Big Wait.  Larger catfish are showing up, but require longer wait times once a bait hits the water. DEO Photo by Brad Durick.

By Brad Durick

For Red River catfish, the past week has been really good for numbers and more and more big fish are showing up. The pattern has not changed all that much in terms of locations with fish still mostly right down the middle of the river. What has changed, however, is that we are back to the long sits again. The past few days have been 35-minute minimums to get into the bigger fish. 

This could change a little over the next few days as we have some water on the way from upstream rains. I don’t think it will amount to much, but it will be a fresh drink for the fish to keep things rolling. We are still very low water so we could still use some more rain.

Frogs have been the best bait in the morning and one-day-dead suckers have been the afternoon bait of choice. Goldeye is working but it is third choice for me.

Friday and Saturday is the Catfish Capital Challenge at Drayton. 60 teams will be competing for a $10,000 first place payout in one of the season’s biggest catfish tournaments on the Red River. 

Brad Durick is a Dakota Edge Outdoors contributing writer and a licensed ND fishing guide specializing in trophy catfish on the Red River in and around Grand Forks.