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Drayton and HWY175 area reports


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WOW says it all, the fishing around Drayton is about as hot as this terrible hot weather. The BIG Cats are on the bite really good around Drayton this past week. With the low water the bigger fish seem piled in the deeper holes, especially the deep holes with a Mussel bar upstream. They are very active and feeding bigtime early and late in the day. Getting lot's of fish on cutbaits but it seems frogs have gotten the majority of the bigger fish the past couple trips. Shiners are showing up near the dam and the Sauger should soon follow. Lot's of Pike being caught near the dam as of late also.

Around the HWY175 access the fishing has been very good for numbers of small to medium sized fish, but I'm not seeing quite the numbers of larger fish I usually see in this area this summer it seems? Was out in the boat and did okay fishing some deeper holes evening hours. Also spent an evening/nite shorefishing 4pm till about 1am. We fished a run that is a big series of Mussel beds/bars and did well till about 7pm or so then it died till about 10:30 or so, then we had a flury of action with nicer fish till midnite and then it again died. Folks right down from us released a 37 and a 38 during this nite time flury. We did'nt get anything over about 15 pounds or so, but we get alot of nice fish when they turned on after dark.

We must of had a very successfull Catfish spawn last year, as I'm catching a ton of puny little Catfish while fishing for bait. Many more than I remember catching in years past, and they seem to be everywhere!

I can't wait till September....the nites get cooler and the fishing gets better! Hope the water stays low thru the fall this year, been pretty easy fishing that's for sure!

Regards....fiskyknut

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Hey I am heading up there for the first time this year.. I know I know what have I been waiting for but its been crazy...

How are the landings and where is the best to land?

Im going this week. Anyone going to be there this week?

------------------
Wiskers Guiding Service
Red River & Minnesota RIver Channel Cats, Flatheads & Walleyes
Crookston, MN
[email protected]

218-280-0442

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Ramp above dam in Drayton has been redone and is no problem.

Ramp below Drayton dam is steep as usual.... no problem as long as you're not launching anything huge! A little mud and a bit slippery if other boats have pulled out right before you do, this should'nt be the case on a weekday. Rarely on a weekend for that matter.

Ramp at HWY175 has a bit of mud at the base but was no problem.

These access's at this time are about as clear/clean as they'll ever be! Should'nt have a problem with any of them.

I'll be out that way Friday for sure, maybe tomorrow nite. Got to hit the pond once over the weekend though as I have'nt eaten any fresh Walleye in over a week now! Had Catfish, Hushpuppies, potatoes and coleslaw last nite....Yummy!

Apparently Catfish Haven has reopened also.

Have fun....fiskyknut

[This message has been edited by fiskyknut (edited 08-20-2003).]

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Thank you much sir.

Im off for Drayton now. If you get this message soon. give me a call on cell.

Need a bit of info from ya before I get there.


Summos beware.......

------------------
Wiskers Guiding Service
Red River & Minnesota RIver Channel Cats, Flatheads & Walleyes
Crookston, MN
[email protected]

218-280-0442

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Well I'd call but we use phone cards vs. long distance carrier as it's cheaper. Wife has new card in her purse, and the one I just tried here a bit ago at home is all used up.

Sorry....Fisky

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Thats ok, I just wanted to know about the water levels above and below the dam.. wow that water is low below the dam... I guess I should have went above the dam with my big boat... average was about 2 feet..little low for my 115 hp.

Will have to try above next time. got some good cats though.

------------------
Wiskers Guiding Service
Red River & Minnesota RIver Channel Cats, Flatheads & Walleyes
Crookston, MN
[email protected]

218-280-0442

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Wiskers this link will come in very handy.

Links Related to the U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources, and North Dakota. http://nd.water.usgs.gov/index/relatedlinks.html

From here you can get detailed info on levels and compare them to known situation by photo. I set a danger level that each section of the Red will effect me. That way I can reference them quickly before a trip and change plans accordingly if need be.

It will save you big $$$$ in time, and repair bills.

Hope this proves to be of help.

------------------
Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding "ED on the RED"
701-281-2300
[email protected]

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Fishing this past weekend near 175 was a bit slower than the trips prior. We got 4 fish around 14-18 pounds or so. First one came on a big live minnow 5 minutes after setting baits at around 4pm or so. The other 3 nice ones all came after dark between 10 and 11:30, and all on frogs. Had a bit of action on eating size fish thru the afternoon till about 8 or so and then they quit, these smaller ones were taking different cutbaits pretty well and we caught around 14 or 15 or so that were in the 2-5 pound range. Seems the small pecking catfish that were so thick the week before have moved from this hole to greener pastures. Water had dropped close to about another foot since the week prior.

Got out near Ponemah last nite for a short while, decent fishing up here. We got around a dozen Catfish in 3 hours, no big ones though, these were all 5 to about 12 pounds or so. Lost one very large fish at the shoreline as well {forgot net and steep bank!}. Cuts and Frogs were about equal in fish caught. Released a large Walleye that took a chunk of fresh Goldeye too.

Saw a little bit of rain the last couple of nites, Hopefully we'll get more soon.

Regards....Fisky

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  • 2 weeks later...

Heading up in the morning. I guess I'll drag the boat along, and maybe bounce it along the bottom below the dam. Hopefully the water's a little deeper up at hwy 175. Never fished up there. My fishin' buddy decided he'd rather stay home than drive five hours with no AC, so I'm probably flying solo this weekend.

[This message has been edited by scubohuntr (edited 09-06-2003).]

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If anybody's going fishing at Drayton, leave your boat at home unless you have an airboat or some kind of skinny water specialty rig. The water is down three feet from where it was a month ago. The current at the base of the ramp (and I do mean the BASE of the ramp) ought to have white-water rafters on it. There's enough water to launch a boat above the dam, but nobody's fishing up there. I tried for a while last night with no luck. Below the dam, it looked like the Columbia river at steelhead time. There must have been forty people fishing. There was a guy across the river that claimed to have caught seven over twenty pounds Sat. afternoon. I know I didn't cheat him out of any. I finally found a spot that had been vacated by a group of anglers of Latin descent, who kindly left all their trash behind. I carried out what I could when I left, but there was still a lot of cans and stuff there. Between the circus atmosphere and my own inability to catch a single goldeye (had to go to town and buy frozen ones, the SHAME!) I managed to catch five cats last night and this morning. Biggest was a little over nine pounds, the smallest was five even. Both the smallest fish were caught on frogs, the rest on mooshy old frozen cutbait.
[This message has been edited by scubohuntr (edited 09-07-2003).]

[This message has been edited by scubohuntr (edited 09-09-2003).]

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