Re: River trapping tips
[Re: Possumslayer]
#437063
11/30/07 07:38 AM
11/30/07 07:38 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 29,861 williamsburg ks
danny clifton
"Grumpy Old Man"
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"Grumpy Old Man"
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 29,861
williamsburg ks
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You'll be wet by the end of the day. Can get chilly. Bring dry clothes socks gloves and boots.Change into them for the trip back to the boatramp. Bring a couple pairs of gauntlett gloves so after you fill one with water you have a spare. Themos of hot coffee is nice treat also. Oil your pistol every night so it don't rust.
Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
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Re: River trapping tips
[Re: Newt]
#437163
11/30/07 09:44 AM
11/30/07 09:44 AM
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 131 se kansas
bulldog
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 131
se kansas
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Check the water depth before you get out of the boat. If it is not clear enough to see bottom don't assume it is not too deep. Water over the top of your waders will make for a long day or worse if you are in chest waders.
Member, KFHA, NTA, NRA, MTA
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Re: River trapping tips
[Re: MinnTrapper]
#437361
11/30/07 12:30 PM
11/30/07 12:30 PM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 892 Ozarks of Missouri
BaldKnobber1
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 892
Ozarks of Missouri
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I almost exclusively trap from a conoe. Almost where you are, and almost for the exact same target critters... and here's what I know....
You...are...going...to...get...wet.
EVERY TIME.
Its the nature of in-and-out boating.
And you are goint go get more muddy than you have ever been. Just expect it, accept it, and be prepared to see more mud than you could possibly imagine mud in the boat, under your finger nails, on your face, in your hair, on your shirt and caked onto every tool you take.
Take an extra pair of gloves or two...they get wet first. Take an extra COMPLETE set of clothes. I have never needed a complete change, but Im pretty sure they saved my partner's life one 30 degree morning, when we were three hours from the truck.
Get a canvas 'tool bag' for your setting equip. baits-lures - zipties - a hammer/digging tool - and one/two traps for each stop all go into one bag. You dont want to be trecking back and forth to the canoe three to four times at each set. It will wear you out.
Pre-set ALL OF YOUR CONNIS before you put them in the boat.
Hip waders simply wont get it done, and chest waders will have you bound up all day tring to sit in the boat, and they are a PAIN IN THE CROTCH when you are trying to mount dismount in two -three feet of water. Either get waist high waders, or get a REAL belt to hold up your chesties so you dont have to wear the shoulder straps (this is what I do). That way you arent as bound up by shoulder straps, and you have that extra 6 inchs of "HOLY &%#$%^%! I almost went under!!!" height.
Dont take extra gear 'just because' you have always taken it in the truck. Because, that canoe/john is going to be heavey enough with traps and fur, and mud and the water that you bring in every time you re-mount from the deep spots. Trust me your boat will be heavier than that summer float trip, and the water is at its absolut lowest this time of year. Places that you drift serenly over while fishing in june or august, are the same places you are goint to be dragging a loaded boat through two inches of water and sliding on gravel in december and january.
Dont take drowner wieghts. Take empty bags and a shovel...God will provide gravel or shoebox sized rocks to fill those bags. Dont take rebar stakes, or coni stabilizers...God will provide sticks, and stakes. You are going to HAVE TO learn how to make do with what the environment provides and learn to stabilize and stake your traps with sticks. Wire is your new friend. 16ga, and 10ga. Dont take that heavy wire spool with 10-20 times more wire than you will need either. I have 16 inch long 1 inch round wooden dowel with little holes drilled all the way down it. I cut about 5-6 feet of wire, put one end in a hole, wind the rest onto the dowel. I have about 15 pieces of wire on each dowel. Learn to get it done with 5 feet of wire. Get a good set of linesman pliers and a belt sheath for them. I use them ALL THE TIME.
Dont take a cooler full of lunch. Take jerky in your pocket, and a bottle of water. Leave the lunch in the truck for when you are REALLY hungry at the end of your line.
If you have a motor on the boat, you need to take about three hundred and fourty six or so extra shear pins for your prop. You REALLY dont want to run out of these in the cold. Take my word for it...dont test me on this.
Buy a dry-bag and put in: cell phone wallet camera dry clothes toilet paper
If you are setting out a long (all day... 10 mileish) line, take a skinning gambril, a good knife & a whet stone, a rope and a shovel. 6-8 beavers and 12-15 coons can weigh 300-400 pounds in the round, and take up a WHOLE LOTTA ROOM. You dont notice it in the truck, but you're for dern sure gonna notice it in the boat. I plan for two 'skinning stops' on check days. Stop, skin, put edible meat (beaver straps) in ziplocks, pull sellable teeth with pliars, bury the carcasses.
Did I mention take toilet paper?
Get some reflective florescent spray paint and completely completely completely cover every tool you take. Id rather have an ugly tool in the boat than a pretty tool three miles up river ...some darn where, next to some darn set. And it also makes them easier to see under three feet of water.
Oh, yeah, and take toilet paper, and keep it dry. There arent any leaves to use this time of year, and the water is especially cold if you put it there, and you're too old to be proud.
I am plenty jealous there trapper 124. Ive always wanted to road trip over to the bootheel and make a week long trapping camp out of your 'ditches'. Have fun, and take pics for me.
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Re: River trapping tips
[Re: Possumslayer]
#437554
11/30/07 02:51 PM
11/30/07 02:51 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 17,624 Rodney,Ohio
SNIPERBBB
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 17,624
Rodney,Ohio
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If your trapping from the banks and not a boat. A tile spade can be a life saver if your banks are made of dirt. You can dig steps to get up and down the banks.
Though if you have to dig steps to get down, move farther up/down the bank. If you can get down easy, go ahead and make steps, sometimes that bank gets slick as the mud accumulates on your waders or boots. To make steps, just stick the tile's blade straight down into the bank and push the hand a 3-4 inches towards the water, do NOT dig out the step. Remove the tile spade and step on the dirt, that will compact your step and it should not slip on ya unless its all sand.
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Re: River trapping tips
[Re: SNIPERBBB]
#437638
11/30/07 03:37 PM
11/30/07 03:37 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,347 MO bootheel
trapper124
OP
Trapper Mark, M.D
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OP
Trapper Mark, M.D
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,347
MO bootheel
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well baldknobber, i will have to take drowning wieghts, over where you are at god provides gravel and rocks, here god provides mud, mud, mud, o and mud
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Re: River trapping tips
[Re: MinnTrapper]
#437699
11/30/07 04:14 PM
11/30/07 04:14 PM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 892 Ozarks of Missouri
BaldKnobber1
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 892
Ozarks of Missouri
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I hear ya 124. I have stretches of bank that are like that too.
If ya gotta take weight, ya gotta. But, always be mindful of the weight in yer boat, and after 3 or 4 'ditch lines' I bet you'll figgure out some other method for drowning. Since Im mostly rocky bottomed, I cant use drowner rods no matter how much I want to. OTOH, they may be exactly the ticket for you. A standard canoe is 17feet 5inchs long, and the space between the seats is about 12 feet. You could probably haul a couple dozen or so 12 foot drowner rods at the cost of about 60 lbs (total guess on wieght, as Ive never even seen one), and that would be a WHOLE lot lighter than a couple dozen breakdrums, tie plates or cinder blocks. Only thought is that anything above the gunnels of the boat makes it unstable in the water, and strapping on (with bungees) a bunch of steel rods would require a test float before I set out down the river without a plan B.
Not to argue with you 124, but Ima tellin ya, you're gonna see pretty quickly how fast the weight adds up in a trapping boat. Just be ever-consious of searching for a light wieght alternative to EVERYTHING!
(and I have often made plain mud work for me in my bags....just has to be completely still water
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Re: River trapping tips
[Re: trapper124]
#438192
11/30/07 09:06 PM
11/30/07 09:06 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 468 Washington , N.C.
Cannon Ball
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 468
Washington , N.C.
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T124
Get Newt's video and it will show you how to make that drowner. 2 or 3 coon and you will have it paid for with shipping.
If I put my wife inside a high fence will her rack get bigger ?
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Re: River trapping tips
[Re: Calvin]
#440185
12/02/07 12:23 AM
12/02/07 12:23 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 23,830 Wisconsin
The Beav
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 23,830
Wisconsin
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No one has mentioned the most important tip. Never and I mean never leave the boat with out tying It up. Boats have a way of getting away from you. I would stay away from earth type anchors at the deep end they can be just about Impossible to pull. If your water Isn't over your waders like you say you will be able to step In a T bar or a wood stake. Get out on the line a stash traps and other gear along the way so when you start out you will have just enough gear to set up that part of the line. Then you will reach your next stash and go on from there. Pre scouting Is the most important part of any type of trapping but more so on a river line. Don't over load the boat If you have to skin some of the catch along the way do It. We always gutted our beaver when the boat got close to being over loaded. Be safe.
The forum Know It All according to Muskrat
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Re: River trapping tips
[Re: trapper124]
#440366
12/02/07 08:21 AM
12/02/07 08:21 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 421 Rison, Ar
jwr
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 421
Rison, Ar
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jwr, the place i will be ain't all that deep, deep holes probably don't even cover the wader What happens when you slip on the 4 inches of buckshot mud in the bottom of your boat and you hit your hard head on the way out? been there, done that.
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Re: River trapping tips
[Re: jwr]
#440386
12/02/07 09:01 AM
12/02/07 09:01 AM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,056 Morehead city NC
JakeDog
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,056
Morehead city NC
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If you wear waders, chest waders-remember there are only two things you really want to keep out of them-the first is water, you figure out the rest.
dont eat big meals before an all day river trapping or duck trip.
J
Suppression rules/prevention drools
Confidence is going fly fishing for Moby Dick, in a row boat, and bringing tartar sauce with you.
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Re: River trapping tips
[Re: JakeDog]
#440387
12/02/07 09:04 AM
12/02/07 09:04 AM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,056 Morehead city NC
JakeDog
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,056
Morehead city NC
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Oh yeah the Beav hit the nail on the head as I can atest to very well. Specially in my tide driven rivers! be SURE that boat is secured. If you get out of it. I have not canoed, mainly jon boat) much but I think you might be able to pull that canoe up on the bank and THEN set out an anchor to be sure.
Bad Bad fellin lookin over yer shoulder and your ride is a half mile down the river-headin for the Atlantic! (my area)
J
Last edited by Jdog; 12/02/07 09:04 AM.
Suppression rules/prevention drools
Confidence is going fly fishing for Moby Dick, in a row boat, and bringing tartar sauce with you.
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