Tag Archives: red river

Wednesday morning sturgeon

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The Red River near Lockport, Man., is known for its channel catfish.

But lake sturgeon? They show up occasionally at Lockport — and elsewhere along the Red River — but they’re far from common.

Thanks to the magic of technology, I received the most recent report of a Red River sturgeon shortly after 10 a.m. today, when Jim Stinson, a friend from Lockport, emailed a photo he’d taken with his Blackberry only minutes earlier.

Marv Miller of Mount Morris, Ill, caught this 44.5-inch sturgeon this morning on the Red River while fishing below the St. Andrews Lock and Dam in Lockport, Man.

Marv Miller, a catfish fanatic from Mount Morris, Ill, caught the 44½-inch sturgeon while anchored in fast water below the St. Andrew’s Lock and Dam in Lockport. Miller, 78, and his wife, “Neat” — short for Juanita — make the pilgrimage to Lockport twice a year, staying for several weeks at a time and battling behemoth cats every day in all kinds of weather. I’ve fished with Marv on a handful of occasions, most recently May 21, and wrote a feature story about him in 2008.

He and his wife have put a lot of channel cats through their boat over the years at Lockport, but I’m pretty sure this is his first sturgeon from the Red River.

A look through the Herald’s archives shows that a Winnipeg angler, Steve Swiston, caught a 76-inch sturgeon below the Lockport Dam in May 2002. The behemoth was just shy of the provincial length record, a 78½-inch monster Jenny Regan of Missouri caught in 1996, also below the Lockport dam.

Manitoba law requires anglers to release any sturgeon they catch.

While nowhere close to record status, Miller’s sturgeon was big enough to qualify for entry into Manitoba’s Master Angler program, which requires sturgeon be at least 43 inches long.

That’s not a bad way to start a day of fishing.

Women’s camping, canoeing weekend June 1-3 on the Red

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The Fargo-Moorhead group River Keepers is offering a women’s camping, cooking and canoeing excursion on the Red River from June 1 to June 3.

In a news release, River Keepers said participants will paddle from the headwaters of the Red in Breckenridge, Minn., and end at historic Fort Abercrombie. There’ll be two nights of camping, and a skilled chef will teach outdoor cooking skills and the group will make their own meals.

Paddlers also will learn about the natural features of the Red River along the route. Because the group will be small, paddlers will have flexibility in setting the course of their adventure. Beginners are welcome, and women who are reasonably fit, in good health, comfortable on the water and with camping will enjoy the trip.

Participants must be 18 years of age or older and only have to bring a sleeping bag, clothes and personal items. Everything else, including canoes, paddles, lifejackets, tents, transportation, food and guides, will be provided.

To reserve a spot or for more information, contact Christine Laney, River Keepers project coordinator, at (701) 235-2895 or email her at Christine@riverkeepers.org.

For more information about River Keepers, click here:

Red River sturgeon

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Dan Strom and Brian Klatt of Grand Forks were fishing for catfish and walleyes last Thursday afternoon on the Red River north of Grand Forks when Klatt reeled in a fish neither of them expected.

Brian Klatt of Grand Forks reeled in this small sturgeon last Thursday on the Red River while fishing for walleyes and catfish north of town.

It was a small sturgeon, which Strom estimates weighed 2 or 3 pounds and measured perhaps 2 feet in length.

“We were quite surprised,” Strom said. “We always knew they were in there, but I’d never seen one before.”

Sturgeon reports surface a few times every year on the Red, most likely the result of stocking efforts the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has conducted along some of the river’s key tributaries. The sturgeon generally are small, which corresponds with the timing of the stocking campaigns, and all must be released. As the size increases and fish begin to reach sexual maturity, the hope is that sturgeon will reproduce naturally.

Lake sturgeon are native to the Red but were all but wiped out early in the 20th century as dams constructed along the river prevented the fish from reaching key spawning sites. With the move to “reconnect the Red” by modifying the river’s lowhead dams to make them safer and allow fish passage, sturgeon again can access favorable spawning habitat.

Given the early success, it’s possible anglers on the Red River someday could hook into sturgeon weighing 100 pounds or more. Now that would be cool.