By Brad Durick

We are on a solid cooling water bite when it comes to channel catfish on the fall flows of the Red River. Catfish are holding on the inside corners near deeper drop offs. The best areas also have a shallow shelf alongside of them. Set up on these areas and put a couple lines on the shelf and a couple in the deeper part of the off-current seam.

Give the fish an honest 20-minute timer and they should start biting after that. Some mornings they are sitting on the shelf and others just off that drop off. It won’t be hard to tell which they prefer once you catch a couple fish. Repeat the pattern from there.

As the day warms up the catfish can move to the hole and even more into the middle of the river. This is just a simple lateral move within the hole to stay on active fish. If they indeed move to the middle (usually in that mid-afternoon timeframe) you can shorten the sit times as necessary.  Frogs have been a solid morning bait and cut sucker is good, but better after mid-morning.

Some sections of the river remain low and dangerous so be careful in boats if you are in these sections.

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.

Featured Photo: A fall bite is setting up with big catfish adjusting to cooler mornings and warming afternoons on the Red River.  DEO Photo by Brad Durick.