Rising Up.  The waters of the Red River have risen a bit thanks to recent rains and catfish have shifted their active positions as a result over the past two weeks. DEO Photo by Brad Durick.

By Brad Durick

Much has changed over the past two weeks when it comes to catfishing on the Red River in and around Grand Forks. There were big storms at the end of last week which have caused the river to go up but not all that much. This small increase did change the bite from fast water in the middle to areas off current breaks along the edges where it is now. 

The best spots for catfish have been those flats that drop into a hole where the current is pushing away. The river appears to have crested from Fargo to Grand Forks and will crest in the northern stretches in the next few days. 

The bait of choice is back to suckers, but I have heard from some tournament anglers prefishing at Drayton that frogs are starting to really turn on. The frogs I have seen are still pretty small and are still somewhat hard to come by.

Sit times are still in that 20-to-25-minute range, but it seems that 15 minutes is the magic number.  The Red is setting up for some amazing September fishing. I have many dates available to take advantage of what should be a great close to the season! 

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.