Catfish are coming on frogs as a bumper crop of the amphibians moves about the area’s waterways after a wet spring. Cut sucker remains another go-to bait for Red River channel cats. DEO Photo by Brad Durick.

By Brad Durick

Catfishing on the Red River has been quite stellar this week. We have had lots of big fish coming in. If you know where you want to fish, things have been pretty easy as the catfish have been hanging out in the mid-river holes toward the front. 

One thing that has been constant is you must give them an honest 20-minute sit to get the best results from the bite. Frogs have been the hands down best bait this past week with fresher sucker chunks as a second choice. The faster water seems to be producing nice fish as well if you can find some fairly ripping current on outside edges.  There have also been some reports of great night fishing.

While we are not to low water conditions yet, things are getting lower and there are stumps and other hazards starting to show up. Just be careful and respectful of the river when traveling.

Brad Durick is a Dakota Edge Outdoors Contributing Writer and a licensed ND Fishing Guide specializing in trophy channel catfish on the Red River in and around Grand Forks.