should I just grind them offset pegs off or will they be fine on the fisher, with the light pan tensions?

Mink man you could try and call MTP and ask about grinding down the nubs that make the trap offset. They might know if it will work. I don't think a fox could pull out of a 550 offset unless only caught by a few toes but female fisher have small slender front feet and may be able to pull there foot through the 3/16" offset

jeremy I worked on my mbs today. I set them on the ground sand dropped a rock the size of the tip of my thumb, to the second joint on my thumb, on the pan from between 6 to 10 inches in the air and it set the pans off. I had one that took a few drops and another that took about a foot drop. About how many pounds is this and is this not enough for female fisher? I will ask mtp about the numb grinding.

An average skunk around me is the size of a female fisher, and those skunks are always waiting "for me! I personally feel you are over thinking all of this!

jeremy, that post you put on money trapping, is how I trap, I just want a better set up for fox and fisher. I do use conibears for fisher but its hard with dogs and pole sets don't always produce. I talked to jeff and he didn't know if grindin the pegs would work, I ground one tonight and made a closed jaw, but the spring levers are coming-out of the lever slots in the jaws. I might just buyt the closed jaws and replace these jaws. I also thought about selling these and getting a different trap, I hate to do that, they are nice traps, but they got to work, I am still thinking about what to do. Lyonch I know what you mean, but I didn't do that good this year. Jeremy I only had one one or two with anything reassembling a catch circle that I can remember.

Concerning the trap, absolutely!

From all I've read in this thread, I'd suggest that you've fallen victim of a common ailment of inexperienced trappers. You've encountered a problem of sprung traps so the problem has to be the trap. This is rarely the case! Out-of-hand, I'd bet you've made an incorrect assumption just from "seeing" the sprung traps rather than "reading" the sign the culprit(s) left you. I strongly suggest you look and think beyond the trap and focus on your process of how you make your sets. It's always easy to blame something tangible like a sprung trap just because it's there and sprung. It's a lot tougher for some to think in terms of process which is an intangible because we seem to think the problem can't lie with us or something we did!

To make a cheap trap tester just use a plastic water or pop bottle , set it on a scale and fill with enough water to get the weigh you want and put the cap back on. To test a trap just gently place the weighted bottle on the pan and let it fire against it. Very simple method using a known weight and an unbreakable(or reasonably so) bottle.

Good post seldom!

I see what you mean seldom, I may order some standard jaws and Put them on the 550's, that way I can use them for everything. I will have to try that bottle method. Hows the holding power on the standard jaws for 550,s?

MM, I think you missed the point of my reply. IMHO, different trap jaws are the last thing you need to look at fixing or changing. Your problem has nothing to do with the functioning of the trap itself per say because the sprung traps are only an "indicator or symptom" of the real problem.

I understand seldom, I dont have a ton of land trapping experience. I know I am getting deer and a few rollers, but I had some with catch circles and that was with proper tension. I am going to keep the traps, but I am going to put the standard jaws on. I like them, thats what I have always used. YOur right, I will focus more on my sets this year, and try to nip the misses and rollers. I am only putting the standard jaws on because of all the coon and fisher. Thanks for the help everyone!

The 550's regular or offset jaw will have all the holding power you will need. A friend of mine bought a dozen 550's from a guy at the PA sportsman show and he had videos of black bears that he had held in 550's playing at his booth. Seldom has a great idea with using a water bottle to test pan tension. According to an online calculator 500ml of water weighs 1.1lbs. I think if you can get your pan tension up as heavy as you can but still keep it light enough to catch fisher you will have less snapped traps. Also how do you prep your traps? I painted some traps once and the animals could smell them and would dig them up out of the bed and in the process they would get set off. I agree with Seldom. The problem isnt with the trap itself. Something is causing your traps to be sprung and empty. Like Seldom said "read the sign the culprits left you".

I die mine by boiling in sumac, and then I wax them. By melting wax on top of. water and pulling the traps through the wax. I uset to use kbl dip, but I don't anymore because of scent.

So funny...So true.Thats why I don't buy used traps.

As previously stated you should look for sign as to what went wrong first. One of the top culprits of sprung traps for beginners is not bedding the trap solid. When a trap is bedded you should be able to push down on each jaw and lever without the trap moving, if it moves your trap is not bedded properly. When an animal approches a set it should be focused on the lure, bait, etc, if it steps on the trap anywhere other than the pan and it feels movement chances are it will now focus on the trap (keep in mind it doesn't know there is a trap there and it doesn't mean it smelled anything, it just stepped on something unstable and dug down to find out).

With the pan tension I have caught skunk, opossum and even fisher in sets for coyote, using about 3-3.5 lbs pan tension on victor #2's, the 2.1 lbs rating on 550's two spring models will be fine.

Waxing your traps I know there are people that do it still with the wax on the water, you may want to try just wax though. You can get the wax a little over 212 degrees so when you dip the trap if any moisture is present it will boil out leaving just a wax coating. I've seen too many times where the wax over water method has left moisture between the wax and trap causing the wax to flake off. Dying them is opional as an animal cannot see what is buried under ground. If you liked dip Formula One is good and is water based (not fuel smell to air out), and dries overnight so you can redip during the season and use them the next day.

Thanks four the info guys

mb 450 FH ? just might be what your looking for.

I thought about that and may try it in the future

Why not just use a smaller foothold on your fisher sets? Ive got lots of fishers on leaning poles, but only a few on footholds, but my #2 coilsprings did a fine job holding them. Leave the mb traps for your coyote and fox sets. The only time I've caught fishers in a coyote set is with baited sets, and I mean like using BIG bait. In my opinion (and I've been wrong before) fishers hunt mainly by sight. Most flat sets for canine relie on scent to get them there first. I guess a blind set might produce an accidental fisher to. But choose the trap that suits your target critter first, and try to attract that animal to that set. By the way I'm new here, so be easy on me

I understand what you mean sugar, hill but many adirondack trappers including myself make sets that will take all animals and try to keep the traps standardized. It works good to, but I prefer a #2 size trap for fisher, especially when the snow starts to come down, also any good fisher set will catch a cat here. When I make a cubby most of the time its a mixes fisher/cat cubby. I know a really well known trapper from my area and his standard small water animal and land trap is a 1.75 coil spring and he is a really good trapper. /i user to use my duke 1.5 and they work great, but I need them for water and don't have the money to keep buying traps. The mb's are a little easier on the foot as well. Thanks for all the info!

Cool, I'm just on the otherside of the "pond" in Vt. Its funny.....how two different sets of mountain country can be only a couple hours apart, but so different