Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Here we go again!!!


Recommended Posts

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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=)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. cry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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. cry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I forget how old you guys are sometimes.... wink 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.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • SkunkedAgain
      Hogs! Hogs!!!
    • MarkB
      My 2 cousins and myself just finished up a windy 4 day trip to our favorite lake. It was the last of the year and was eventful to say the least. When we arrived, water temperatures were 61 degrees and when we left yesterday morning the water temps had dropped to 54 degrees. The fishing was fantastic, once again, and we caught walleyes, bass, and northerns on minnows and crawlers(northerns only on minnows). We found the fish adjacent to shallow rock piles(14') in 20'-28' of water. Our best fishing hours of the day were ~5:30 -twilight in the evenings and until ~ 10:30 in the mornings. Although those two time periods were prime time, fish bit all day. For us, the bite was very light and we probably missed or lost as many fish as we caught. Some people think I'm nuts when I say bead color can make a difference and it certainly did this trip. My cousin's "go to" green/white bead combo did zilch on this trip. It was one translucent red bead and a plain size #2 gamakatsu hook with a 3' leader that produced the fish. We ended up with 137 walleyes and 19 bass for the 4 day outing. We caught far more 17"-19.999" walleyes on this trip than on our previous trips and our numerous slot fish measured from 21"-25". My younger cousin caught 4 slot fish in ~20 minutes one evening. We fish exclusively for walleyes and additional species are incidental. With that said, we caught some beautiful smallmouth bass on this trip and they were right down there with the walleyes, usually in the rocks. As usual, everything is catch and release except for the fish we eat while there and the 12 walleyes(3 individual limits) we take home to the wives. While cleaning some eaters we kept for supper, we always check the stomach contents. One of the walleyes had the jig that is pictured below loose in its stomach!  No attached line, no embedded hook, just the jig! It baffled us as to how in the world it could have gotten there . As you can see, the jig is in good shape so the fish must have swallowed it recently .   The boat traffic was minimal this trip and we had a couple days where it looked as if we had the lake to ourselves. Sunday was a brutal day with wind gusts to 50MPH!. We stayed in and ventured out finally at ~5:00. It turned out to be the best 2 hours of the entire trip. This time, the baby loons were around, the eagles were abundant, the changing leaves made the entire lake area look like a painting. If I could make only one short trip a year to the lake, now would be the time. What capped off the trip was the magnificent display of the Northern Lights. We can't wait for next spring to return, God willing, and, in the meantime, good fishing.  MarkB🙂 The jig found in the stomach of a walleye we ate.   My young cousin with his best of the trip.   a chunky 17" smallmouth   19.5" smallmouth
    • leech~~
      Well, since they both say Propane on them.  Not propane QT++ their probably both the same gender!  🤭
    • Wanderer
    • Brianf.
      What an amazing extended weekend. The fish were happy and cooperated nicely.   We also had the unique experience of fishing under Northern Lights each of the last three nights in pristine weather conditions.  I wish everyone could have that experience, even if just once.  The pics below don't do it justice, though you get the idea.  The walleyes are putting on the feedbag and some are getting rather plump.  We caught mostly slot fish with several 'overs' in our bag.  Our two biggest weighed 8lbs 5oz and 8lb 3oz.     The crappies were active at dusk and beyond.  Almost all of the ones we caught were 14" or bigger.  The biggest we caught was a bit over 15".  We lost two muskies at the boat and caught a 38" pike after dark - quite surprising.   Every fish we caught was immediately released btw.  Water temp 54/55 when we left.  All-in-all, another great fishing experience on Lake Vermilion - for which I'm so incredibly appreciative.        
    • JerkinLips
    • leech~~
      The price and the label.  It's that same exact gas.  
    • Finns
      I don't use gas anymore, what's the difference between them?
    • Fish Head
      Great to hear from you again Mark! I've always liked your posts over the years. 
    • leech~~
      Yep, it's just you know and I know every dad who takes his kids or family camping for the first time.  Is buying the camping gas no matter the cost, cuz it says "Camping" on it! 🤭🤭
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.