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Red River Channel Catfishing

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Red River Channel Catfishing

Postby Wahpeton » 05 10, 2017 •  [Post 1]

Guys,

This will probably be a somewhat worthless or irrelevant post, but the channel cats are going pretty good on the Red River right now on the border of ND/MN. A relatively untapped fishery. I grew up fishing walleye in MN, but after fishing/catching/cleaning and eating cats here, they are really tough to beat for table-fair and they put up a pretty good battle too. Pick up less than $5 of chicken livers, a simple open face rod/reel combo and you're good to go.

I clean them just like I would fillet a walleye. I don't know any other way to clean a fish I guess.
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Re: Red River Channel Catfishing

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 05 21, 2017 •  [Post 2]

Never had the pleasure of going after the channel cats. Are they as good eating as the smaller variety?
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Re: Red River Channel Catfishing

Postby Ponyboy_jonas » 06 25, 2017 •  [Post 3]

I fish on the Red River probably twice a week. Not much luck on big cats. Just a few cats around 3 pounds, carp, sheep head and a lot of bullhead.
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Re: Red River Channel Catfishing

Postby Lefty » 06 26, 2017 •  [Post 4]

Wahpeton wrote:Guys,This will probably be a somewhat worthless or irrelevant post, but the channel cats are going pretty good on the Red River right now on the border of ND/MN. A relatively untapped fishery.

Now Wahpeton makes sense.
Always on my bucket list was a week fishing the holes in the river in Kittson County.
If trying to get big cats, go with a 10-12 inch sucker minnow, and a heavy rod and reel :shock:

Cats and sturgeon are at the bottom of my fish table fare list
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Re: Red River Channel Catfishing

Postby scubohuntr » 06 28, 2017 •  [Post 5]

Bring along an ultralight rig with a couple of little spinners, or a fly rod. Cast in the eddies for fifteen minutes until you have a pile of goldeyes. Cut them into 3-4 chunks, put one on a 2/0 circle hook, add an ounce or so of sliding weight and you're good to go. Channel cats are great eating, at least until you get to the large ones. My son caught one north of Drayton in '99 or thereabouts that was 24 lbs. 10 oz. It got him into the hall of fame in both North Dakota and Minnesota, being on the border. We tried to release it but couldn't get it to swim. We ate it, but it wasn't as tasty as smaller fish. I have no idea how many 8-10 pound class cats we released in two or three hours. We started right at dawn and the fishing died off about 9 AM. We still got one or two between 9 and 10:30, but it was pretty slow by then.
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Re: Red River Channel Catfishing

Postby Wahpeton » 06 29, 2017 •  [Post 6]

I'm at the start of the river where the Ottertail and Bois de Sioux rivers come together to make the Red River of the North. We consistently catch more of the eating size variety (1.5 - 4 pounds). A huge catfish here is more like 10-12 pounds or so. The farther you get downriver (North) the larger the fish. Chicken livers from the Walmart or nightcrawlers are tough to beat for a good mix of size and action. Great eating fish if you don't keep anything larger than about 4 pounds. I bet I can clean, prepare and cook cats versus walleye and you will not be able to tell one from another. Great game fish and great table fair. :D
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Re: Red River Channel Catfishing

Postby Roosiebull » 07 02, 2017 •  [Post 7]

i'm a little jealous. I have access to good salmon and steelhead fishing all year, but I have never even seen a live wild catfish. I don't even think there are any crappie or bluegill within 50 miles of me.

I love fishing salmon and steelhead, but some times, no matter what you do, there are people around. I just bought a fishing kayak to make road trips and explore more of the state, and seek out water that has no people, regardless of the species, fishing is fun, and getting back to the basics is very refreshing. one of the top fish on my list is catfish. hopefully I don't have to go to the eastern border of the state to find decent fishing :D
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