tips 4 cats, Backwater???

[fiskyknut]

Rusty, the water is terribly low for sure, I think it is about the second lowest I have ever seen it in my life on Monday and Tuesday. Fished Cats on a very windy last Monday with great results in the evening, the last month or so all my Catfishing has been done on deeper runs and holes with adjoining Mussel beds. Frogs and cut Goldeyes or Redtails are all getting fish about equal for me. Find the right spots these days and the Catfish are piled very thick in them.

The Sauger are going nutty these days too. Spent a few hours on Tuesday after a bit of afternoon rain had turned the mud to butter. World's easiest Sauger fishing on the Red that's for sure! We were catching 1 fish on about every 3rd cast or so. Lot's of puny Saugers to sort thru as is the case every year in the late summer/fall. Plenty of fish big enough to keep and eat too.....A Guy would have no problem at all getting a limit of eaters in less than an hour! Actually got bored now and then of catching fish, and I'd set my rod down and walk around a bit picking up sinkers, filled another 2# coffee can easily. After this seasons low water lead collecting I'm not going to need to by any large no-rolls or disc sinkers for quite a few years!!!

Fisky

[Guest]

Don't expect them to be deep or in bottom of the hole.

They are more likely to be hunting up in 1-3' as the water cools, day or night. Once the water temp dives into the mid to lower 50's they will drop off into the pools. Then concentrate on the fastest breaks on the steepest slides with some cover (Rock or wood) above or below.

Flow and current is not an issue right now. So that means they roam where ever they wish, and far tougher to pattern.

I have had to sit longer on a location to get more bites with this low flow. Inside bends have been good to me, especially shallow tapering flats on inside bends.

Good hunting Wiskers.

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

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

[Canuck]

Listen to Eddy, go shallow. The tally for the 5 guide boats out of Stu's (Cats on the Red) today was just over 200 and most of them were in the shallow water. These kittie are FAT and I mean FAT. They are trying to make up for the lousy bite they were at the end of August. Hope this keeps up for a couple of wks.

[Wiskers]

Fiskyknut, where in the world are you fishing and finding sinkers like that?? Now that might be the next event for a get together like the frog stomp lol lol ...

Thanks Fellas for the tips. I went out this evening from 4-10:00pm. I tried deep, shallow, snags, inlets and up into the Redlake river from the Red and we boated only 4 cats.??? Wow it was tough.. Not too many runs either only missed about 3-4 fish. Nothing big only 6# and down. They were caught in 12 feet of water.

Had suckers, frogs, worms, leaches, steak, shrimp. All 4 fish were on the steak. Two hits on frogs and the rest not a nibble.

Gonna have to bring out the electric fencer soon lol lol

How is the water flow down by you Ed? Up here it takes a leaf 1.5 minuets to drift the length of my boat here... Not like I had time to even think of timing this sort of thing.........Your right about sitting a bit longer, I believe the cats are having to search for your bait rather than the current taking the scent to them. Unless they are activly feeding they are not going to know you are even thare for a lot longer time.

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

218-280-0442

[Wiskers]

Hey Ed and fellow catters. Any thing you been doing to help out with this low water and no current in the river? It's been kinda slow here and can only find early mornings and after dark cats. Suckers have not been doing well at all lately. Frogs and steak are the only thing getting hits along with goldeye. Even they are pretty slow.

Most of the snags I use are now on shore, Deep water seems to not be the spot either.??

These conditions are quite unusual and making it a bit tough to get on cats consistantly.

Any extra tips will be appreciated.

A lot more dead heads in that water then one would expect now that you can see them.. sigh kinda scary we used to race over them.

Thanks a million. Rod tips up.......

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

218-280-0442

[Guest]

No new water, not enough rain yet to matter. No new flow from the Otter Tail River either.

What ya see, is what ya got.

[Wiskers]

I hear ya. Making us catter have to realy work for them kitties as of late.

It's a good but frusterating challenge.

When you stop learning you might as well go home................"confushis says".

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

218-280-0442

[Guest]

Tough conditions this time of year made us look very shallow, like 1 1/2'. What I found is little Piggy's like this one.....plus 50 or so of her close personal friends.

So....some days, tough ain't all that bad.

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

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

[fiskyknut]

BE, have you been across the border as of late? Is that a recent photo from up there? I may be heading up to my cousins place in east Kildonan next week for a bit of fishing.

Rusty, I've been grabbing those weights at the Drayton dam....They're everywhere! I actually found a couple of egg sinkers that are larger than a golfball and I estimate their weight at 8 ounces!!! The deeper runs I'm refering to are 3 or 4 foot max, and these holes are no deeper than 6 to 8 foot with Mussel beds on the front/upstream dropoff. It is about the deepest water around for miles in this area of the river though.

[Guest]

That photo is from back a ways, with a group from Chicago.

Stu's and da-boyz are tearing up the cats right now. If I could be there, I sure would be there.

We plan another trip soon. We are watching the greenbacks and hope to hit them and the cats soon.

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

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

[Wiskers]

I am thinking that we should plan a trip up to stu's country. A forums gang way of saying Howdy Neighbor.

Wondering how long that fall bite will last up there.??? Sept 26th weekend is rappidly approaching.

Anyone up for the trip???????????

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

218-280-0442

[Hemlock]

I'm just on my way out the door, up to LOW for the weekend, but once I'm back, I think I can commit. Looks like a fun time.

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Hemlock
"Throw'm back"

[fiskyknut]

If all goes as planned I'm gonna be up that way from Tuesday thru hopefully Saturday of next week. My cousin told me a few days back that the Cats have been biting pretty darn good.

Found some interesting hooks with a little bend where the barb usually is that I'm gonna give a try Catfishing this time instead of squishing barbs on my regular US hooks.

Hopefully we'll find some of them Pickerals too!

Fisky

[Hemlock]

Pickerels???

Fisky, you DO have some Canuck blood in you, eh?

I'd like to catch a few kilograms of Pickerel and Jack and then go buy a 2-4 at the LC. After that, we'll put our touque's on and take the Ski-Doo's out for a rip eh!

Sorry for those of you who have no idea what that's all abooot!

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Hemlock
"Throw'm back"

[fiskyknut]

My mum's a Frostback!!! Her whole side of the family is scattered around Mb. Stienbach, Winnepeg, Selkirk, Bousejour, Gimli, and other little towns here and there. Family has a 'cottage' up near Victoria beach and I have many fond memories going back to the early 70's of fishing up there on Traverse bay and the lower Red with my uncles, catching Jacks, Pickerel, and the occasional 'garbage fish'....Catfish! I was heading up there today for a fishing visit but had to put it off for a day on account of some BS....Bummer, now it's supposed to start raining this week so I may wait another week or so, see what the weather brings. Oh well the Pickerel bite will only get better and better. I got it kinda nice living near LOTW, and having relatives in Mb. that like to fish the Red and the Winnepeg rivers....Pretty much the only waters I fish outside of a trip or three to URL thru the winter. If it was'nt for all these great fishing locales that rarely dissapoint I'd go crazy for sure!!!

Hemlock, I saw your pic on the mainpage, nice fish. You did'nt happen to be in the Wigwam on LOTW around the end of May did you?

Fisky

[This message has been edited by fiskyknut (edited 09-16-2003).]

[Hemlock]

Fisky, I was last in the Wigwam in March..late ice, wouldn't of been me in May. I drive through Wanaska regularly on my way up to the lake. That cat was my 1st ever. Tons of fun.

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Hemlock
"Throw'm back"