Red River of the North - September 2, 2005 As some of you already know, I have been bitten by the catfishing bug. It started off with channel catfish and progressed to flathead catfish. This weekend, I returned to the waters that got me hooked on channel catfishing, the Red River of the North. Did we have success? Most definitely. For those of you who don’t realize how outstanding a fishery the Red River of the North is, you are in for a surprise. The Red River is a world class channel cat fishery meandering its way northward along the Minnesota & North Dakota border. The Red River eventually flows into Canada and empties into Lake Winnipeg. The Red River at Lockport, MB is THE destination for world class channel catfishing! While Lockport was not our destination today, we found ourselves fishing the banks of the Red River very near the Canadian border on the U.S. side of the line. I teamed up with fellow FishingMinnesota ProStaffer Greg Norman, a.k.a “Fiskyknut” for our day of cattin’. “Fisky” has been fishing this stretch of the Red for many years and was very eager to share it with me.

3 o’clock rolls around and I find myself parking the truck and preparing for a short mile hike to our spot on the riverbank. My daypack is loaded with a simple tackle supply, snacks, and beverages while I carry a chair in one hand and rods in the other. “Fisky” was responsible for not losing our bait on the way to the fishing hole. He worked all night stomping up the dozens of frogs in our bait bucket and really wasn’t interested in catching them again if there happened to be a mishap. We proceed to fashion bank sticks, rig up our frogs, and place baits along a current seam on an outside bend of the Red River. Now the hard part comes, digging into the snacks & drink while waiting for our first run on the clickers. And I tell you what, it didn’t take long to hear the telltale clicker on an Abu 6500. I jump up and engage the spool while the fish is running and set into it. It’s a good one and there is no question it is larger than any channel catfish I have ever caught before. A short fight ensues and “Fisky” lands the fish for me in ankle deep mud on the river bank. First channel cat of the day turns out to be a 35” 20 pounder!! A slightly above average fish by Red River standards

After a fish like that, you have got to be thinking, "How much better can it get?" Well... we were just getting warmed up. For the next few hours, we were hearing clickers screwaming and pulling in fish at a pretty consistent rate. I personally landed another 31", a 33", and another 33" channel cat. Holy Smokes!! Both In-Fisherman magazine and the Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame have Master Angler programs that set the Master Angler channel catfish mark at a 30" fish released. So far, thats 4 Master Angler class fish for me in one day! As darkness set in, another catfishing tradition was experienced and that was the bank fire. The bank fire provides both working light and heat. You bet it gets chilly on the river bank at night in September!

Well... while it was dark, the second biggest fish of the night decided that a frog would make a good snack. I decided I had to let Fisky finally pull one in for the night. He didn't want any part of that which proceeded into a light-hearted argument over who was going to grab the rod and reel in the fish. I believe I "won" that argument and Fisky got to reel in another one of our 20lb channel cats for the night. Another very, very nice Red River Channel Cat no doubt. We had so much fun that a second trip is planned for later in the month. I'm so pumped already! Rumor also has it that we may be able to sneak over to the Rainy River to fish another bottom feeding critter, the Lake Sturgeon. Thanks Fisky!!