Red River Walleyes & Cats? - Fishing Reports

[CaptnKirkDaMann]

Hi, I'm new to the site and new to the Fargo/Moorhead area so I have some questions about fishing the Red.

 

I've been fishing the Moorhead side casting plastics with very few hits but haven't been out for over a week. A few channels and suckers are all that I've managed to land. Yeah, I agree that more suckers would be stupendous but what's a guy to do. Hmmm, gets me pondering, is there really such a thing as too many suckers? The kitties have been pretty small & should be referred to as kittens, actually they've been kinda cute. I haven't seen any eyes caught or snagged, but heard of some being wrangled to shore around Fargo. I would never ask for your hot spots but don't mind suggestions to community areas on the MN side. Now on to the questions.

 

1) How would you rate the fishery in the Fargo area?

2) Are typical river colors the go to for eyes on the Red?

3) Do plastics produce as well as live bait?

4) Cut or stink bait for the channels?

5) How much will a ND nonresident lic set me back?

 

Thanks for reading my ramble, have a good one.

[huntnfish]

First off, welcome to the site. The Red River page gets kind of quiet but if you look back at previous posts there's a lot of good info. I've never fished much for cats but when I have I have always used cut up goldeye. I've also heard frogs are good but I have no first hand experience with that. 

 

1- I feel that the fishery in Fargo is excellent and overlooked by a lot of people. The biggest eyes that I've caught have been on the river. 

2,3- I normally use a chartreuse twister tail on the river with a jig head. The main reason for the color choice is because that is what I have an abundance of. I've caught them on white and yellow also. I don't use live bait at all unless the kids are along. They're not really able to do much pitch and retrieve yet and the minnows give them a little better chance I feel. 

4- the only thing I've used is cut bait so I'd recommend finding some gold eyes or some suckers and chunk them up for bait. 

5- last time I looked the ND NR license was something like $35. 

 

My biggest tip for the river and pitching jigs would be that if you aren't getting snagged once in a while your jig is too light. Hung up too often and you are too heavy. I'm normally in the 1/8-1/4 ounce range. I have also caught a bunch of fish pitching cranks. I wasn't a believer until I watched Ed Carlson fish next to me and reel in fish while I kept on pitching my jig and not getting anything. Try something that's got a nice wide wobble. And if you are going to toss anything into the river be sure to remember that anything thats tied onto that line may not come back. I have donated lots of tackle to the old river gods over the years but I have also been rewarded with a lot of fish and some real dandies. These river fish have a lot of fight in them. 

 

 Remember that if you're keeping any walleyes or sauger on the red is that the limit is less than the MN and ND bag limit. I have seen more than one person ticketed at the north dam with their stringer of 4 eyes. 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2017 by huntnfish

[556LaGue]

Cutbait is all I use for cats on the red. Cut goldeye, sucker and frogs are my go to baits. Typically a 4-6 oz no roll sinker with a foot leader or shorter. Cast it down current and wait. Caught a lot of cats that way. We actually caught eyes doing that too but not many. Haven't tried bait paste or anything like that but would imagine it would work

[CaptnKirkDaMann]

Thanks.

I was only able to give it a whirl once shortly after the post, tried swim baits and tails with no luck. Yep, hear ya about the tackle sacrifice so the generic heads and rubber are the ticket. Depth, current speed, and the angle of the line are considerations when choosing jig weight but I'll use the lightest head possible. Various styles of swim baits and cranks have done well for me on the Sippi & MN in the past but haven't been smacked on the Red yet. Scheels in Moorhead is dumping the fishing stuff and had a little clearance bin where I scored a few cranks for cheap. Only lost one crank to the Red, but had a few close calls & the Rap was like $3. One thing I've learned about casting cranks in rivers is that I loose less if they're floaters and the front treble hook is customized or removed. It helps to use a braid also, when the vibration changes I stop reeling so the lure can back or float up out of the snag. Usually river fish crush a crank bait and I know it's a fish, they ain't got the luxury of suckin & spittin.

[proguide]

I am not a big walleye caster on the Red so I will avoid that part of the conversation.  The Fargo area is pretty good for cats. Normally known for numbers more than size but there are some brutes in the area for sure.  I would stick with cut bait and a 4 or 5 ounce sinker to work the break lines and edges. 

 

The cats are setting up for the prespawn.  Before this cold front I was on a nice bite at Grand Forks and saw some buddies from Moorhead were doing quite well from shore.  I predict by next week things will start to get rolling again when the water warms up.