I completely agree on the no-kill over 24" rule. We did gain significant ground with the 5/24 laws that limit the daily creel to 5 on all the Red and it's associated tributaries. This allows for only 1 over 24" per day per angler.

In the past 6 years I have had 0 clients that have harvested any over 24", mostly at their own request.

I make a point to explain that the younger cats are better eaters, and safer to eat. Once anglers understand the slow growth of the channel cats in the North most are eager to practice selective harvest.

The tide has definitely turned on the thinking that keep and kill all cats is wise, at least in the Northern states.

I was very pleased to see MN put a 1/24" restriction on flathead catfish this season. I suspect that in the case of the flathead they may go all C&R over 24" very soon. There is much talk on that in the DNR circles.

Will the upper Red go 100% C&R for channel cats over 24"? Not sure if that is near, just yet? I would like to see it and many others would too.

We would like to see more focus placed on the Red as a trophy fishery as you wise folks have in Canada. The walleye is one in need of more protection in my opinion.

There is talk of a new feud between ND & MN over the spring Conservation regulations. I hate to see it personally.

The talk is MN would like to see the SCS stay as is, but ND wish's to streamline the reg's and leave it as the rest of the state is in the spring, with no harvest restrictions. That would be disastrous in my view! Extremely foolish for the long term just to simplify the regs for the enforcement officials and courts.

Things are headed in the right direction with the exception of the spring walleye controversy. I would just as soon see all walleye over 28" mandatory C&R on the Red and keep the spring conservation harvest regulation as is. I would definitely lobby for this if the Spring Conservation Season becomes threatened this legislative season too.

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding "ED on the RED"
701-281-2300
[email protected]

[Guest]

Cheers

Hard to pinpoint when the best bite will be to a date. That depends on what part of the Red you plan to fish, and a bunch of other factors.

But in general, it will pick up quickly starting mid September and get better into October. I usually do well until freeze up, then again at early ice on the tribs, whenever that is safe enough to play on. Latter on I move to the Red proper and hunt walleye.

The best fall option is to fish as often as you can. As fall nears fish more during the low light periods, especially as the rivers clear. Early morning is often good, pre-sunup to an hour after sun-up. Same at dusk but that bite may run a few hours into dusk. Late season the bite may switch to a day bite (2:00 PM to dusk) as they try to soak up some rays from the sun. Then back again to a night bite pattern at ice-up.

Bulky jig bodies and shallow running cranks are often a good bet. Last year I played with BIG Millennium Bass Candy tube bodies and did very well in the fall.

They work through snaggy stuff well and offer a big target that hungry fall sumo walleye are eager to Slurp-Up. The sumo tube baits have a very natural swimming and fall motion, lots of tease to them for a hungry eye. You can see them at this link.
http://millenniumlure.com/index.html

Walleye feed heavy in the fall for winter, most of the yearly weight gain in in the fall so that tells you much right there.

Some folks like soaking suckers on bottom. It can produce but I have low confidence in it's efficiency. It is rare to find me bait soaking in the fall, very rare.

Hope this is of help.
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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding "ED on the RED"
701-281-2300
[email protected]

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 08-22-2003).]

[Catmendo]

The best time to fish walleye on the Lower Red is usually late September thru October.

I'm very optimistic that this year's fall run is going to be productive.....time will tell.

Fish "Hard" forever!

[Guest]

Anything new Stu?

Water is getting kinda "Skinny" here. We need rain badly to bring things back up to fall levels. No new flow from the South has things down to a trickle over the dams.

Cooling should bring on some walleye here, suspect it will soon do the same up your way too?

Time to go do my rain dance, again.

Ed

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding "ED on the RED"
701-281-2300
[email protected]

[Catmendo]

I agree Ed, the flow has tapered off quite a bit. However the river's in great shape up here and the cats are starting to feed with more aggression.
The walleye should start appearing now that these cooler temps will no doubt drop the water temperature. If the emerald population remains strong in the river this fall we could see loads of "BIG" 'eyes!
We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Fish "Hard" Forever!