Wild Rice River (mahnomen/twin valley)

[Jim Uran]

I'm giving it a shot tonight near Twin Valley, Has anyone heard anything or does anyone have any tips, I would greatly appreciate any info.

[Ihateriversnags]

Last year I tried the wild rice just west of mahnomen. Although I was not using live bait I was just throwing cranks, spinners and such I didn't catch a thing. I did try by the bridge once with leeches just south east of the casino with little luck as well. I have no real information for you LOL but good luck and let us know how you do.

[Jim Uran]

Well I went out last night until 10:30. Me and my woman caught 6 cats, a walleye, a sauger, a dozen "mooneyes", and a few suckers. The biggest Cat we caught was about 5 lbs. I did lose what felt like a bigger cat in a log jam about 20 yds upstream from us. We fished over by Twin Valley. We were using night crawlers and leeches with a spinner rig at the edge of a big current break. Anyways we had a good time, I think I'm going to give it a shot by Mahnomen tonight I seen a couple of nice bends in the river that I want to give a shot. I'll let you know how I do in my future adventures.

[hanson]

Hey Leechbait-

Not sure if you know about this yet. Channel cats love cut Goldeye or Mooneye. I'm guessing you guys were catching goldeyes but they could have been mooneye. Doesn't matter. The point is if you want to target the cats, catch a few of them mooneye, cut them into about 1" wide steaks and put them on the hook. Channel cats love them!!

That reminds me that I have to stock up on cutbait.

Good Luck to ya!

[CANOPY SAM]

Leechbait,

I fished the Wild Rice River, east, west and south of Ada, MN for about 4 years. There are tons of fish in there, and almost no one fishes it. It's primarily an evening / night bite river so you really need to lather on the bug spray, but it's usually worth the hassle.

Hanson is correct about the Goldeye / Mooneye - essentially the same fish if I'm not mistaken. Cats really like little steaks of goldeye. There are also a lot of pretty decent walleyes in there. I've caught some real dandys and seen fish up to 10 lbs.

The secret to this river is to fish either deeper holes in the bends of the river, in front of big nasty snags - downed trees in the river, or accross rip rap banks, rock piles or adjacent to almost any rock you can find - especially where current is pushing up onto a rock pile.

One of the best baits I've found there were leopard frogs. There are many small ponds and sloughs near the river where there are small to medium sized frogs for most of the spring and summer. They can also be sound hopping right on the river bank. The best part of this is that your bait is free! Tie on a 1/4 ounce jig head, hook a small leopard frog on through the lips, and cast it into and around the rocks. You'll catch fish.

It sounds like you've already figured out the cat secrets - they're everywhere. One night a friend and I set up on a stretch of river right between Twin Valley and Ada. No one ever fishes this area. Long story short we caught 100's of cats all night long! Most were around 3-4 pounds, but we caught several 7, 8, and 10 lb fish. Couldn't hardly enjoy a cold one cause the darn cats would take a bait as soon as we tossed it out there.

The only draw back to this system is the fish are pretty sandy, or muddy tasting. I wouldn't eat a bunch of em', but a meal once in a while wouldn't kill ya'.

Good luck.

[Jim Uran]

Wow !!! Thanks for all the great information guys. I will make sure to bring a knife next time to use some fresh cutbait, The next time we go I want to make it an all nighter. Is that cut bait freezable? Or does it turn to mush when it is thawed. It would be nice to have some stocked in the freezer. Well all I know is that I am getting hooked on these cats. Thanks again.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Fresh is best, but frozen works, too. Best advice I have found is freeze it whole in small batches. It gets real mushy if you refreze a few times.