Creating a Life Long Love of the Red River

By Brad Durick

Gas prices had just hit $1.89 for the first time in recorded history, and that weekly trip to Devils Lake was becoming a costly venture. My fishing buddy suggested that maybe we should look at the Red River for our weekend trip. After all, the river runs right through Grand Forks, and we’d heard that catfish were the best fighters around.

No travel and big fish seemed like a good combination. We knew that people used big hooks and sucker minnows for bait so we bought the tackle and the bait we needed at a local bait shop. We decided the crank-bait rods we used for walleye fishing would do the trick.

We launched at the East Grand Forks boat landing and headed a short way south, staying right in the city until we saw a hole in the river bottom on the depth finder. Now we were fishing for the catfish. After about 20 minutes, my rod went down and the race was on. What an unbelievable fight. That walleye rod was just buckled, and it seemed that the line was going to break at any moment. The fish finally surfaced and to us it looked like a shark. That cat only weighed 6 pounds, and I knew that I needed some better gear if I was going to take up cat fishing and tie into a “big one.”

It has been almost five years since that magical day on the Red when the cat fishing bug bit me. It has become a mission to learn as much as possible about catfish and how to catch the elusive state record, which will be around 34 pounds the day it is landed. Since that day, I have found that there is so much more to the Red River than just fishing for catfish. I will say that cat fishing is the main reason that I still fish in the river, but anglers also can fish for such species as walleyes, saugers, northern pike, carp and even the occasional crappie or muskie.

Besides the fishing, the scenery is second to none when you get on the river in a boat. As you move north or south from Grand Forks, it seems as if you are moving into a different world. The wildlife is just breathtaking, at times. For example, in 2002, there were three bald eagles nesting high in the trees along the riverbanks. It is very common to see deer while you are fishing. Mid June, young fawns come down to drink what could be their first sip of water. In early fall, it is common to see groups of bucks still in velvet. You can tell who will be the king of the woods later in the fall when they are all standing together.

It gives me great joy to take newcomers out on the Red to show them what it really has to offer. To most people, the Red is nothing more than a dirty, old house eater and we should all be scared of it. I have yet to take someone fishing, or even for a boat ride, that say they had a bad time. They usually have the reaction, “I had no idea there were fish like this here.” Or, “It is so beautiful, I had no idea.”

The Red River is very special to me, and I love to talk about it and promote it to anybody who will listen. The best way to describe it is a true diamond in the rough located right here in North Dakota.