Making Moves.  Catfish are adjusting to falling water temperatures that come with autumn’s weather changes.  Anglers should wait a few extra minutes and select slower current areas on holes that were previously producing in summer’s heat. DEO Photo by Brad Durick. 

By Brad Durick

What a difference few cool nights can make in the catfish bite on the Red River. It is that time of year, and when things change like this, the fish can get moody. The cold fronts bring the water temperatures down and that can shock the fish in the short term. 

A few days ago, the pattern took a major turn because of the change in the weather, and we have had to move off current and sit on the fish to get them to bite. “Off current” means finding the same holes as we were but setting up on the softer side of the current where the main current is pushing away from you. 

You usually have to sit on spots much longer to get the active fish to bite: 25-30 minutes is a good baseline. Once the water temperatures stabilize and we get some more seasonable temperatures, the fish can move back down to the middle and into the faster currents. So far numbers and size have not fallen off, it is just a different pattern to catch them.

Just about everything is working for bait. Frogs are still producing well, as are suckers if you can get them. Some fish are also coming on goldeye.

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.