first timer

[b123]

We are heading up to the red channel cat fishing this weekend and looking for any advise or info. I fish the Monticello St cloud area for cats but never been up to the red and would like to come as prepared as possible. I run a 18 foot Jon with a prop guard set up for the river to get around in

[CANOPY SAM]

Better hang tight for a week or two. We just got slammed by a wicked storm that dropped a ton of rain. The river is going to be a mess for a while now.

[b123]

How much rain did the Fargo area end up getting?

[CANOPY SAM]

I think only a couple inches, but I'm not sure?

If you're only planning to come up as far as Fargo then maybe you'd still be okay to fish? I live two hours north of there, and our river is chocolate milk, and it's running super high, and super fast!

[huntnfish]

Fargo got about half an inch of rain. It shouldn't affect the river here.

http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=fgf

This will give you an idea of what the river levels are and what they're predicted to be.

[b123]

So am I reading it right that there are no flooding issues on the red then? We got held back a couple weeks now due to work. What would be some advice for a first timer in those parts

[CANOPY SAM]

b123. As it turns out, most of the really heavy rain fell just east of the Red River Valley. I've heard that Fargo only got about an inch of rain, and Grand Forks only received about 2 inches. Meanwhile, 40-50 miles east of the Red River, we received 4+ inches of rain, and just a few miles north of us they received an average of 5-6 inches of rain! All this water is headed toward the Red River of the North.

The news out of Grand Forks last night cautioned about rising water levels in the Red River over the next week. Not sure if it will reach flood stage, but even then the river is still fishable. However, the landings might be under water, so launching obviously becomes an issue.

If and when you can get up for some fishing one of the best techniques I've used over the years has been to run and gun big river snags. Not all snags are the same. Ideally you want a large tree, or cluster of trees and debris in fairly deep water (8-12+ feet) if you can find them. You'll find trees laying in the water alongside the shoreline, but some of these might only be laying in a few feet of water, and as such won't hold too many fish.

Dropping baits on the deep water edge of snags, and in a line across the upriver edge of the large mid-river snags will bring good fish out of the snag to your baits. You wanna get your baits pretty close to the edge of the snag, upriver, so the scent of your bait is carried into the snag by the river current.

A simple heavy duty "Lindy Rig" style live-bait rig will do. Pick up some true circle hooks, some heavy duty barrel swivels, and 1 to 2 oz. "no roll" slip sinkers or Lindy sinkers. Another presentation that's worked very well for me has been to get the baits up off the bottom. I like to rig up my own "three-way swivel" rigs. I get my weights about 1 to 1 1/2 feet below the three way swivel, with about 1 foot of tag line from the three-way swivel to the circle hook. It's just my theory, but I think this presentation offers a wider, higher scent trail down stream from the bait when compared to a rig that simply lays on the bottom. Have plenty of extra equipment. You're probably going to lose some tackle, but that's just part of the game.

Good baits to use for big channel cats are fresh cut sucker minnow, fresh cut goldeye, whole or fresh cut creek chub minnows, and leopard frogs if you can find them. Personally, I don't use store bought stink baits. In my experience they typically catch smaller cats. The big girls really prefer a nice chunk of fresh meat.

Okay, so now you know where to find the fish, and what to use to get their attention. I think the last bit of advice I can offer is this. Don't waste your time sitting in one spot waiting for fish to come to you. Drop anchor 15 yards upriver of a good snag, throw out your fresh baits, and give it 30-45 minutes. If you don't connect on a fish, move! If they're in there, and they're hungry, they'll come out for your offering. Hit a fish within the first 20 minutes, give it another 20-30 minutes. After that, if nothing happens, move again.

Change your baits often. Despite what many people say, that catfish are bottom feeders and love stinky junk to eat, catfish are actually very predatory, and they truly prefer a big juicy fresh chunk of fish or frog for a snack. If you leave a chunk of bait out there for more then an hour that bait is now water-logged, soft, and has little to no "scent" left in it. You can still catch a fish on it, but you'll find that "hits" come less and less often on old, water-logged mushy baits. Put on a fresh juicy bait every 20-30 minutes and you'll get far more fish interested in your baits.

Depending on where you plan to fish, Fargo area, Grand Forks, or points north, you should really call one of the outdoor sporting goods stores in either Fargo or Grand Forks before you come up. They'll have first hand, up to the minute river conditions, and they'll also know boat ramp conditions and where the best bite is going on.

Good luck b123! Report back on how your fishing goes. Hope to see lots of pictures of big fish!

Oh, and lastly, please put the bigs one's back. I've found, if I want to eat a few catfish, I'll keep a couple 2-3 pound fish for the table. Anything bigger then 4-5 lbs is likely pretty mushy, and full of pesticides and toxins anyway.

[proguide]

The Red is fine. Fargo's gauge isn't even moving and Grand Forks will be rising about 3 feet to around 22 feet. Points north such as Drayton have already had ramp issues and are not yet open as far as I know. Come on over to Grand Forks or Fargo and have fun.

If you fish Grand Forks other than right along the bank, plan to use about 4oz sinkers.