Red River Fishing Report
Wiskers Guiding Serv
Crookston MN
Other area
wiskers@gra.midco.net
Wednesday July 17, 2002
11:14:33 AM
www.wiskersguidingservice.com is looking for pointers on fishing lockport. I want to experience what they are raving about. Can't wait to get there.
Rusty
Wiskers Guiding Serv
Crookston MN
Grand Forks
wiskers@gra.midco.net
Wednesday July 17, 2002
11:12:31 AM
Well Jason, a 20# anchor should work, as long as it has the right kind of holding design for the type of bottom you are in. However, you may want to look into one of those quick release anchors. They swivel when you jerk on them and release for easy retrieval. They are spring loaded.
I am planning on going to lock port this week end. I have never been there yet and an looking forward to giving it a go. First I have to find out how to get there and where every thing is there to get on the water. Any pointers?
Good luck.
Rusty
Jason
Brandon
Canada
Tuesday July 16, 2002
09:44:55 PM
Canuck, I plan on doing some cat fishing in Lockport on Wednesday evening (July 17). I have a 17' Lund Fisherman. What would you recommend for an anchor. I have a 20 lb anchor I bought at Canadian Tire. Dad took my boat out a couple weeks ago. He had alot of trouble anchoring just on the break by the spill way and had to cut the anchor line. Should I just get the same anchor? Has the water level dropped much in the past couple weeks? And is the boat launch at Selkirk park operational yet? I would appreciate any advice on this. Thanks Jason
Bradd
Dodgeville, WI
Canada
Tuesday July 16, 2002
09:09:46 AM
We'll be up on Friday. Report has the next crest hitting Winnipeg - Selkirk on the 23rd thru the 25th. Winnipeg supposed to be at 12 feet and the crest at Selkirk is supposed to be somewhat lower than in mid-June. What has anyone heard on the crest and what can we expect?
adam
winnipeg
Canada
alembury@shaw.ca
Sunday July 14, 2002
11:26:32 PM
If anyone has advice on how to catch more fish off the shore at this time of year I'd be increadibly greatful.p.s. Any advice on how to catch walleye in the river at this time of year.
Cat Eye Outfitter
Manitoba
Canada
dkiazyk2000@yahoo.ca
Sunday July 14, 2002
05:34:49 AM
The Red is going quite well at the moment. Fish are biting well throughout the day. I find that moving often enough is a way to keep the rods bent. It seems that the higher water has scattered the fish a wee bit more than I'm accustomed to at this time of year and there aren't as many boats as you'd expect for this time of year. Bait can be either sucker or goldeye -- no preference. Three oz's. is plenty of weight to keep everything down. Catching your own bait can be a rewarding part of a cattin' day (bring a float, a small j-hook and some worms). Water is dropping on a daily basis and most spots are fishable. In general I've had a bit more luck up near the dam but I've caught a few real bruizers down river (not really receiving a lot of pressure right now). Anchoring can be a challenge in some spots but in general not a real problem. Trash is only a problem when the lockmaster decides to clear piers etc at the dam. I'm not too keen on going out at night yet but I don't know how long I'm going to wait. Dan
Cat Eye Outfitter www.geocities.com/dkiazyk2000 dkiazyk2000@yahoo.ca
Canuck
Lockport
Canada
Friday July 12, 2002
11:09:46 AM
My anchor is home made. It is a piece of solid steel 1 3/4 about 18" long and has four pieces of flat steel (not sure if 3/8 or 1/4") about 9" each in length and 3" wide. I use 50' of rope and tie to the front hook. For sinkers I used 3 oz inline sinkers yesterday. Fish the east bank just south of the large log U will see the log on the shore. Also the north bank of the spillway is good.
Bradd
Dodgeville, WI
Canada
Friday July 12, 2002
08:15:52 AM
Canuck, or whomever, What's required for anchor weight and fishing weight sizes to fish below the dam at Lockport? Will be up next friday. The catfish have came off the spawn down here and we are doing well. Good fishing to all.
Bradd
Canuck
Lockport
Canada
Wednesday July 10, 2002
12:41:25 PM
Kent, make sure U check prior to coming and I will give U an update. Right now the sucker is the bait of choice even though the goldeyes are around.
Kent Hollands
Grand Forks
Grand Forks
Wednesday July 10, 2002
11:09:58 AM
Canuck, It would be nice to be able to take advantage of the high water, but here in town you can't even get a boat in the water when it gets this high. Looks like I won't be able to get on the river until the Cats Incredible the secvon week of Aug. I have other things planned.
I Can't wait until Aug.2-4th I'll be up there fishing those monsters everyone talks about. Maybe well have to try and meet up somewhere. Going to be bringing my 8yr old boy he should have a blast tieing into one of those fish.
Canuck
Lockport
Canada
Wednesday July 10, 2002
08:54:19 AM
Kent, I really don't like the rain because of the bugs but the high water has kept the cats biting here in Lockport. Yes, the farmers don't need the rain right now with the haying going on but one must take advantage when one can.
Kent Hollands
Grand Forks
Grand Forks
Wednesday July 10, 2002
07:27:29 AM
Just another report on rain totals. Central Valley farmer call the radio said he had 10 1/2" ouch and its all going into the river. Doesn't look so good boys.
Kent Hollands
Grand Forks
Grand Forks
Wednesday July 10, 2002
06:41:14 AM
OK So whos getting sick of all this rain. Reports of 6", 8" and I have also heard reports of up to 9" all south of Grand Forks. I looks like its going to be couple more weeks before the river goes down again. Looks like I'm going to have to do some lake fishing if I want to fish at all.
Canuck
Lockport
Canada
Tuesday July 09, 2002
07:46:46 AM
Had probably my most exciting fishing trip yesterday. Only fished for 3 1/2 hrs but that was enough. I landed 7 Lake Sturgeon myself, 54", 51", 44", 43 1/2", 43", 36" and a 30". We saw probably another 20 jumping within 100 yds of the our boat. This is the first time I have ever tried Sturgeon and I only had to go 1 1/2 hr east of my home. It was unbelievable. One (51") had been tagged and we checked with the biologist and he said it was tagged in 1993 at 43" caught in 99 at 48" and now is 51", This fish had been tagged and caught in 99 in the same location that I caught it. In Manitoba we have a total catch and release on Lake Sturgeon and thank heavens as apparently they grow only an inch per year.
Scott McNamee
Grand Forks
Grand Forks
scott@invoman.com
Sunday July 07, 2002
02:39:49 PM
Sorry, Greg!
Yes, I fished yesterday with a friend. We spent the majority of the day plowing both the North Landing and we even plowed the South (EGF) landing.
The north landing is in terrible shape (what's new?) still too shallow to use-keep your eye on the water level above and give it 3 or 4 more feet from today, the 7th.
I'll try to plow it as soon as I feel it's usable again.
The south landing is in great shape...the water is still about 4 feet too high to see any new snags, though.
Water is navigatable, though there is a lot of debris.
My buddy caught 2 fish-both on cut sucker. Again they are still being picky and are not peeling the line off of the baitcaster.
For fun we were watching very large carp in the middle of the current. The were big and swimming right by the boat on the surface.
That's all for now, and again, Greg-good call-I need to stay in touch with you guys.
Scott
Canuck
Lockport
Canada
Sunday July 07, 2002
01:42:33 PM
Fished Lockport this morning from 8:30 til 10AM and landed 10 all between 33 and 37". Tried 3 different locations and smacked them in all. I was able to anchor behind pier #1 about 100 yds north by that rock pile (the rock pile is under about 7' water right now). Took a break and back out at noon for 1/2 hr and landed another 3 but lost 2. Suckers are the bait of choice here right now. It sure is hard to land them cats by yourself.
Very little debris in the river. If U use common sense and have a half decent boat there is NO problem. I can't remember when the cat fishing was this good.
Greg
Grand Forks
Grand Forks
Sunday July 07, 2002
10:44:59 AM
Scott, I know you went fishing yesterday. Where's the update? I was hoping to hear the water level was down, the river navigationable and cats jumping in the boat. I'll be watching for an update(hoping to fish Tuesday afternoon). Greg
Mike
East Grand Forks
Canada
mhedlund413@hotmail.com
Tuesday July 02, 2002
10:50:51 AM
Fished Lockport again Sunday June 30th. Only fished for about 4 1/2 Hours as the whole family was with. We fished where the Diversion chanel comes back into the Red. We boated 16 (largest was 22.6 lbs with most around 18) with several others that broke off (Old line that needs to be changed.) Tried bobber fishing for the first time (About two feet of line below the bobber and let it drift near shore) and that worked great - when the person holding the rod paid attention. We could easily have had several others. Stu McKay and Dan Sernyk are planning on holding their Cats on the Red Catfish Classic at Lockport on August 17-18 but need more entrants to pull it off. I started going up there for the tourney two years ago and have gone up every chance I get ever since. It is the best place in the world for big channel cats. I have never gone there and not caught fish in the 20lb range and usually catch several over that. If you are interested in the tourney you can e-mail Dan at angler@autobahn.mb.ca
Mike
East Grand Forks
Canada
mhedlund413@hotmail.com
Tuesday July 02, 2002
10:50:20 AM
Fished Lockport again Sunday June 30th. Only fished for about 4 1/2 Hours as the whole family was with. We fished where the Diversion chanel comes back into the Red. We boated 16 (largest was 22.6 lbs with most around 18) with several others that broke off (Old line that needs to be changed.) Tried bobber fishing for the first time (About two feet of line below the bobber and let it drift near shore) and that worked great - when the person holding the rod paid attention. We could easily have had several others. Stu McKay and Dan Sernyk are planning on holding their Cats on the Red Catfish Classic at Lockport on August 17-18 but need more entrants to pull it off. I started going up there for the tourney two years ago and have gone up every chance I get ever since. It is the best place in the world for big channel cats. I have never gone there and not caught fish in the 20lb range and usually catch several over that. If you are interested in the tourney you can e-mail Dan at angler@autobahn.mb.ca
Dennis Flom
Harwood
Fargo
icatchbigcats@aol.com
Tuesday June 25, 2002
08:32:28 PM
The river still is quite low, but fishable in the Fargo area. The catfish are in the middle of their spawn right now so the fishing is somewhat slow. We are catching fish, just not the numbers we catch the rest of the summer.
The water temperature here has reached the upper 70's. Hopefully that will speed up their spawn and get them back feeding heavily the rest of the summer.
I feel for you guys up in Grand Forks and to the north as fishing is usually tough, if not imposible, when the river is out of its bank. I too use to have to shovel the boat landing everytime the river came up and went down. The city of Moorhead has been real good as of lately with cleaning the ramp when ever someone asks them to. Usually they are there within a couple of hours after the request is made.
Hopefully the city of Grand Forks will wake up and see the benefits of keeping that ramp clean. I know if I came up here from out of state and found the boat landing unuseable I would not be back. I would go elsewhere to do my fishing, a city that keeps their ramp clean.
Good Cattin!
Dennis Flom
adam
winnipeg
Canada
alembury@shaw.ca
Tuesday June 25, 2002
12:21:56 PM
Yesterday I went down to the floodway gates. the fishing was slow for most people except for catching carp and silver bass, so i decided to lodge myslef in between two weed beds and started fishing. At first i caught a couple bullheads and because i read that walleye will feed on them at certain times of the year i cut one up and used it as bait. well, i ended up not catching any walleye but i made out with 3 cats,one wieghing 7 lbs and the other weighing 9lbs and my biggest catch a 31 inch 12 pounder. I'm going back on thursday with my girlfriend to see if she can land a big cat.
scott mcnamee
Grand Forks
Grand Forks
scott@invoman.com
Friday June 21, 2002
02:59:22 PM
Invoman is at it again...I'm plowing the mud off off the North Landing. It's half done right now...I'll finish the rest in about an hour.
You should be able to launch a boat later tonight. I will put up wire boundries showing where the edges of the concrete is/are.
PLEASE do not forget that there is that big hump on the north end of the ramp. I think the water is right at the edge of that...and it may make it difficult to launch-just be aware of it.
By tommorrow morning, the water will probably be down another 1 1/2 feet or so, exposing 4 to 5 feet more mud. Guys- bring a shovel and push it off to the side if you go.
I'll get the majority of it done tonight.
There is a 'roadblock' barricade on the road right now-I believe it is there because the city wanted to wait to remove the mud...and it was no use going down there....till INVOMAN uses his FORD to plow the mud....
Mike
East Grand Forks
Canada
mhedlund413@hotmail.com
Friday June 21, 2002
12:15:04 PM
Four of us fished at Lockport Wednesday evening (June 19)from 5:00 PM until Midnight. 33 total cats from about 11 to 22 lbs. Mostly on cut suckers either right along shore or in the channel where the diversion comes in. Lots of water flow and launching and loading can be interesting but are not too bad. Only a few other boats out that evening. The dam is wide open with every gate open. Good anchors and lots of weight (We used 5-6 ounces) are necessary but it is well worth the trip and small extra hassles.
Red River Report by Backwater Eddy
Adam
Winnipeg
Canada
alembury@shaw.ca
Tuesday June 18, 2002
08:27:04 PM
I've been fishing just by the Osborne bridge lately. Since the water has risen I've had to adjust my tactics slightly.During spring all I used were leaches and they were working good, but now they wont bite on them so I've switched to Goldeye and i've had more luck.Two days ago I caught 11 cats, the biggest one was 7.5 pounds.Tomorrow i'm going to try Tullibe since I've heard they work great.Also the cats i've caught have only been in four feet of water. P.S. Worms are working for Carp and Goldeye in about two or three feet of water.