Fishing the Red
The Red River is renowned for its channel catfish fishing opportunities. The river and its tributaries also provide excellent opportunities for walleye, sauger, northern pike and smallmouth bass.
Whether it’s an outing to one of the many parks along the banks or a simple day of fishing, use this guide to discover and enjoy the Red River.
The regulations listed here are for convenience and generally apply to river fishing. Check the fishing regulation for complete information. Note that line, season and possession limits differ between the Red River and its tributaries.
General
- Anglers may use two lines with up to two hooks per line on the Red River. Tributaries remain one line per angler.
- It is illegal to transport bait in lake or river water over land.
- If you want to keep your live bait after fishing, you must drain all lake or river water and refill the bait container with bottled or tap water.
- In most instances, it is illegal to harvest and transport bait from waters infested with aquatic invasive species.
- Bullhead, sucker, mooneye, goldeye and freshwater drum may be taken by hook and line from infested rivers or streams for personal use as bait for fishing on the same river or stream where the bait was taken. This bait may not be transported live from the river or stream.
- You can’t use whole or parts of game fish, goldfish, carp, salamanders (including mudpuppies), or freshwater mussels for bait.
- Suckers 12 inches and shorter are considered minnows and regular bait rules for minnows apply; however, suckers longer than 12 inches may only be transported alive if they are in containers that are not live wells or other parts of a boat and only if bought from a licensed commercial vendor. You must have a valid sales receipt from the vendor on your person.
Many anglers enjoy catching and releasing trophy-sized fish such as catfish and sturgeon with the hope that the fish will grow, reproduce and survive to be caught again.
Without proper handling, large fish may not survive depsite an angler's best intentions. View our web and video guides to maximize survival.
Ensure you follow these steps:
- Minimize fish's time out of the water.
- Protect the fish's protective slime coat.
- Hold large fish horizontally with two hands.
- Do not only hold large fish by their jaw, gills or gill plates.
Fisheries management
Red River fisheries management activities are outlined in the Red River of the North fisheries management plan. Our work includes standardized fish surveys, angler creel surveys, regulation evaluation and collaborative research projects.
Lake sturgeon restoration has been ongoing in the Red River since 1997. Once driven to local extinction, successful efforts to re-establish populations around the Red River Basin continue.
Fish in river systems rely on migrations to complete various parts of their life cycle. Restoring these migrations is a critical management activity and an ongoing 30-year project in the Red River Basin.
To date, 48 projects have been completed out of the 72 sites prioritized as key fish barriers in the Reconnect the Red Fish Passage Program. These projects are partnerships between Minnesota DNR, local units of government and community organizations.
The Upper Otter Tail Connectivity Project is part of the Reconnect the Red intiative.
Working together, DNR and the the Minnesota Department of Transportation are replacing infrastructure in the Otter Tail River watershed. The replacement aims to enhance aquatic connectivity for fish and other aquatic life.
Encompassing approximately 1,952 square miles, the Otter Tail River is the second-largest Minnesota tributary of the Red River of the North. The Upper Otter Tail Connectivity Project will help reconnect 20 miles of critical spawning habitat to 69 miles of previously reconnected aquatic migratory pathways. Cumulatively, this initiative reconnects over 42,000 acres of lacustrine habitat to critical stream spawning habitat.
The lake sturgeon restoration program has two components: The Reconnect the Red Fish Passage Program and fish stocking.
Stocking fish is a collaborative effort among the Minnesota DNR, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Red Lake Department of Natural Resources and White Earth Natural Resources.
Sturgeon stocking is conducted following management strategies outline in the Phase Two restoration plan.
- Want to learn how Minnesota DNR fisheries collaborates to assess and restore river habitats? Get to know some of our coworkers and their work in the River Ecology Unit.
- Are you curious about watershed health and how it affects river health? Check out the resources from the Watershed Health Assessment.
- Interested in the water quality where you’re fishing? Check out the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Water Quality Monitoring program.
Here are the most-recent Red River fishery assessments reports, creel survey reports and research publications: