what are the major pros and cons? Im sick of luging drowner weights not to mention how muddy you get handling them before and after a catch.Are there any cons to drowner rods besides un handy to haul?If I could get my truck close to all my beaver sets rods would be all id use .Unfortunately I cant hence this conversation! Yes I can and do leave behind a few weights when I use bricks they get left quite often! The beavers here move around a lot.So im always having to bring in more bricks! Eventually ill have a decent sized semi load of bricks scattered across the country side.Luckily I can get my bricks for free.But a few dozen 1/2" rebar drowner rods wont break the bank. Id like more input before I swallow that pill ! Rocky streams I know im pretty well stuck with cables

I use mainly rods. If its rocky and close i use weights. When i have to walk a ways i take a feed bag and fill with dirt or rocks

I only use the feed bag, filled on location. I only trap about 10 beaver a year though.

ive never been abel to get a feed bag to hold I always find the beaver laying on it on bank so I started calling them beaver pillows I think its the sharp edges of a brick that helps them dig in. Wish I could get that set up to work That always seamed like the way to go in walk in spots

Use both. Really like it when you can use a rod off one bank with a cable looped on the deep end of the rod to another bank set.

The rods work best for me but I don't have to walk ether drive close or boat

These were all caught with rods except two caught with 220s in otter sets

There are more beaver close to the road than I need, so I have used just rods for the past few years. I will not be going back to cables. I am sure they each have their place, but I will be using just rods.

If you go with the rods, try these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcgE9svBIS8

I use a little of every thing. Rebar rods, Carbon fiber rods, cables and weights, cables and fiberglass rods work too with the rod out there like the old spruce pole and wire trick in the swamp. If you like cable, and want to go light, and the bottom works for this, use a rod out deep to anchor the cable deep.

Every trap I have can be hooked up to any system I have, including under ice foothold sets.

Ditto.

thanks all I think im convinced rods are the way to go in easy access areas. but remote areas still need cable! Les id like to hear more about the cable and pole set up. I think I understand the concept but its not clear to me.

You need to fascten the cable to the bottom stop, these stops just stop a loc traveling down the rod with a trap on it, but I have loops welded to some of my bottom stops so I can attatch the cable there and poke it in to deeper water. Then just drive the trap stake in at the top with the trap on the cable. Same as the old days when a fella grabbed a slim spruce pole and attached a drowner wire to it and shoved it into deep water with a wooden stake topside near the trap. These are geotek rods that I have painted. I have the hardware from Rally Hess that goes with them, but you need to have a way to keep the spring loop from sliding under the pressure of a beaver, hence, my stops. It's just 1/4" nuts, bolts, and square tubing. Takes a 1/2" wrench in your pocket.

12 feet of #2 twin loop chain.....could use welded link but the cheaper twin loop works well. Used brake rotar off full size truck for weight..get them from brake mechanic shop. Use same Bauer type lock as used on rebar rods. I make my own locks with a V notch in them that prevents them from slipping backwards.

wish there was like a heavy duty fiber glass tent pole style drowner rod! Folds up in a easy two foot long bundle,Then the problem would be affordability

I normally use rebar. I originally made these for raccoon. Decided to try some this year on the beaver line. They actually did pretty good. Pound conduit in deep water and stake cable at the bank. Light weight and cables and traps can be changed out easily with the split washers. I don’t know how well they would hold up for a whole season, but I only have a few spots I can’t get my truck or 4 wheeler to so I didn’t have to use these much.

I like your rig. Do you use this out of a boat? If not, why not just use a chain or cable and pitch weight such a a brake rotar in the deep water?

I like the fiberglass rods. I started with wire and weights. Wire was difficult to wrangle around and will eventually kink. Traps slid down easily though. Cable is easier to deal with than wire, but it can kink as well. Had to have weight. Tried chain. Had to have weight. The locks I had bought sometimes failed to go to weight at bottom. Tried rods. No weight. Not had a beaver or otter fail to be on bottom. Never had one pulled out at bottom. Doubt if I will ever use anything other than a fiberglass rod. Just my experience. I tried them all. Wire. Then cable. Then chain. Then rods. Good luck.

Only time I use cable and weights is when I’m targeting otter on the creeks and 10 foot rebar won’t get out deep enough. Really just wanted to try this setup for beaver. Usually when I have to walk a little ways through thick stuff, I’ll leave the footholds and rebar in the truck and just take in some 330’s or snares.

The chain links are just extra to hook a cable to , in the event I don't use the rebar itself as the drowner rod, I might push it out into deep water with a cable attached and staked at shore.

Trapper les, what is the significant advantage to adding cable to a drowning rod? Isn’t a rod with a lock the same same one way ride to the bottom as a rod with a cable and lock?

Where do you get 8' or 10' fiberglass rods ?

theres a salvage yard close by my area you can buy bulk fiberglass rod. 8,10.12or20' sections either in 1/2"or 5/8"diameter. They sell a lot to fisherman for bank poles. I believe I will have to find out a price breakdown on them.

Every once in a while you might have a situation where you cant quite push the rod in and stake it with a trap on the rod, because the lay of the land and water is too tight, or something, and the use of a cable and the rod as the outside stake just gives you another option.

THANKS for the pics les they explained it all to me

You really should have all in your pocket. Including a shovel to dig out a bank and put in a 330 where there is little chance for a deep water set. I have some areas where bringing in rods or finding rocks etc to fill a bag just don't work. If I have learned one thing trapping, it is to keep all your options open. Where I can use either, I prefer rebar over. I too, have had the beaver pillow problem. There are no weld stops you can buy from different trapping supply stores that make them easy to use or, if you are handy and have access, a little welding goes over easy(thanks Friar).

putting a gun rack on 1 front corner and 1 rear corner makes it easy to carry them lengthwise.
Only have a rear rack in this photo...the black V shape

I learned how to use a feed sack, and slid wire from Charles Dobbins book on Trap Fastenings. You shovel dirt from the trapping site into the bag, about forty pounds worth, then twist the top of the bag several times. Just below the twist, run your wire from one side out through the other, fold the twisted top down, then wrap the extra wire around the folded down twist as tight as possible. I have caught a lot of beaver with this setup, and have never had a beaver pull my sack out of the water. I was using Bridger #5 double long springs, and in water that is at least four feet deep, and I always try for a front foot catch, but if I get a back foot, in four feet of water, I can still drown the beaver. Make sure you keep your trap chain as short as you can. I also used nine gauge wire, like chain link fence wire, had no kink problems with that. If I were to go for numbers, this system would not work, but I am too long in the tooth for that any more, so I just work on quality sets, and enjoy the experience.

Long chain 'em.
Forget that nonsense !

Lt been waiting on your reply. I have a few spots dead would be best for me and my equipment. Now I realize I can achieve the same thing with long chains but I can never get or keep them completely submerged. Im kind of getting tired of fishing for beavers with cables. And frankly its a pain throwing weights out on snot slick banks. Just last summer I removed all my long chains .Had one I did'nt and had a first beaver got away with my trap and stake, stake was 32" #5 BRIDGER ON 5' OF #3 CHAIN large ring on the stake end. My only thought was theft or it half hitched the chain and was abel to pump it out.

I’ve tried weights. I’ve tried rods. I’ve tried fiberglass rods.


I gave other methods a fair shake, and the only method I see myself using going forward (short of exceptions) will be staked, adjustable cable sliders. Long ones. With adjustable cables, I choose the set location. Cables 15-35 feet long really give options. When I want to make a set in shallow water, no problem. I run my cable to water of sufficient depth, stake the top end, pull the cable as taut as possible, tuck away excess, and the set is made.

Stop is placed 36” from the the end and the deep stake is hammered in. Pulling the deep stake is easy—turn and pull.

The top end just needs to be secured somehow. Stake it, use an earth anchor, wire it to something—-just secure it.


Build snare KPs with a stop a foot from the bottom and you have a deep stake that functions as a slider anchor or as a snare KP. I can make either type of set (or both) with the same piece of rebar carried in. I don’t like having to deal with weights. If I use rods, I can only use them where water is deep enough. The problem with a LOT of where I Beaver trap, deep water is hard to come by! Many places haven’t been flooded very long, and to make it worse, I prefer staying out of the primary pond when possible. With long adjustables, I’m able to take advantage of set locations that I’d have to otherwise pass up, because I’m able to let them zip down to depth down the way. For my method of trapping, I can make more sets while having more options and carry less. Works for me.


What I described may sound complicated, but it isn’t. Easier to show than to explain.

Im not knocking rods. For those that use them and like them, great. As I’ve said, this method works well for me because of the types of beaver jobs I encounter most often. If I were Fur trapping, maybe I’d look at it differently.


Good luck to ya,

Les, I really like those links of chain as a stop. You’re having more options while carrying less, just like I described. You’re just doing it in a different way.


Cool. I think I’m going to try your chain links on some of mine!

I like the drowning rods system, quick, easy and lightweight, perfect for an older guy...

ttt

here's my smooth rod set up..the bottom rod is the end stop bout a ft from the bottom

and its work

Ttt

Rendevous' rig (see his pics ^^^^) is the way to go when building the rods.

For staking, I have tried the big washer welded on top, big washer welded on the side, flat stake swivel welded on the side, flat stake swivel welded where it will still swivel, short piece of welded link chain then the flat stake swivel....

After all those the #9 wire welded in a loop over the end like in Rendevous' pic works the best. No stake binding and 1/2" rebar stake goes in and comes out at various angles.

I prefer the long light tamarack pole and slide wires,
Its nice to pull the one pole with 2 or 3 beaver at the end on extended check.

I used cables for years, once I tried rods I never went back. They can be tough in the rocks. Usually I can get the bottom of the rod in a crack or under a rock. On the top I sometimes have to improvise. Usually I can find something to wire it to. In the mud they are wonderful. Push the bottom in, push a stake in on the top, get trap where you want it , lure, and your out.

Agreed. Cables have their place but my go to set up is drowning rods. This years was my 1st year w/ using Hags rods and ends. Only way to go IMO. Very light and fast. I can pull up and have a set done in 5 minutes. 47 Flat tails this spring. vast majority of them on Footholds and fiberglass drowning rods. I will admit at times 8' FG is too short.

I use rods wherever I can but my creeks can be pretty rocky so Im usually about 65/35 rods to cable, BUT I much prefer chain drowners to cable.. Never kink, never wear out. Easier to pull up.