# Red River Fishing Report - 6/26/03



## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

We have been hit with lots of heavy rains over the past week. This has the
rivers on the region on the rise and muddy. During Post-spawn this in not
such a bad deal really, we should be back targeting hungry cats in force
soon. 
Boating requires a extra degree of caution when heavy rains produce sudden
river level changes. Large amounts of debris get washed about and caution is
the word of the day. Be prepared for prop hits if you venture out, it will
likely happen. Keep your speed down and your eyes open.
We should see vastly improved fishing into this next week. Lots of food
equals lots of cats.

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson
Backwater Guiding
Up in Canada Eh! 
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Lower Red River Fishing Report June 26 2003

Cats are aggressive here on the Lower Red mainly due to the slight but
excessive flows.
Patterns have been as diverse as the species itself.

We're finding plenty of active cats working the shallows or in tight to
shorelines. In fact if you're willing to put the effort in you can cork
those kitties by simply drifting a piece of bait along the shoreline. You
should control the speed of the drift by simply holding it back or stopping
it for a few seconds from time to time. Then lets resume drifting always
being prepared to set the hook when 'ol whiskers chomps down on the bait!

Working shallow or tight to shore can also be executed by more conventional
means of just casting your presentation on a sliding weight system. When we
do this we prefer to work a bait shallow in 2 - 5 feet of water. At the same
time we'll cast another bait out into deeper water, this will usually result
in telling us if they're deep or shallow.

The Red also producing plenty of big fish (cats between 20 & 30 #'s) out in
the main river channel. As is always the case when fishing for cats quality
bait is an issue. For those that are using fresh quality baits they are the
ones enjoying great success. For those that choose not to follow this golden
rule, well, they usually come off the water shaking their heads and making
remarks on how poor the fishing was.

I expect the activity and catch rates to rise on the lower Red along with
the rising water levels. As per usual, when the river rises due to
excessive rains throughout the valley the cats turn on, "big time"!

Fish "Hard" Forever!

Stu McKay
"Cats on the Red"


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