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Red River Fishing Reports
Regions Covered: Click on the region name for region report, weather, maps, and more...
Red River (North) - Monday, October 17, 2011
By:
Jig-em-up-Josh
on 10/17/2011 09:11 AM
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Red River Walleye Adventure #7
FYI, trip #6 will be up shortly and possibly in the hunting and fishing discussions! Sunday Chris and I didn't really know what was in store for the day, but as time went on, we found out it was WIND. Bone chilling wind that really put a damper on boat control. We didn't give up though, bundled up in our bibs, beanies, jacket and gloves. One thing that takes a lot out of you is even a simple task like grabbing a minnow out of the bucket. The shock, the numbness, and after wiping your hands off on the towel, the "hot" feeling. But I got my wish of 54-55 degree water temps, at the expense of 35 degree air temps with the wind chill. The first few fish of the day at the first location heated things up. A nice 17 inch walleye, a few sauger, so it was a good sign although the action wasn't very fast. All the spots that looked "walleye-ish" to me were almost unfishable due to that nasty wind. I mean, the river flows North, and while fishing it was almost like we had the bow-mount trolling motor set to 5 mph! Well heck, at this point I'm not even looking for locations that I think are good, I just wanna get out of the wind! I call this spot The Bermuda Log Jam. Had the craziest "vortex" of current and structure, and a few times I thought we had a nice fish hooked on and was swimming upstream, but nope, it was the current. Chris hooks into a nice fish and it gets the blood pumping. I hate hearing this "oooh it doesn't feel that big". When you fish with me, always, always, always assume it's going to be a good walleye. Because if it isn't, no big deal, but if it is, we wanna land it! The fish comes to life right at the boat, and I see it's a walleye so I holler "walleye!" and Chris replies with a "really!?" Scoop it up, lift it in the boat, "OOOH MAN, it's 23.5 inches" Not quite what we're looking for in terms of "eaters" or "whoppers" but we don't want to take anything away from this fish, because I coulda stared at it all day. Anyhow, Chris popped a couple nice pike, and I got the coolest little 8 ounce White Bass I've ever seen (well, since last year anyway). The next couple moves are all "missed fish" or "missed hookset" spots. Good hits, but nothing will commit. I even went out of my element and fished places that I pretty much knew weren't going to produce, just to think outside the box. All of those places, we could've connected but the fish won by stealing our minnows. The last move of the day gave us a shot at a BIG WALLEYE. I told Chris that nothing would touch this 1 pound Leopard Frog but a Sumo Walleye. After 5 minutes in the rod holder the tip starts to dance. It looks like the beginning stage of a bite while I'm catfishing with circle hooks. Wait,.......wait,.....ooooh man I think it's going to commit.........then nothing. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. I'd like to think that if he would've NOT listened to me he would've hooked into it. But the Good Lord only knows. A curious Mink sat and watched us from the rocks, and Chris got a really nice picture of him. My hands are raw, and a nice cup of coffee sounds amazing, not the stuff from my thermos either, straight from the coffee pot nice and hot. It was a successful day for though, I found some new locations, got to fish with a new friend-(who also gave me a VERY special gift, a custom made "fish picture station") and despite Mother Nature's best shots at us, we got some nice fish for the frying pan. Thank you Chris, we'll see you next time I come to the Tailrace! |
Red River (North) - Wednesday, October 12, 2011 | |
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Cats are hammering frogs in my back yard (north Fargo). Dozen 3 to 18 lb cats. Nuts for mid October. Main channel did much better than the shallow shelf nearer shore.
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Red River (North) - Wednesday, October 12, 2011 | |
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Red River Walleye Trip #5
It's Fall on the Red River. The leaves on the water provide a beautiful sight (and a pain in the butt at the same time) and with nice comfy temperatures what more could a person ask for? How about a 9 pound Walleye? How about some "eaters" mixed in there for fun? Or what about a few Sauger that are the same size as the bait we're using? Phil, myself, and Tim arrive at the boat ramp at about 6pm. After a long boat ride, I say enough's enough, we need to fish here or it'll be dark soon! I love it when things go as planned, 3 minutes into the trip and Phil gets the first fish of the evening. It's a little dinky sauger but hey, it "broke the ice" so to speak. After a few more sauger, Tim hooked a really nice 23 inch Walleye on a Sucker minnow. When I go trophy hunting, I tell ever whoever's in the boat every single time "hey just be prepared to get yours hopes shot down if you hook into a big fish, because it could be a catfish, or a drum". And of course, I got my hopes crushed from a nice drum Tim got. I like Mike Iaconelli's style. "Never give up". Always think positive and anticipate landing a big fish. It's going to happen, it's going to happen. WHAM! Zzzzzzzzzt,......zzzt........zzt......That's the sound of the drag being pulled out from Phil's next fish. I see the classic head-shake and we are all 3 in agreement it's a nice walleye. I grab the "big fish net" and stand by the motor. Don't have to do much coaching here, Phil's maneuvering the fish from one side of the prop to the other, preventing it from breaking the line. (Very nice work.) We get a glimpse of it, "Ooooooh nice Walleye" and the battle is over, Phil won. The fish was 29 inches and 9 pounds 2 ounces. After taking some pictures, Phil did the honors of making sure she went back into the River nice and healthy. A few minutes of resuscitating and she swims away fine. I hope he meant it when he said "You know, I shot a Moose a few weeks ago, and this Walleye Trip means more to me, and is more special than that was". Because it meant a lot to me also, as does each and every trip on the water. Thanks for coming guys. See you next time!  |
Red River (North) - Monday, October 10, 2011 | |
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Red River Walleye Excursion, #4;
Where to start? How about let's start with me being a bit nervous for the first time. Paul, Tony and I got to the ramp at 7:30 as planned, and arrive at the first location (after my motor died like 4 times) and start fishing. In my head I'm thinking; "Umm......didn't you just pay $450 to get your motor fixed?" "Yes, I did" "Hmmm, you think you'll have to shell out another $450 to get it fixed again?" "No......I'll just hit it a few times and it will fix itself". "Really Josh? are we 12?" "No, but I'm in denial and don't want the boat to be out of commission for a week, so let me just have this moment" When the fishing is "this good" usually you can pop your first fish after maybe 2 or 3 casts. Well I think after Paul's 12th cast (at least it seemed like that many) he hooked into a football. 20 inches, fat as can be! Tony was the "Drum Master", and "Pike Pioneer" for the day. I counted 6 pike total just from him alone. Only 2 of the drum were heart attack fish ("Ooooh yeah, this is gonna be a good one oh crap it's a drum") And looking at the depth finder, I'm wondering if somebody isn't coming down to the river with a blow torch and heating up the water, because it's been at 57-59 the whole dang month. Time to trophy hunt. First spot is where I saw some killer wale type activity (Big Walleye and pike, and Catfish surfacing/exploding on the shoreline, going after frogs and minnows, etc) We begin "hook setting 101" and I'm wondering who's teaching and who's learning, because apparently I suck at teaching, or at least today. Bye-bye 1 dozen minnows and hello Goldeye. The nerves kick in and I'm getting sick to my stomache, and begin to question my decision to fish this area. I like to fish by my house. Every year, somebody in the boat hooks into at least a 7 pounder, and I just like to fish there! I find a current break and out go the lines. I wish I had a video camera, because when the rod tip touches the water while the rod's in the holder, it's such a beautiful sight. What's not beautiful however, is missed "big fish". But there isn't much you can do about it. After re-baiting, the same rod is bent, drag is being peeled, Tony grabs it and I see it's a good fish. After the battle we get a glimpse........ it's an 8 pound catfish. Oh well, still fun. But, we're on a time limit and have to be out of the water at 1pm, so we shift gears and head North. We had to call it a day, and thankfully Paul boated a really, really nice 23 inch Walleye, and another "1 fish short of a 2 man limit" day, with 2 fish being 20-21 inches, a 16 inch saugeye, and a couple nice 14 inch sauger. Thank you very much for fishing with me guys, I appreciate your business, and company. Josh Burgett |
Red River (North) - Thursday, October 6, 2011 | |
anyone fishing by the drayton dam,are the walleyes and saugers biting or is that over with,how bout the catfish are they still biting,thinking of maybe coming up there next thursday,,any replies would be helpful.
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Red River (North) - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 | |
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Red River Walleye Extravaganza #3,
Where to start? Well, I was supposed to pick Terry up at 6:30am, NOT 6:40am. Woops. "Hey, goin to be 10 min late" I text him. "OK, outside" he texts me back. And the journey begins. We're on the water by 7:30 on the dot. We decided we want some eaters first, to get the confidence up, take the pressure off, and have some fun. After a few nice fish in the livewell (18 inch walleye, 16 inch sauger, 18 inch saugeye, and a bonus 20 inch catfish) we figure we'd better go after the fish that he came to catch. I call this place Deer Head Flats, not only because of the 200 yard "clay type" bottom, but because I found a deer skull there a while back, plus I think the name is cool. We're in 8 feet which is right where I want to be. I already prepared Terry for "false alarm fish", then say "do you trust me?" Well after a 32 inch Catfish, and a smaller catfish, I see the look on Terry's face. "What the matter buddy, don't you trust me?" He chuckled and said yeah, it's just sucks because I got my hopes up on those last 2 fish. To make matters worse, both he and I lost 2 confirmed big walleye. I'm not scared, and I told him in the next 3 fish we will pull a big Walleye out. I moved the boat about 40 yards and he threw his 2 lines out. Next fish is a goldeye, and the one after that is a small catfish. Who's pumped up? I am. A few minutes later without any hits, I'm thinking about moving another 40 yards, BUT I say "hey, we need to give this spot another 10 minutes ok?" 5 MINUTES later the rod tip is dancing. I looked, tilted my head, and said "ok, that's our big fish". He picks the rod up from the rod holder, holds it in his hand for a few seconds, and sets the hook. (please Lord don't let it be another big catfish, because judging from the drag being pulled, it's not looking good for the home team.) Terry asks if I can see the fish, and I say nope, but please, trust me, just pretend it's a big walleye for the sake of NOT losing it due to "horsing" it in. "BIG WALLEYE" I say as I scoop it up in the net. And out comes my classic Mike Iaconelli SCREAM. "YEAAAAAHHHH!!!!" And, of course, I have to throw a couple jabs to Terry's shoulder. (ok, more like power punches but who cares, we're excited and we got what we were after. Now it's time to celebrate. I told Terry that I brought 2 beers (as per our conversation on the phone the night before) to celebrate. We crack those, and I prepare 4 delicious Venison Chop sandwhiches on the grill, with a little pepperjack cheese and a drop of A1. Mmmmmm. Yummy. "Might as well get a couple more eaters huh?" Yep, we finished out his limit, and mine. But not before He pulls out a 36 inch Northern flirting with 16 pounds. Thanks for coming buddy, and I'll see you in a couple more weeks to do it all over again. Josh Burgett www.jig-em-up-guide-service.com |
Red River (North) - Friday, September 30, 2011 | |
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Red River Walleye Adventure #2 for 2011.
Well,.........we weren't the only ones fishing for Walleye yesterday! To my suprise, there was a boat from SD (at least the pickup plates were) in one of my spots so we parked on a random 10 foot shelf. I was feeling it at first, but that wind man, I swear there were 40 MPH gusts and boat control was tough. We made the best out of a bad situation. The action was good/constant for a while. Drum, drum, drum, drum, sauger, sauger, pike, goldeye, 22 inch walleye, drum, sauger, 12 pound pike, etc, etc. Nothing wrong with that. Well, these people are camping out, so we decided to get our caps blown off due to the 800 MPH winds and cruise around a bit! (sorry Joe! hope it's all dried out now) We try a new area (at least new to me) geared up more for trophy fish and not those yummy eaters. After 2 missed fish we switched gears again and found a nice hole by a current break. When the big rods are bent in half, ....get ready for a big fish! Or a missed fish? Anticipation is high after a few disappointing hook sets. Maybe there ARE big fish here? Yep, there are. 10 pound catfish. 12 pound catfish. What???? Well silly, the water temperature is 60, NOT 50-57 like we want it to be, to put those Catfish in almost total dormancy so the percentage of big walleye hookups are 75% and not 50%! It's ok though because Joe and Lloyd start talking smack to each other, "well you might as well reel up right now Joe, I'm gonna hook this big walleye" (amidst the 12-16 inch sauger they keep catching AND losing!!  )Check the clock, 7:30pm? Freezing? Windy? "Hey the truck has a heater." Should we idle back to the ramp or just say "put the pedal to the metal?". No thanks I like being able to feel my fingers. We call it a day just ONE fish short of a very, very respectable limit of eaters. Thanks for the memories guys. Good luck on the River too! Jig-em-up Josh |
Red River (North) - Thursday, September 29, 2011 | |
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Catfishing on the Red has been somewhat spotty over the past week with the unstable water temps. The warmup of the past couple days has perked up the bite a bit as fish are feeding more getting ready for winter. Locations to look again are deeper areas with current running in, fronts of holes, and snags near deeper water. Bait of choice is sucker and frog but frog is beginning to take a back seat. There have been lots of bites with the takers coming in. Just move around and be patient until you locate the active feeding fish.
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Red River (North) - Sunday, September 25, 2011 | |
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fished the turtle and while we didn't get any trout, we did get keep 5 northern over 23 inches, and at least a dozen strikes from northern that would have been keepers, in the park we only saw 2 trout, and one might have been 4 pounds, and talked to someone that almost had a 4 pound trout on a spinnerbait. we stopped by the turtle east of the park, and I almost got a rainbow on a spinnerbait but it got off, #&*#@!!!!!!!!!!!!. and to top it all off, the river is going to be stocked for the first time in 5 months or so this week.
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Red River (North) - Thursday, September 22, 2011 | |
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Report: 9/22/2011
The action was fast and furious for a while, then slowed down a bit with only 1 fish being caught every 10-15 minutes or so. I tried depths from 1 to 10 feet, with 6 foot being the magic depth. Caught a 9 pound drum, lost 2 very nice walleye at the boat due to not having a "net man"! One was 25-28 inches, and yes, the other was bigger! Ended the day with a limit of 3 awesome eaters from 16 to 18 inches. Fatheads are still out-producing suckers, and the best presentation is either a dead stick or a jig worked SLOWLY. Slow your presentation down. This warm spell that's going to be upon us should slow the sauger bite down but the walleye should start hitting more. Best success will be in slack water areas. (mini-bays, outside bends, rock piles, log jams, sandbar/gravel bar type structures, etc) Good luck, Jig-em-up |
Red River (North) - Wednesday, September 21, 2011 | |
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Catfishing on the Red this past week was tough. The quick drop in water temperature took its toll on active fish. This week was temperatures stabilize the bite is picking up. Fish are being caught in deeper holes with current moving into them, snags and tree piles that that are located in deeper water and deeper slack water. As the weather warms over the weekend start looking on the breaks and feeding areas again for more active fish.
There really is no bait preference so bring it all. Stay in spots a bit longer than normal to allow fish in the area to find the bait but don't forget stay on the move either There is not much left for the catfishing season so get out and take advantage of what we have left.. |
Red River (North) - Tuesday, September 20, 2011 | |
does anyone have any pictures of the launch by the dam in drayton,can you shore fish right next to the launch,wondering what it looks like right next to the launch,pictures would be great.
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Red River (North) - Monday, September 19, 2011 | |
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Action is still good for Walleye and Sauger. I had to slow my presentation down quite a bit, and I eventually switched to a floating jig setup. Man, the pike are crazy right now, and the drum are starting to turn on as well. I hopped back and forth between the ND and MN side sandbars, and after little success I started fishing the downstream side of the sandbars, casting UPSTREAM towards them. First time I've ever experimented casting like that and I was rewarded. |
Red River (North) - Friday, September 16, 2011 | |
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Put the boat in at the convent landing for what is the last open water trip of the season. time to switch gear and go hunting. Took the kids with me from 6:30 till 8:00. My daughter caught a 14 pound catfish and my boy caught a 11.5 pound catfish during that part of the trip. Then dropped the kids of with my wife at the ramp and picked up a couple buddies and stayed out ill 12:30 this morning. Activity while the sun was up actually was prety good but for some reason the fish were not hooking up. During this time we had some tremendous hits on our bait, some of the best I have had in a long time. Once the sun went down activity of large strikes slowed down considerably and we caught several smaller fish (under 10 pounds). We were using what I would consider to be large to medium sized frogs, and almost all of our strikes came from the deeper water in the main channel. We actualy did not catch any fish the whole evening on the rod closet to the bank at any spot we tried.
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Red River (North) - Friday, September 16, 2011 | |
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Jig-em-up Guide Service Red River Walleye Extravaganza has begun. Tyler, Jamie, and myself got to the ramp around 10:30am yesterday, after waiting for non-freezing temps, and started off in search of Catfish. A few missed fish, and a few hits but no takers, we move to a different location. Fishing in slack water, Jamie pulls out his personal best, a 19 lb 4 ounce beauty. After a couple more missed fish, and the water temp breaking 64 degrees, I make the call to switch gears and pursue my beloved Red River Walleye (and sauger |
can't forget about sauger!)