Red River Early Summer Bite: Bass, White Bass, and Catfish on the Rise

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Red River, Shreveport fishing report. We’re looking at a classic early-summer pattern on the Red. Air temps running warm and muggy, with afternoon highs pushing upper 80s to low 90s and light south wind most of the day. Skies are partly cloudy, and we’ve got that thick river humidity that usually helps the bite right around sunrise and again late evening. Sunrise is right around 6 a.m. local, with sunset near 8:20 p.m., so you’ve got a nice long window, but the best action’s packed into the first two and last two hours of light. No real tide to speak of this far up the Red, but river level is near normal pool and slightly stained to muddy depending on where you slide in. After recent storms upstream, expect 6–18 inches of visibility: clearer in backwater pockets, dirtier in the main flow and below big drains. That stain has the fish pushing tight to current breaks and wood. Bass anglers have been doing well the last few days on the outside bends and around old laydowns along the main river. Reports from local anglers at the public ramps say 1–3 pound largemouth are common, with a few 4s and a rare 5 mixed in. Numbers have been better than size: a decent stick can boat 10–15 fish in a morning if they stay moving. Best lures have been chartreuse-and-white spinnerbaits slow-rolled along timber, black-and-blue jigs with a craw trailer pitched into root wads, and shallow crankbaits in red or firetiger ticking off the rocks. White bass and drum have been stacked on some of the deeper outside bends and along riprap near the bridges. Folks dragging small shad-imitating crankbaits or throwing quarter-ounce silver spoons are catching mixed bags—white bass, drum, and the odd channel cat—nothing huge, but steady action. Catfishermen soaking cut shad and punch bait on the bottom in 12–20 feet are picking up good eaters, mostly 1–5 pounds, with a few blue cats into the low teens. Night bite on cats has been best, but the overcast mornings help. For panfish, the backwater sloughs and marinas off the main river are still holding bream and a few lingering crappie around brush. Live worms and crickets under a small cork, set 1–3 feet deep, are hard to beat for bluegill and redear. Crappie are scattered but you can pick some off brush piles with small tube jigs in black-and-chartreuse or straight minnows. Hot-spot wise, locals have been talking about the stretch just above the I-20 bridge, working both banks where you’ve got a mix of laydowns and scattered rock. Another solid area is around the oxbows and backwater cuts near the lock and dam to the north—anywhere you find a little clearer water out of the main current, especially if there’s wood, is worth working thoroughly. If you’re heading out early, start with moving baits: spinnerbaits, squarebills, or buzzbaits over shallow wood and points. As the sun gets up, slow down with Texas-rigged creature baits in green pumpkin or black-and-blue, and flip tight to shade. For bait, fresh cut shad, nightcrawlers, and punch bait will keep catfish and panfish rods bending all day. That’s the word from the Red River here around Shreveport. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn