Canadian Greenbacks on the Prowl

[Guest]

A friend and fellow Red River Rat Ryan Johnson from the great white North shared some very interesting pics with me. Here are a few sumo greenbacks he and his friends have iced in the past few days on the lower Red River in Canada. I have more pics of even larger greenbacks that I hope to post soon.

I just might need to head North for a day or two?

The ice conditions are improving for foot travel only on the far Lower Red River of the North. Yet caution is required and well advised!

The Red River locally is not at all safe to walk on, please stay off tell we see more substantial cold weather. Please advice children to also stay clear of rivers over the holiday!

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding
701-281-2300
[email protected]

><,sUMo,>

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 11-27-2003).]

[Guest]

Rick I sent you some pics of some sumo greenbacks, did you get them?

I think the guys would like to see what them big Red River greenbacks look like?

They would make for a good eye catcher on the front page Eh.

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
[email protected]
><,sUMo,>

[fisherdog19]

Hey Ed, how close to lake Winnipeg are those guys fishing and is it good all winter or just early ice? Just asking because I've got some friends up in the Peg that I might be visiting this winter and was wondering if I should bring my ice fishing stuff.

Thanks
Fisherdog

By the way, do you think the mouth of the Goose is worth a try yet, and if so, how close to the seam should I be and at what depth.

[Guest]

I think the best bite is now tell about Christmas? Hard to say really.

Early is generally good up there.

I just spoke with the crew up there and they hung a very nice one today too.

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
[email protected]
><,sUMo,>

[Guest]

Still plenty of Piggy's around Eh. They are marking lots of fish too.

Ryan dropped another greenback far bigger then this one at the hole today...DOE!!

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
[email protected]
><,sUMo,>

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 11-29-2003).]

[DARK30]

Those are some purdy fish! They do look alot lighter (greener) than the ones we get down here.

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[Guest]

The Lake Winnipeg/Lower Red River of the North walleye have a distinctive coloration and sheen.

They pick this up out on the big lake due to the minerals in the water. They acquire a semi-luminescent green coloration that is unique to the system. Very stunning on some!

The coloration tends to fade after you catch them. Getting those quick C&R photo's insure a quality reproduction.

Stu has some gorgeous mounts in his cabins at Cats on the Red, HUGE Greenbacks. He has some very fine specimens of the Red River Sumohumungousgreenbackious, mmmm-boy..they always make me drool.

Ahahahahahaha....Greeeennnnbackkkksss!

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
[email protected]
><,Sumohumungousgreenbackious,>

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 11-30-2003).]

[Canuck]

It usually is the best at freeze up until about the mid January. Those pics kind of tell where those guys were fishing, notice the small building in the background. Not a bad area but there are several others. Jigging just off the bottom to about 3 feet up in 18' of water, (main channel),

When are we going to see U Eddy?????

[Guest]

CANUCK...you Ol' T P Creeper you!

Ya, that photo does give ya a few clues Eh. I think there are a mess of good spots farther up and down from that point too?

I want to be there NOW! Just can't swing it just yet, very soon I hope.

Stu get his Ice Palace out yet? He has been a hard guy to locate lately?

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
[email protected]
><,sUMo,>

[ryan johnson]

I was actually catching them in 22 feet of water..gonna try a picture of a thirty incher i caught on friday i believe..

[DARK30]

Great photo Ryan! Welcome to the forum!

Hey Ed, How many hours from your place?

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cast,cast,cast,cast......

[Guest]

Eh..Ryan glad you finally found the door here at FM, Welcome!

Ya know your killing me with all these sumo Greenback pic's...don't ja...Eh?

Nice fish!

I have been testing the River here, with not much luck.

The Ice is way too spooky here yet! I got a wet leg tonight, could have been much worse too Eh. Uf-Da!

Again...Welcome to FM Ryan!

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
[email protected]
><,sUMo,>

[Canuck]

Nice fish Ryan. Hope everybody noticed the clothing Ryan was wearing (full floater suit). There were vehicles out on the Red by Breeze Point the last couple of days but sure wouldn't catch me out there with a vehicle YET. Question, Ryan, how far off bottom have U been fishing? or can U say.

[ryan johnson]

usually i jig right off the bottom using whistler jigs.chartruse is usually my mainstay..I'll jig then pause six inches or so from the bottom,and wait to see if there is any movement from the bottom,,(looking at the flasher of course).i also have alot of luck at the big ones just passing through,but you have to be faily quick to get your presentation to there height, or they've gone right through. best is just to wip it up there get there attention and then slowly work them to the bottom,where i find there more apt to bite..this saturday was a bit slow so I thought i'd take a nice scenery picture(brings a tear to my eye)lol.

the next pic is my largest of the day, notice my hands are so far apart..cause i not used to holding such small ones..

[Guest]

That is a great sunset shot Ryan. I can dig it!

[Wiskers]

How much ice is up there now? The lakes here have about 8-10 inches and rivers are around the same in most places where the current is slow over the deep holes. Still quite thin where the water is faster.

Got some nice Crappies, Walleyes and Pike the last few days on Maple Lake and the river.

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

218-280-0442

[ryan johnson]

the river seems to be anywhere from5 inches to 8 inches..some lakes im sure are a foot by now.im going to a small resivoir tomorrow for crappie so i'll let you know what i find.
oh yeah some parts of shoal lake where i was working last week weren;t even close to freezing(deeper spots).

[Northlander]

Ryan or Eddy , how far is it from Duluth to the Red? Whats the baits of choice up there? Im drooling on my keyboard! Any of you 2 willing to hook up if I drive up? [email protected]

[Canuck]

It is roughly 8 hrs from Duluth to Lockport. When I drive to Ontario to Salmon fish I pass through Duluth. Take the shorter route and come north across the border at Sprague and travel north on Hwy #12 to Hwy #44 then turn west (left) and Lockport/Selkirk is about 15 miles down the road. One the better locations right now to fish for greenbacks is just north of Selkirk by the float plane base.

[Northlander]

Ryan did ya send that site to me? I didnt get it. Im trying to work my schedule around to get up before x-mas but it aint going well at this point.

[fisherdog19]

Well, I'm heading up to Selkirk Saturday morning with Scoot and one of his friends, we hope to get into some MONSTER GREENBACKS. If it's slow, we'll head to LOW that night and fish Sunday. Ryan, if your out Saturday at all and see us, stop in and say hello so we can pick your brain a little, we'll be in a double flip over shelter (those ones that are 6'x12'). We'll let you know how we did.

Fisherdog

[Scoot]

Dog,

I talked with Ryan last night after I spoke with you. Sounds like he's going to meet up with us and give us a little local knowledge- good deal! Hopefully we'll find a few fish. Give me a call at work today.
Scoot

[Guest]

Good luck Scoot & Crew!

Man do I wish I was free to go! Thanks for asking though Scoot, I do appreciate it. Say Howdy to da crew up there for me.

Be sure to bring some of my favourite Vertical Jigging tools with you, the Sumo Salmo Chubby Darters. Especially in Hot Perch and Gold/Org. A walleye sizes Angel Eye Minnow in Glow/Pink and a Nils Master Jigging Shad in Glow/blue/yellow would be a good plan too Eh.

They use a lot of Glow Green and Glow/Pink/Org Whistlers up there, you may wish to have them handy too.

A few larger sized Kahle hooks may be handy, to swap out with trebles on spoons if need me. They often hold best when barbless rigging spoons.

I have a strong hunch the bigger vertical lures will pull up the SUMO Hogs? The angling pressure is up so give them hogs something new to look at.

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
[email protected]
><,sUMo,>

[ryan johnson]

well it was a slow day today for the boys, i ended up taking them to my secret spot near the end of the day where fisherdog, picked up the biggest walley he'l probably ever get..loll,weighed in at 13pds 5 ounces at 31 inches..he also lost one at the top of the hole which i belive may have been larger!the hooked popped out, and i dove down and had him pinned under the ice..he got away even though i gave my best effort to hold him there.you could see he was a monster cause the ice was crystal clear.. anyway here's a pic of the fish(pardon my grammer it's late and im tired)

[Guest]

KEWL!

Not too Shabby der Fisherdog...Eh!

Scoot I hope you get a chance at a Sumo too.

I am wondering?

If you guys decided to hang in there for Sunday too, or go to LOTW?

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Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

Backwater Guiding
"ED on the RED"
[email protected]
><,sUMo,>

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 12-07-2003).]

[Guest]

Scoot you back yet?

I got to get "Da-Scoop" on this trip yet.

[fisherdog19]

Ed, besides the one I landed and the one I lost, the only other fish caught were 2 small saugers by Scoot. Ryan and I marked a few fish during the day but from about 5pm to 6:30pm we were marking fish like crazy but couldn't get them to commit. Some of the marks were enourmous and we would see which way they were coming through. Some would start at Ryan's hole and then show up in mine and some the other way around. For some reason Scoot and Damon, who were no more than 50 feet from us were not marking fish. Since it was slow, we decided to head to LOW that night, we fished until about 6:30pm and then left around 7:15pm. Well, LOW wasn't what we were hoping for but we managed 16 12-15 inch keepers including a few jumbo perch. Lots of small saugers and walleyes, probably caught 60 or so between the 3 of us. We probably should have stayed in Selkirk and fished it today but it was fun to get up to LOW. I will definately be going back to Selkirk and hopefully hook up with Ryan again, if not this year, definately next year.

Ryan, I want to thank you for your hospitality and the sharing of your knowledge. I learned alot about fishing the river up your way, and will use that knowledge in the future. Also, thanks for your effort on "the one that got away", I am still wondering how big and heavy it was? Well, maybe next time.

Fisherdog

P.S.- Ryan, could you send me the pictures you took of me and my greenback, you can send them to, [email protected]. Thanks

[This message has been edited by fisherdog19 (edited 12-07-2003).]

[Guest]

Some of them Mystery fish were likely huge carp and cats?

They have #40 carp up there, lots of them too. They are curious critters, they come in and look...a lot.

The big greenbacks also hang with the carp, so.......ya-just-never know?

[Guest]

I e-mailed you the one Ryan sent on to me. Both the pic and the link.

Very nice fish too!

VERY nice!

[Scoot]

Sounds like you got the scoop, Ed. Ryan and Fisherdog just seemed to be in the right spot while we weren't on Sat. Other than a couple of "locals", nothing happening for us in our house. But... I've been there before and I will again too. However, it's my turn to find one of them big gals pretty soon I think.
Ryan, thanks again for joining up with us. Had a great time and will give you a shout again sometime when we're up.
Scoot