One More Time!  The season isn’t quite over for big channel catfish on the Red River as warmer temperatures sustained a good fall bite into the start of October.  DEO Photo by Brad Durick.

By Brad Durick

I guess I lied about last week being the last report regarding the catfishing conditions on the Red River. I am done guiding but have been fishing on my own and doing some pattern testing on my Humminbird MEGA Live, and in the process finding a solid fall bite. 

Water temperature on the Red River remains in the mid-60s and we have some of the best catfishing of the year right now. Catfish are holding on the inside corners near deeper drop offs or just in the middle of the hole a little bit further out. Warmer days are pushing the fish to be more aggressive. Give the fish a 20-minute timer, but more often than not the bite will happen sooner so you can move a little more aggressively. 

The flow on the Red is up a little and that seems to have made the fish more active and aggressive. Cut sucker has been by far the best bait but don’t forget the frogs if you can still find them.

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.