After a half day of C&R on the Red River in Winnipeg using a level wind reel and 6' rod I decided to try my luck with a Winston XTR 9'-9 wt' I'd brought along. My guide had never seen a flyrod used for this kind of fishing and he expected the rod to blow up. I caught and released so many I lost count exactly but it was somewhere around 6. They all were in the range of 34" to 37", the largest weighing 27#s


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Woops, lost the second picture

I've never caught cats on a flyrod. What was your setup and how deep?

Nicely done.

So, what do you do when you're not fishing? Hunt moose with a BB gun??

Hunt moose with a BB gun....very good. Actually I learned about catfishing with a flyrod from some guys in S. Africa on the internet. Fishing style is unorthodox as there is not a 'cut bait' fly but I did the same as I'd done with the level wind reel and rod....almost.

We'd used a 3 ounce sliding sinker earlier so using a 9' 8#=/- leader I'd use for salt water fishing, I spooled out a bunch of line onto the boat floor and gave her the heave ho. Everything went zinging out into the river perfectly and I settled down with the line going straight directly out the end of the rod. I kept the line and rod in a straingt path to the bait so I could feel the slightest 'tug' without going through the rod.

When I felt any movement on the bottom I quickly stood up and yanked hard and fast to set the hook. Just as you'd do with a big fish in salt water. Never lost a fish except when one fish went around one of the two anchor ropes we had out.

The river was moving fast enough that I don't think even with a full sinking line you could have kept the 'lure' where it needed to be. But then if I get a chance to try it some more and the water isn't too deep I'll give a Limburger Cheese fly a try

Although not caught with a fly rod, this is typical of the ones we caught