Here we go again!!!

[CANOPY SAM]

Well, this is either the fourth, or fifth time this summer our Red Lake River has gone from just fishable, to a raging torrent - overnight! Not sure how much rain we've received over the last two days, but it's pretty significant. We've got standing water everywhere again, and the river is nearly out of it's banks behind the house.

I'm sick of this. Whoever says "Climate Change" isn't real may want to rethink that. The meteoroligists are saying this is the most powerful low pressure system the midwest has seen in recorded history! I vividly remember us having mostly gentle rains when I was a kid, with an occasional passing thunderstorm.

I suppose it won't be long now and I'll be watching a glacier sliding south past my place! This sucks!

[Jack Peterson]

I suppose it won't be long now and I'll be watching a glacier sliding south past my place! This sucks!

Cool beans, an ice age wouldn't be bad! Ice fishing all year long=)

[Riverratpete]

Sorry Dude, its called drain tiles, water has no where else to go but to a river.

[MN Mike]

3 inches of rain in 24 hours doesn't help either.........

I'm interested in the glacial thing though...... HMMMMM

[Riverratpete]

True

[CANOPY SAM]

Okay. Return of the ice age.... Now I only have to find 150 12" extensions for the auger. Hhmmm?

Can't argue with you Pete. The drainage systems in place now cause such rapid runoff we can get 2 inches of rain, and an hour later you can hardly tell it's rained - except by the river's height!

A fishing buddy of mine was wading our river a few years back and found a large pile of dead crayfish in a little eddy current. He was curious as to how they'd all died simultaneously. He sent a couple to the DNR who had them analyzed. Their report: rapid heavy rain fall caused a sudden concentrated influx of toxic agricultural chemical to flush into the river causing a mass die-off of aquatic invertebrates. Nice!

When I was a young man this river was healthy. Literally full of walleye, catfish, big pike, and all sorts of other fishes and critters. There's still fish there, but nothing like it used to be.

I suppose there are many factors that contribute to this decline. Either way it frustrates me.

I've heard we received anywhere from 2 1/2 to 4 1/2 inches of rain within a 20 mile radius of TRF - in a 24 hour period. I think this is the 3rd or 4th time this has happened this year. Looks like our fall fishing may be done.

[lovebigbluegills]

The water below the dam was almost perfect for fishing before this past rain...what a bummer. I wonder if it'll come around again before freeze-up??

[Matt Breuer]

CANOPY, there were a lot of kitties when you were a kid? I never remember catching many up until the past 10 years or less. Granted, I fished above the dam my entire childhood for the most part, but we'd always make trips to the lower portions and below the dam. Never remember tagging any, especially not of decent size like now...

[CANOPY SAM]

Hi Matt. Yes, back in the mid-70's and early 80's there was a good population of catfish from below the TRF dam on down to EGF. The interesting thing was we had numbers of really big cats back then.

It wasn't uncommon at all to see a several cats between 18-25 lbs. strung on the same stringer in a single day. Of course, back then virtually all fish were killed and nothing was released, so this certainly may have contributed to their demise.

In the late 80's the Army Corp of Engineers, or someone, decided to fill in the huge washout hole below the main spillways of the dam. That hole was up to 40 feet deep, and covered several hundred square yards. I think most of our fish relied on that deep hole for cover. They filled in the entire thing with large rock, leveled out the verying depths across most of the river, and removed the island that once existed as the "tail-out" just down river from the dam. This has begun to form again over the years.

After that the fishery really fell off for many, many years.

Only a few years back now they removed the dam in Crookston. This move seems to have reintroduced catfish back to our area. I'm guessing we don't see the big fish like we used to simply because there aren't the really deep holes for them to lounge in anymore. But we do have great numbers of 3-8 lb. fish.

Tried a little fishing behind the house two days ago. The water is still very high and really moving fast. It'll be icy before she comes back down.

[Matt Breuer]

I forget how old you guys are sometimes.... Kidding of course!

Very interesting info, thanks for that! Explains a lot! I knew the catfish influx was from removing the dam in Crookston. Sure changed things in the entire stretch of river...

I think you nailed the demise on the head. I was fishing down there post-fill-in. Mid-80's and up...

Side note, I'm finishing up some QA at work and then am headed to TRF. Give me a ring this weekend if you want to grab an eat to bite or something.

[CANOPY SAM]

Hey Matt. Sorry I missed your message. Have to catch you next time around.

Spent the weekend cleaning out the gardens with wife and kids. Glad to have that done. Nice weekend to be outside, not the best weather for deer hunting.

River's dropped a little over the last few days. May soak a minnow down there this evening.

Look forward to the first snowfall for grouse hunting. Gotta fly down to Georgia in a week for work, then muzzleloader season starts.

Are you deer hunting this year?

[Matt Breuer]

I was up there for deer hunting. First time rifle hunting in 6 years. It was great to hang with family and get a deer without freezing my buns off. I will still torture myself with muzzy season as well though... Next time we'll hook up!

[CANOPY SAM]

Well, let's plan on doing a little muzzy hunting together then! I can hardly wait for the regular season to end. It may be torture, but to me it's better than watching the road hunting parade.

Honestly, if we had family land, and a deer hunting tradition like many do, I'd probably feel differently.

So there's still a few left around the TB zone, eh?