When you say the words “Red River” to most tournament anglers, the majority will instantly start telling you how much they hate this body of water. BUT NOT ME! Yes, the Red River is a challenging river system and not just with fishing, but navigation as well. But I love the Red River for several reasons.
First is the fact that it’s such a diverse fishery. You have two choices on where to fish. It’s either the shallow backwaters or the jetties and cuts on the main river, which pretty much narrows down where you’re going to attack this body of water.
The fishing can be really good, especially when it comes to catching numbers of bass. Quality, on the other hand, can be a little tougher to come by. When fishing the Red, you must lower expectations in terms of size and quality. A 13-to-15-pound bag with five fish will be in the running to win. However, the Red River is on its way back to providing catches of good solid five-fish bags of 15 to 18 pounds.
The improvement in fishing is thanks to the Red River Waterway Commission which has implemented an annual restocking program for black bass ever since the flood of 2016.
My latest adventure on the Red was one of regret and one of joy as I participated in the recent American Bass Anglers Louisiana Pro League make-up tournaments. Two of the three regular season LA Pro League events were canceled back in April and May due to various reasons.
While I’ve been fishing the Texas division since its inception, I decided to jump into the Louisiana circuit when ABA rescheduled both make-up events on back-to-back days on my favorite body of water — the Red River.
Over my tournament fishing career, the Red has been the site of some of my most successful tournament experiences with a few wins and several Top 10 finishes. For some strange reason it seems to fit my style of fishing. I’ve always been a shallow water angler since I was a kid growing up on small ponds. And the river is conducive to my throwing a crankbait, spinnerbait and flipping a creature bait in thick cover.
Tournament 1 was on Saturday, August 23 and the results were average for me with a sixth-place finish, weighing a little over 11 pounds. But tournament 2 on Sunday was much better as I finished second with 13 pounds. Former FLW pro Jim Dillard won the event on Day 2 with 15.03 pounds.
On Day 2, I pretty much followed the same game plan as Day 1 but with a couple of adjustments. Instead of starting on the main river, I went straight into the backwater areas. This turned out to be a good move as I had a five-fish limit by 8 a.m. I still caught two good keepers on the main river later that day, which allowed me to cull up in weight.
Turns out, one specific spot I had found in Pool 4 during practice was the key to my success on Day 2. Over a two-day period, I caught over 22 bass off this one spot about the size of a pickup truck. I caught 15 fish off it on Day 1 with only two keepers. Day 2, I caught seven fish off this same spot and three fish were 3 pounds each or better. As they say, “What a difference a day makes!”
Again, I’ve never been able to say exactly why I seem to do so well on the Red River. It’s just a place I feel so confident and comfortable on that no matter how big the event, I seem to do very well.
Every angler who has ever fished tournaments will tell you that there are certain bodies of water where they just feel right at home. For me, that would be the Red River.
Contact Steve at sgraf26@yahoo.com