Red River Fishing With Rachel

By Rachel Leitch

During the summer my dad, Jay, my twin brother, Forrest, and I go fishing in the Red River once or twice a week. We almost always catch fish. The Red River of the North runs 550 miles from Breckenridge, Minn., to Lake Winnipeg. We live in Moorhead, Minn., or 445 miles from Lake Winnipeg. The Red River is known as a premier channel catfish river. There are also over 50 other species of fish in the Red including walleyes, northern, smallmouth bass, sturgeon, carp, rock bass, and many others. They are all fun to catch and release. First we catch a goldeye to use for bait. First: Catch The Bait We start by looking for worms in the garden to catch smaller goldeyes for bait. Once we find about 10 worms we head down to the river behind the house to start fishing. Out go the lines, and before long, in come the fish. We usually catch goldeye, carp, bullhead, sheepshead, and smaller catfish on worms. This evening I was the lucky one and in less than 10 minutes I caught the first goldeye. I landed it and took it off the hook by myself. My dad cut its tail off and put it on the large hook on the monster pole. The monster pole is a long, stiff rod with a reel loaded with heavy catfish line. An egg sinker about three feet up from a large hook keeps the bait near the bottom, where it wiggles in the current. Rachel is as tired as the catfish after 10 minutes of cranking. After about a 20-minute wait, the monster pole I was using starts to jiggle, and the drag starts clicking as line is taken out. I set the hook and the fight is on. I am sure there is a big catfish on the other end. It takes me about 10 minutes to reel the fish in. It was 10 minutes of giggling, saying "I've got a big one!" and "I'm going to get you!" There were times it was very hard to reel in, so I just held on to the rod. My dad kept saying "keep the pole in the air" and "keep the line tight," which is hard to do when I'm so excited. My dad helped to land it and we got to see how big it really was. Rachel Leitch, age 9, with a 29-inch channel catfish that qualifies her as a Youth Master Angler in the Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame. It's Picture Time Once I got it up and out of the water my brother ran to get my mom, Becky. She came with the camera to take some pictures. The catfish was 12 pounds and over 29 inches long. It was my first big one! After taking pictures, we released it and caught a couple more goldeyes. Then it started to rain so we quit fishing for the night. Rachel's dad, Jay, holds up a dandy Red River catfish. Three days earlier my dad caught a 17-pound, 34-inch, catfish in almost the same spot using the same kind of bait. We also released that one after mom took a few pictures. For me, there is no better, fun way to spend a summer evening than fishing for Big Cats! For a fine assortment of fishing gear, including heavy-duty gear for big catfish, click here.