Cat Fishing

[curt quesnell]

decoy,

When we fished Cats it was in the white
water right below the dam..I think we
used frogs as bait.

There were some good fish caught but I havent
heard about anyone even fishing for them
for a long while. If you are fishing over
in the Red River you are probably onto some
better spots.

Curt Quesnell

[Guest]

i too fish the red for cats. i also fish in crookston for them as well.
since i have no boat i am stuck with shore fishing. so just about anyplace i can get close to waters edge by foot i am there or wishing i was there as is the case right now.
the problem i have found right below the dam (by cabelas) is the amount of snags. sooo terrible. i believe this is the red lake river. we found the other dam late last summer and did not have much of a chance to fish near it. hope to this summer.
so i have no help with that.
i have noticed that some of the normal spots that have produced in the past...did not do so well this past summer. not sure why this was the case. just noticed it was.
Monty

[decoy]

All right guys. I have been catching cats in Grand Forks area for the past 6 yrs. Great fun there. We usually fish with frogs on the bottom. I have heard of some recentl stories about catching some nice cats below the dam here in town. I have some ideas of where, but have yet to try. Anyone know where and how catch cats here?
Any catfish over eight pounds is a nice fight. Who knows, we might have a nice spot to do some cat and release here!

[CANOPY SAM]

One of the best spots to catch nice cats in Grand Forks is right below the point bridge. On the Minnesota side on the south side of the Red Lake river where it mets the Big Red. Where the two rivers meet there is a substantial eddy current that flows well out into deep water - straight out from the "point". The big girls move up into that eddy late at night, or especially right after a heavy rain to feed. I can honestly say that I caught the heaviest stringer of fish in my life right on that spot following a summer flood back in 95'. I caught 9 fish from 11:30 pm., to 1:30 am. Measured em' all and let em' all go. I estimated the total weight right around 80 lbs. The biggest was 39 inches long with not a single fish under 6 lbs.. The sad part - I was absolutely alone on the river. Me, a six pack, a fire, and gobs of big cats.
As for the Red Lake River today, I'm not sure if you can catch really big cats in there anymore. I'd guess that there still around, but I think you'd have to do some real huntin' for em'. Try fishin' the upriver end of any deep holes you find, or toss a bait just upriver of any big downed trees in the river. Usually you'll find nice cats doin' those two presentations on just about any river that has whiskers in it.