Over the last seven years, more than 16,000 channel catfish have been tagged in the mighty Red River. Why, you ask? It’s part of research being conducted by the University of Nebraska to determine why this fishery is so productive. At a recent seminar at the Victoria Inn, Mark Pegg spoke to a full house about the research and the results from that work.
One of the most fascinating pieces of information to come to light was the age of channel catfish in the section of the Red River from Emerson all the way to Netley Marsh. Channel catfish can live to the ripe old age of 27 years, which allows them to grow to huge proportions. These trophy catfish are also allowed to spawn for many years, maintaining an incredibly healthy population of fish.
This differs widely from the U.S catfish fisheries, where the majority of the fish are harvested by the time they reach seven years of age. Pegg says catfish are highly sought after for food and American anglers spent considerable effort catching them.
OVER HARVEST LEAD TO NEW REGULATIONS
When word got out in the 1980’s about how good the fishing was north of Lockport, U.S anglers started to stream here. As fishing pressure increased, fisheries managers felt the need to place regulations on harvest to protect the size structure of Channel Catfish. Manitoba enacted the first harvest regulations in 1981, when a creel limit of eight was implemented. A creel study conducted in 1986 reported almost 4,000 kg of Channel Catfish were harvested in a 16 kilometre stretch of the lower river that year, and most of the fish harvested were trophy size over 75 centimetres. That year Manitoba further reduced the creel limit to four Channel Catfish, only one of which could exceed 75 centimetres. The lower Red River is now managed primarily for catch and release, and since 1992, Manitoba regulations only allow the harvest of four fish and all have to smaller than 60 centimetres ( just below 24 inches). Since that time, the average size of the fish in the system has grown about seven centimetres a decade.
CATFISH TRACKING IS PRODUCING EXCITING INFORMATION
In the last couple of years with the help of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 162 acoustic transmitters have been planted in the larger catfish. This allows a more accurate idea of catfish movement throughout the system. Pegg says it showed that the larger fish tend to move quite a bit during the year. Some will make it all the way to Fargo, which is a bit of an issue. In North Dakota anglers will harvest larger fish, so there is increased mortality.
PROVINCE MUST CONTINUE TO PROTECT TROPHY FISHERY
The Red River is one of the only rivers in North America that is not commercially netted. There are some catfish caught in the commercial nets in Lake Winnipeg. Catfish are extremely hard on commerical nets and are difficult to handle. A few commercial fishers will smoke them and sell them direct to the public.
Catfish weren’t the only species implanted with acoustic transmitters. Biologist Doug Watkinson and his colleagues and Fisheries and Oceans Canada started implanting transmitters in seven species of fish in 2016.
They also dropped 205 receivers on the bottom of Lake Winnipeg, the Red River and some of its tributaries. Including this year, Watkinson’s group has implanted close to 800 fish. These include walleye, freshwater drum, common carp, burbot, lake sturgeon, channel cats and bigmouth buffalo. The bigmouth buffalo is one of these. They are really a unique animal, a native species that can live to 112 years of age, the longest-lived fish on earth. Since they feed on zooplankton they are rarely caught by anglers, which means they swim under the radar for the most part.
Watkinson’s research also revealed that most Lake Winnipeg’s walleye spawn in the Red River in the spring, then move from the southern basin to the northern basin in late June. In the winter these fish will migrate back to the south basin where food is more abundant.