grand forks cats

[pllwft]

haven't fished cats in grand forks since june. last day fishing before i left for the summer caught some pretty solid ones near the demers bridge. how's action been in the red and red lake rivers? anything else biting? i know smallies were starting to heat up early june too, what's the bite been like with them too?

[Scoot]

Don't now diddly about the smallies, but I know the reports for cats has generally been tough. I'd expect things to pick up pretty nicely over the next week or so.

[CatManLee]

Catfishing last Saturday (7/23) was pretty good for me. We caught a few cats over 10lbs and alot between 20-25"'s. I think the fishing is still good, but you might have to look a little harder to find them. You'll catch fish if your on em'! River levels are really good now too.

[pllwft]

sounds great...have you been catching any smallies or pike recently?

[CatManLee]

The pike and smallie bite I know nothing about. The only pike I have ever caught in the red have been by accident and I have yet to catch a small mouth from that river. I don't hear much about those fish in the Red, but I've heard good things from the Crookston area on the Red Lake River.

[pllwft]

Last fall under the Demers bridge I brought in 2 pike and 4 smallies in a 2-day period. I was using cranks and flashy spinners targeting those fish, not the cats. Somebody I talked to at Cabelas said that he's brought in 15# pike from under that bridge, said they're few and far between, but pretty big once you hook into em. Mine were both less than 30", but pike nonetheless

[hanson]

CatMan-

You are correct about Pike in the Crookston area. By the way, missed you on Saturday for Rusty's Gathering.

I don't know if there is a wrong way to fish for them. Shallow running cranks along the rip-rap river banks will catch them. I have seen them caught on frogs while fishing cats on the bottom. They also don't seem to mind cut goldeye on the bottom while fishing cats.

However, the fishing has been fairly slow recently unless you are after Sheepshead or Goldeyes.

[CatManLee]

I was in Crookston, but had to leave a little earlier than expected. I was on the river until about 3pm. I only caught a couple cats around 20"'s. Definetly not a good river for prop driven boats! I would say I hit bottom a good 10+ times! Oh well, I was going slow so it didn't do any damage. That stretch of river is definetly "River Pro Territory"!

As for the pike & smallie thing in the red river. I've always wanted to try throwing some flashy lures and try for some, but always decide not to. I guess I always figured the river is so dark, that it would be pointless, but now maybe I'll give it a try after Cats Incredible. Have you or anyone ever pitched jigs on the Red around Grand Forks or north for Walleye? Thats also something I've wanted to do, but never have, same reason. I've caught all my walleye on the Red using slip/3-way rigs when fishing for cats.

[Tully]

The north (Contact US Regarding This Word) is always real good for walleyes on jig & minnow in the spring.

Tully

[Steve Foss]

I fished the Red around GF/EGF from 1972 to 2001 before moving away.

Either of the d-a-m-s, the one at the Point where the Red and Red Lake rivers come together or the one further north below Riverside Park, will produce a lot of different kinds of fish on a jig/minnow or slip-bobber/minnow/crawler. They turned the one at Riverside into a boulder rip-rap rapids several years ago. They'd planned the same thing at the Point, but I haven't been back there for a couple years so don't know if that's been done yet.

Either way, if you fish the current around the shore rip rap or the rock in the channel, there are fish in there all the time. A slip bobber rig might bring you 'eyes, smallies, sauger, pike, crappie, goldeye, sheephead or cats. The jig/minnow, the brightest color and smallest size you can use and still get to bottom, is dynamite there for crappies in early spring. Until you get a good technique down, get ready to lose a LOT of jigs.

When the cottonwood leaves are on the water in fall, look for a big sauger run. They swim upstread and are blocked by the lowhead d-a-m-s. Best run I know of is Drayton, a bit north of GF, where the river remained undammed until you hit Lockport, Man. Sauger runs up to the Riverside area also can be good. However, with the replacement of the lowheads by the rip rap rapids, now the fish can get through to go upstream, so not sure how that could impact things, and don't know if they've converted the Drayton lowhead to rip rap.