By Brad Durick

As I predicted last week for catfish on the Red River, the fish had some temperature shock from the fast rise in temperatures following the warmth that came in starting Memorial Day weekend.  Ultimately, the water temperature has settled in on 74 degrees.  Numbers of catfish ended up really good actually, with lots of smaller fish gracing us, but the big fish stayed pretty scarce.

Wood is holding fish nicely, as are the shallow edges between faster and slower water. Bigger fish are coming off drops near wood or into deeper holes. Sit times have been around five minutes to get a fish if there is one, then wait out the next 20-to-25 minutes for any more. If you really wanted to be aggressive, you could turn and burn every 10 minutes and have great success. The key has been to cover lots of water to put up numbers and try it all until you find a pattern that works any given day; but that’s fishing, right?

One observation I have had for the first time is that the male channel cats have started to get that blue color and swell up over the weekend and get more and more dark earlier this week. I have never noticed that change that fast and in real time before.

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: Prespawn Blues.  The author is noting a real-time shift into spawning color for male catfish on the Red River, while larger fish are a bit harder to come by as they acclimate to recent temperature changes in the water. DEO Photo by Brad Durick.