Fishing is tougher as access has opened up to the Red River right during the catfish spawn.  Anglers are using heavier weights around 5 ounces to stick their offerings in deeper water to find good-sized fish. DEO Photo by Brad Durick.

By Brad Durick

The big news this week is the ramps in the Fargo/Moorhead area are opening up. Grand Forks where I am fishing is nearly perfect for boating by my standards. All three ramps are now open. No docks yet but I suspect they will be coming shortly.

Fishing is fairly tough as it appears we got on the water just in time for the spawn. Water temperatures are above 75 degrees so it is time for that to happen. It has been hot enough that the spawning process should be somewhat quick, at least I hope.  Right now, the best fish are coming off the deeper drops of 24-28 feet on the off-current side of the river. I am fishing with five ounces of weight to stick where I want to. So far cut sucker has been my bait but I have not spent a ton of time with other baits. It may be a week or so until things really get kicking if the spawn is indeed on.

This weekend we have the Scheels Boundary Battle Catfish Tournament in Grand Forks/East Grand Forks. It should tell a great story of what is going on. 

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.