Any catfish reports from Selkirk

[wall_eye_assasin]

This forum has been quiet for a while and was wondering how the catfish have been doing this year up on the Red river in Selkirk Manitoba. We are heading up in a few weeks and wanted to know how the bite was going and what the hot bait was. I am sure frogs and tulibee are the baits of choice but just wanted to hear if the cats are on the bite and how the river conditions are. Thanks for any update or information..........

[wall_eye_assasin]

Dtro and some guys are up in Selkirk as this is being written, They are having a blast and catching fish. Biggest as of tonight was 26lbs caught with a frog under a bobber. The bite is late at night as of right now. Nice work guys and keep us posted........Kirk

[Scoot]

Yes, it has been quiet in here. This year's pretty much been a complete bust for me and for many river rats around here. The water has also been very high and fast up in the Selkirk area. I hope dtro takes lots of pics and shares with us. I haven't been up to visit Stu in a couple years, so I could use a fix with some pics! My son will be old enough to make a trip up to Stu's in a couple years and I likely won't get up there until then...

[shefland]

I too miss the reports, I plan on going again this year around the 11th of September, talked to Stu the other day and he said for the first time since the dam was built in 1910 the curtains are still not in place! Now thats a lot of water going thru the system! This yearly trip is so much fun, hope the current settles down some, I use a 16 ft jon boat when I am there, and hope It doesn't require 5oz or more of weight to be in the cat zone. An body been up to the Lockport area chime in.

[aanderud]

We absolutely smoked the fish last weekend Saturday to Tuesday. High current areas with frogs. We caught nearly 100 in the 4 days, and could have had more had we not run out of frogs on day two. Luckily day 4 brought out more frogs and we made a great 51-fish finale (with a dozen of those over 20 lbs -- 6 of Pete's Tuesday fish broke that barrier). Total weight was roughly 1500 lbs.

Here's one thing I know. The best and most convenient launch location up there is definitely NOT the best place to stay. Had a room booked for months, and even confirmed it on August 8th. However, he didn't have a room for us when we showed up. He said one of his guys was checking out the next day, and we should come back the next day and he'd hook us up. So, we had to find a hotel room for at least a day. Ended up in a very reasonably priced Rivercrest Motel just a few miles down the street. Not the best place ever, but the price was right. Funny thing was at the original place we had booked, THREE of his SEVEN cabins were full of not people, but personal items. LOL. Self storage units can be rented for $100 a month, but instead the storage is now costing him to lose up to THREE $150 per night customers from cabin rentals. WOW.

Launched the boat there the next morning, which is when he told us to come back and get checked in for our room. Noticed people packing up out of the cabins that weren't being used for storage units. Saw him on his pontoon before he launched for the day guide trip, and he didn't even bother acknowledging us. There was no "hey, your room will be ready in a couple hours" or anything -- absolutely nothing until I said "hey" and "good morning" and "we got into a few last night". But even those just deserved a simple nod and a "hello" apparently -- not quite a conversationalist this morning. I can honestly say I've never seen a businessman so unwilling to work even a TINY bit to make a customer happy and take their money.

But Pete, Eric, Darren and I made the best of the weekend regardless. LOTS of memories, and the best cat fishing (and catching) I've ever seen. Get up there NOW and get them while the bite is HOT. And don't forget the frogs. As many as you can get your hands on. Dry as a bone up there and very few opportunities to catch them there.

[DTro]

I guess the best thing I can recommend is that you have a backup plan to make sure you have a bed to sleep in and bring lots of frogs. Brian's account is spot on and it was a bummer to say the least about our room.

I posted some pics in the Cat Forum. 5 oz and find the current seam. Both outside bends and inside bends had fish. The dam area was pretty much a bust for us. One big one with a bobber up there by the fish ladder, but it was a PITA to fish in that whole area.

You really have to search to find decent accomodations, food, drink, etc in that area. I would have no problem staying at Rivercrest again, and we found a decent sportsbar with good food and affordable prices at Boogies on the Northside of Winnipeg.

Another strange deal is that while we were up by the dam on the first day looking for a bite pattern, we noticed some EMT's and Fire trucks up on the dam, then a Zodiac on the river above the dam. We figured someone had fallen in or they were looking for a body, and sure enough a lifeless body floats by us and they pulled out the Zodiac and brought it around the dam to pick it up. Very creepy and the trip could have really went downhill from there (especially after the whole cabin thing)

Sure am glad it went the other way though! The fishing was dynamite!

[BigSkyCatMan]

We absolutely smoked the fish last weekend Saturday to Tuesday. High current areas with frogs. We caught nearly 100 in the 4 days, and could have had more had we not run out of frogs on day two. Luckily day 4 brought out more frogs and we made a great 51-fish finale (with a dozen of those over 20 lbs -- 6 of Pete's Tuesday fish broke that barrier). Total weight was roughly 1500 lbs.

Here's one thing I know. The best and most convenient launch location up there is definitely NOT the best place to stay. Had a room booked for months, and even confirmed it on August 8th. However, he didn't have a room for us when we showed up. He said one of his guys was checking out the next day, and we should come back the next day and he'd hook us up. So, we had to find a hotel room for at least a day. Ended up in a very reasonably priced Rivercrest Motel just a few miles down the street. Not the best place ever, but the price was right. Funny thing was at the original place we had booked, THREE of his SEVEN cabins were full of not people, but personal items. LOL. Self storage units can be rented for $100 a month, but instead the storage is now costing him to lose up to THREE $150 per night customers from cabin rentals. WOW.

Launched the boat there the next morning, which is when he told us to come back and get checked in for our room. Noticed people packing up out of the cabins that weren't being used for storage units. Saw him on his pontoon before he launched for the day guide trip, and he didn't even bother acknowledging us. There was no "hey, your room will be ready in a couple hours" or anything -- absolutely nothing until I said "hey" and "good morning" and "we got into a few last night". But even those just deserved a simple nod and a "hello" apparently -- not quite a conversationalist this morning. I can honestly say I've never seen a businessman so unwilling to work even a TINY bit to make a customer happy and take their money.

But Pete, Eric, Darren and I made the best of the weekend regardless. LOTS of memories, and the best cat fishing (and catching) I've ever seen. Get up there NOW and get them while the bite is HOT. And don't forget the frogs. As many as you can get your hands on. Dry as a bone up there and very few opportunities to catch them there.

Awesome four days on the water. I wanna make a return trip up there in the next few years. Been there twice! What was your biggest Channel Cat of the trip??

[aanderud]

I think Eric got the biggest at 39 inches long, 23 or 23.5 girth, and 28 lbs.