# Catfishing Around Grand Forks



## LDuncan

I am going to UND next fall and I have orientation next week and was thinking about wetting a line while I am up there. Is a Medium-Heavy rod with a abu garcia ambassaduer 5000 and 50 lbs Power Pro enough to tussle with catfish? What about Hook size and sinker size? What kind of shore fishing opportunities are availible? Any help is appreciated.


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## Duckslayer100

Woohoo! Another Fighting Sioux recruit...rock on!

Your setup should be fine for cats. I'd get yourself some 4/0 to 6/0 circle or J hooks, 3 oz, 4 oz, and 5 oz no roll sinkers, and 30 lb Trilene XT line for your leader. As far as where to go, you have endless opportunities. I'd say start by the north landing casting from shore near the damn. Work your way up stream (north). If you can't catch cats there, you can't catch them anywhere.

Hope that helps! Good luck :beer:


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## specialpatrolgroup

Remember if you are fishing a low strech line and using circle hooks, be carefull not to set the hook to hard, a circle hook must have time to find the corner of the mouth, since the point if facing in, if you yank the rod back to set the hook, you will yank it right out without it grabbing anything. If I am using a braid I prefer more conventional hooks. For catfish I use Big Game mono, and the stretch in it will actually set the hook for me when using a circle hook, its very rare that I loose a fish with this setup. Your setup will work good as well, just use a softer steady pull to set the hook, not a fast yank, or use a more conventional hook, one with the tip pointing up, not in.


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## Duckslayer100

specialpatrolgroup said:


> Remember if you are fishing a low strech line and using circle hooks, be carefull not to set the hook to hard, a circle hook must have time to find the corner of the mouth, since the point if facing in, if you yank the rod back to set the hook, you will yank it right out without it grabbing anything. If I am using a braid I prefer more conventional hooks. For catfish I use Big Game mono, and the stretch in it will actually set the hook for me when using a circle hook, its very rare that I loose a fish with this setup. Your setup will work good as well, just use a softer steady pull to set the hook, not a fast yank, or use a more conventional hook, one with the tip pointing up, not in.


I'll have to disagree, to a point. I use circle hooks almost exclusively. As far as setting the hook, I let the fish do that.

Normally I have my rod in a holder. When a fish bites, I wait for the rod to double over and the fish to start peeling drag. Bam, fish on. All you have to do is reel it in.

I use 60 lb power pro and a 30 lb mono leader. I'd say my hook-up to miss ratio is almost entirely weighed to the hook-up side. In fact, the only fish I've lost this year were due to them swimming into snags. I think I can remember two fish that shook the hook. And I've been out A LOT.

I'm not saying the way you described won't work, I'm just say that his setup should work just fine if he does what I've just described. And if you're wondering when you'll know if the fish is hooked or not...trust me, you'll know when the drag is screaming and the rod tip is bent over in the water :beer:


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## LDuncan

One other question how long of a leader should I use?


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## specialpatrolgroup

Not very long, catfish in the river do not use sight to hunt, so its not about hiding the line from them. I use 30 lb mono, attached to a large barrel swivel, then attaced to a 20 lb mono leader, the only reason I really use a leeder at all is because I like to have the swivel on their, and if I snag bad, the 20 lb test will break before the 30, I normally go about 3 feet on the leeder, but you could probably get by going shorter.


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## specialpatrolgroup

Oh, and the swivel keeps you from losing your weight if the line breaks, but if you use a swivel, put a bead or one of those foam floats between the sinker and the swivel, otherwise eventually your swivel will take some damage.


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## Backwater Eddy

Faster the water the shorter the leader, and longer for slower flows. Float rigging can change this a bit, but it is a good rule to fallow.

In general 20" of leader is a good point to start with on average flows. At times I have used leaders up to 4 feet on slow water.

My recommendation is to use a leader of lesser value then your main line. The logic in this is if the hook is hung and irretrievable, you only loose the hook...not the whole rigging. If your weight is hung badly... poor luck, your likely going to need to re-rig no matter what...bust it off and get rigged and back in the water.

Also here is a tip that will save you cash and put you on more fish do to less lost rigging and lost fishing time.

_First add a 2-3 oz No-Roll weight, now add a 10 mm plastic bead, *then a 1-2" piece of 1/8th ID aeration tubing to act as a shock absorber and protect your knot from wear from the weight*...now tie it to a #5 swivel with no clip and the tubbing will slip up against the ball of the swivel and the bead will be at the top taking the punishment of the weight...add the leader and a 4-8 O/T circle hook or straight shank bait holder hook or Kahle (J-Hook) style hook of your choice._

My shock absorber rig will save tackle and also helps to bounce snagged weight free. It will often, but not always, bounce back enough to retrieve the rigging and re-bait after a snag.


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## Backwater Eddy

specialpatrolgroup said:


> Not very long, catfish in the river do not use sight to hunt....


Respectfully I will disagree. Catfish use their vision and all there various ability's to hunt...they are primarily predators, and secondarily opportunistic omnivorous feeders.

I have on many occasions targeted very large cats with Muskie baits in shallow water...they hit them viciously...not much argument there if they seen the baits or not...they crushed them in very dirty fast moving water.

We have also witnessed channel cats work in packs to push Goldeye into rocky shoals and tear them Goldeye to pieces...I even seen a #30 class cat chase a Goldeye into the air..... and grab it in mid air.....there sniffers are very good...but in my book that is most definitely predatory sight feeding behavior.

Don't underestimate a catfish's ability as a top predator. They are indeed keen and efficient predators. When in the mood, they can be taken on crankbaits, super sized Swimbaits, jigs, even fly fishing presentations.


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## dosch

> Respectfully I will disagree. Catfish use their vision and all there various ability's to hunt...they are primarily predators, and secondarily opportunistic omnivorous feeders.
> 
> I have on many occasions targeted very large cats with Muskie baits in shallow water...they hit them viciously...not much argument there if they seen the baits or not...they crushed them in very dirty fast moving water.
> 
> We have also witnessed channel cats work in packs to push Goldeye into rocky shoals and tear them Goldeye to pieces...I even seen a #30 class cat chase a Goldeye into the air..... and grab it in mid air.....there sniffers are very good...but in my book that is most definitely predatory sight feeding behavior.
> 
> Don't underestimate a catfish's ability as a top predator. They are indeed keen and efficient predators. When in the mood, they can be taken on crankbaits, super sized Swimbaits, jigs, even fly fishing presentations.
> _________________


Visual in my head....NICE!


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## specialpatrolgroup

I guess I should have said they dont rely on their sight as much as they do their taste and elecro reception for scavaging, you throughout a piece of cutbait you arn't really waiting for a catfish to swim by and see it. And they are not adverse to seeing the line, much like they are not as hook sensitive as most other fish.


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## Doogie

isnt upstream on the red south not north? considering the red flows north.


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## Backwater Eddy

Yes, the Lower Red is North to the confluence at Lake Winnipeg in Canada, and the Upper Red is South from the Headwaters at Whapeton ND.


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## MT_catter

Catfish have the best, for lack of a better word, hearing out of all the fresh water fish. the utilize there lateral line more than any fish out there. i believe this is there main food finding receptor for i have seen many good sized cats that are blind or are missing one or both eyes.


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## Backwater Eddy

A very good observation..they can hone in on a bait by sound and smell from up to a 1/4 mile away. Those piggy little eyes see far better them we give them credit for too.

I have seen them do some amazing things and I'm learning more about there mysterious ways all the time.


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