# Red River Cats



## Van Wey (Jul 15, 2005)

Hey Guys.....Whats the deal with the Catfish in the Red?? Heard something about a disease going around....???


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## schultz345 (Jan 8, 2007)

uh... dont think so. probably just a rumor.


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## Van Wey (Jul 15, 2005)

My folks live in Kansas City and said they heard it on the national news........


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## NightWarrior (May 2, 2007)

As far as I know there is no disease in the water or with the kitties... I havn't seen any dead fish this year and I fish shore and boat 4 times a week.... Craig

My wife is from KC...


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## drjongy (Oct 13, 2003)

Seems to be mostly around the Grand Forks area and a little South. They are thinking some type of bacterial infection rather than from polution as Catfish are the only ones they've found dead. One count had 1600 dead Catfish.

Extent of catfish kill comes into focus
By Brad Dokken, Herald Staff Writer
Published Thursday, September 13, 2007

North Dakota and Minnesota fisheries officials are moving closer to determining the cause and extent of a fish kill that has targeted channel catfish on the Red River upstream from Grand Forks.

This much is known: The fish kill doesn't appear to be happening in Fargo, or even as far downstream as the bridge at Perley, Minn., between Fargo and Hillsboro, N.D.

News of the die-off surfaced Saturday when a Grand Forks angler and fishing guide reported finding 300 dead catfish along a stretch of river south of town. Monday, a fisheries crew from the Department of Natural Resources in Detroit Lakes, Minn., counted more than 1,600 dead channel catfish in about nine miles of river upstream from Grand Forks.

The fish ranged in size from 5 inches up to about 30 inches.

Tuesday afternoon, Lynn Schlueter, a North Dakota Game and Fish Department biologist, boated more than 15 miles upriver from Grand Forks and reported finding dead catfish the entire way. Later that evening, Schlueter said, he drove to a boat landing at Belmont Park in Traill County, more than 40 river miles upstream from Grand Forks, and found dead catfish at that site, as well.

The question, Schlueter said, is how far downstream the dead fish had drifted.

"We know where the fish are at now," he said. "But where did they come from?"

On the plus side, Schlueter said, he watched goldeyes - a common fish species in the Red - aggressively surface feeding on a hatch of white mayflies Tuesday night when he stopped at Belmont Park. So, whatever's killing the catfish, doesn't appear to be affecting other species.

The news appears to be even better farther upstream. Jason Scott, district game warden for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in West Fargo, N.D., checked several access points north of Fargo on Wednesday afternoon. Scott said he traveled as far north as the bridge at Perley and didn't encounter a single dead catfish.

Anglers in the Fargo area haven't reported finding any dead catfish either, Scott said.

"I've been on and off the river the last couple of weeks south of (Fargo), and there's been nothing," Scott said. "Usually - and especially in Fargo - if we have a fish kill, it's reported right away."

Because the die-off is limited to channel catfish, fisheries managers suspect some kind of disease or bacterial infection is killing the fish. The DNR crew Monday was able to capture one catfish that was near death, and the specimen was transported to the agency's pathology lab in St. Paul for testing.

Finding a live catfish was important, biologists say, because results from the sample are more reliable than they would be from dead fish. Several of the catfish found south of Grand Forks appeared to have been dead for several days.

Lab results weren't yet available Wednesday, but more could be known as early as Friday, DNR officials say.


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## thecatkiller (Aug 29, 2007)

wow all those catfish dead -a shame for sure -wonder what caused it- any one on this forum in that area? ==catkiller


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## schultz345 (Jan 8, 2007)

ya i just saw this on the forum website too.. thats crazy i hope its only a small stretch of the river and doesnt spread. that is a lot of dead catfish though.


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