MPR reporter Bob Reha and his family have fished the Red River for catfish for decades. Here's why.

	MPR reporter Bob Reha, left, and his father Vernon. They began a tradition of fishing the Red River some 40 years ago, when they lived in Iowa. Bob now lives in Moorhead. See their photo album. (Photo courtesy of Bob Reha)

My family would drive 450 miles from Iowa to fish in the Red River. We started the tradition in the late 1950s. If you wonder why people travel so far just to fish, my brother Mark has the answer.

"Some people like to go to the Rocky Mountains...and other people like to go to the Red River," says Mark Reha. "It's just something we did...something magical about the river, I guess."

My brother was 12 the first time Dad took him fishing on the Red. He's 52 now. A lot of family memories were made along the river. Mark remembers a time he was cleaning catfish. Some local folks were eating nearby. Mark says they were shocked we'd eat the catfish.

	Mark Reha, who lives in Adair, Iowa, has fished the Red for the past 40 years. He says he's noticed an improvement in the quality of the river over time. Listen to his comments. (MPR Photo/Bob Reha)

"And Dad stuck his head out from the camper and he goes, 'How about walleye? You like walleye? I got some right here in the pan, would you like to try it?' And of course they were catfish. After they ate them and they said how good they was, we actually told them what it was - it was pretty funny," says Mark Reha.

Most of our memories center around our Dad. He was a character who made friends easily. One family in particular was the Kragnes family. They let us fish on their land for 24 years. Louise Kragnes remembers asking why we'd travel all that way to fish.

"They didn't fish the rivers in Iowa because they were all dug out. All the the things for the fish to hide in were gone, and so that's why they came up here," Kragnes recalls.

Reva is the youngest of the Kragnes' three daughters. For years, Reva and her sisters were all called "sis" by the anglers. The girls were tough to tell apart. Reva was 9 or 10 when people started fishing the Red on her parents' land. She remembers the visitors as a lighthearted crowd. But she also recalls a more serious side.

	The Kragnes family - from left: daughter Reva, father Paul, mother Louise, daughter Marguerite. The Rehas fished on the Kragnes family land for nearly 25 years. •Louise shares her memories of the anglers. Listen. •Reva recalls many childhood summers with the fishing group.Listen. (MPR Photo/Bob Reha)

"They always took care to leave the river exactly how they found it, and were very clean and neat about picking up the litter," Reva recalls. "Not only were they very fun people, but they were respectful people that Mom and Dad let them come down there."

When my family first started visiting the Red, the river was different. Some communities had garbage dumps on the river. The water was dark, the color of root beer. It made people think it was polluted beyond hope. The general attitude was - who cares. But my family and I are happy to know that those attitudes are changing.