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Post by mattduncan on Jul 30, 2006 16:53:15 GMT -6
with the price of rats this year i think i will go back to setting up the rivers along with all the drainage ditches this year the last couple of years i have been driving over these larger waterways because i could catch rats faster with colonys just goin from bridge to bridge but i think with increased compation i'm going to have this year all the root wads and tile drain along the many miles of river i have around will be a good bet anyone else trap these locations ? how about dealing with the rising and falling water and trap setup just wire off to the roots or run drowners etc. my rivers are roughly 30 to 40 yards wide running through ag land but are not conducive to boat trappin because of many rocky shallow sections and fences so probley will run on my 4 wheeler anyone else in these same conditions
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Post by rk660 on Jul 30, 2006 18:24:06 GMT -6
Matt, i'd say your best bet would be setting on feed beds under overhanging banks, and whatever dens you can find. Problem is on rivers its hard to spot these feed holes from the bank, youdamn near have to be in water to spot them. I can about tell what banks I will set, but still if working from bank I have to wade the whole 30-50 yard bank to spot them. Because of this, if you could any way run a small canoe/jon boat even if having to pull over a few rocks lift fences, you'd be ahead of the game. Unless you wade the whole thing, you will probibly miss a fair amount of them, working from boat you will spot most of them. Floats and such, just dont produce like a feed bed does, as youve already got the rat coming to them. Slide where they are cralwing up for grass are good too, but usually only do a single rat. good feed holes will probibly ave 2 rats a bed. unless hard pressed ive given up on lure/bait sets for most part and just set sign. In a pinch Ill dig a shallow pocket and handfull of green grass. Im not conveinced any more that lure catches any more than a handful of grass.
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Post by JWarren on Jul 30, 2006 18:28:52 GMT -6
Im not conveinced any more that lure catches any more than a handful of grass. Just a hole works good, no grass or lure
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Post by mattduncan on Jul 30, 2006 19:45:33 GMT -6
i know what you mean about things being harder to see from the top of the bank rich and there are some streches that i could maybe get away with a 12 or 14 jon boat i own a canoe but after one time takin a dip in early march trappin rats out of one i don't like them near as much lol
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Post by pnwmtnmn on Jul 30, 2006 22:03:05 GMT -6
Hey Matt Cabelas makes a clamp on outrigger for you tippy people. BTW I own 4 canoes and it is usually the people not the canoe that are tippy.
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Post by ColdSteel on Jul 31, 2006 0:43:11 GMT -6
Dang just about everyone is going after rats this year wonder how long they will average over 9 bucks.I hope I am wrong but I think you will see a flooded rat market for sure this spring
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Post by seldom on Jul 31, 2006 5:32:58 GMT -6
rk660 has given some very good advice, I'd suggest getting in the water for sure. It's pretty darn difficult to see the "pullouts" or undercuts or just sign in general from above.
By not knowing the type of bank vegetation you have, (could be lots of grass or could be lots of bare bank) I'd look for the food source and cover. If your river system has continuous, vegetated banks of a rats food source, great, but along mine, there's pockets that have to be searched out. Also, one more thing I'd suggest, look for the more vertical banks to be the better producers.
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Post by rk660 on Jul 31, 2006 6:33:30 GMT -6
Yep, them verticle banks are where 90% of the rat activity is.
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Post by rk660 on Jul 31, 2006 6:35:53 GMT -6
Yep, them verticle banks are where 90% of the rat activity is. One set ive never really played with that may have merit rat trapping rivers is that little stool/shelf shown by B. Berringer in the FTA book w/ an ear of corn on it. Youd have to keep it kinda hidden from coons somehow though I think, or be anchored good enough so accedental coons down run off with your traps.
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Post by trappnman on Jul 31, 2006 7:04:46 GMT -6
that ear of corn set is vastly overrated.
I actually caught less using corn than blind sets.
90% of the rat action takes place on vertical banks?
I'd say the opposite based on the river trapping I've done.
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Post by mustelameister on Jul 31, 2006 7:33:28 GMT -6
Most 'rat activity on my rivers are on inside bends with thick grassy vegetation. Doesn't matter what the bank behind it is doing, it's the attraction of those roots/green stems that's drawing them in. Overhead cover of the reed canary grass also protects from danger above.
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Post by shagnasty on Jul 31, 2006 7:35:09 GMT -6
most rat sign i see on rivers is under overhanging banks and root systems and on logs that are sticking out the water, i blind catch a few each season. i plan on taking all the rats i can this year with blind sets along my beaver lines.
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Post by trappnman on Jul 31, 2006 7:38:12 GMT -6
mm and shag- agreed.
any part of the river that gets off the "horizontal", seems to attract rats.
One key is looking for the bends after fast water. Rats aren't all that good current swimmers, and usually get floated down a fast stretch and "land" where the current takes them. Look for that point for blind sets.
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Post by buckfreak on Jul 31, 2006 7:41:12 GMT -6
I have played with it in drainage ditches with currents but they seem to work better in ponds. Corn is ok but it better when ya when ya give it a shot of shellfish oil. Never worried about coons cause they will either be drowned or humped up on the platform trying to keep from drowning. One pond I was trapping had quite a few coon on it. After catching a coon on one of these stools he chewed it pretty good so there was just a stub sticking out of the water about four inches, my brother thought he could catch coons consistently with this set, at this set he did too. That one stool took eight coon in ten nights with nothing but lure on the stob. It was set about ten feet from the bank in about three feet of water so the coon were swimming to it. These were all age classes of coon too. Just checked the wire after every catch and if it was kinked just replaced it. On the rats in rivers just look for undercuts on the vertical banks, logs that are solidly mudded into the bottoms with a place for rats to pull out on and rest are also good. These seem to be work better in spots with a faster current. One other spot that is a consistent producer is where culverts or tubes dump into the river from creeks. A slicked up hole on the up current side works good or if the tube is above the waterline and has room under it just set a trap under the tube. Rats seem to seek out these places to get away from the owls. Hope this helps
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Post by seldom on Jul 31, 2006 8:26:02 GMT -6
When you use the phrase "getting off the horizontal" I think it puts us all on the same page, at least for me. You don't have nice undercuts and vegetated overhang's on beachy-type water/bank/shoreline interfaces.
On my rivers those beachy-type interfaces are scraped bare of any vegetation each spring so they're really nothing more then an extended mud bar. Everything tries to stay under the overhangs which would be under some kind of a vertical (off horizontal) cut bank face though it may only be 6' high.
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Post by mattduncan on Jul 31, 2006 23:08:19 GMT -6
hmmm one thing i mentionted in my post was tile drains i don't know if everyone has these in numbers like i do but if you have these and don't set them in my ho you walk by a very good set location
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Post by mattduncan on Jul 31, 2006 23:10:55 GMT -6
hey coldsteel i trap rats every year weather they are 3 or 9 i aint got all them 150 otter like you fella's
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Post by ColdSteel on Aug 1, 2006 0:26:03 GMT -6
I don't have them no more either Matt .I still have 45 at NAFA no telling how long they will be there either.I plan on trapping rats this year some also but I can't do big numbers like alot of people just don't have the population.I will be lucky to do a 150
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Post by shagnasty on Aug 1, 2006 6:05:45 GMT -6
there will be lots of rat trappers in va this year, already been hearing the news everyone is going full bore on beaver and rats this year, so im expecting alot of competition.
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Post by thebeav2 on Aug 1, 2006 7:29:06 GMT -6
Shag lots of guys are going to go rat trapping but that doesn't mean a overly large catch. I have talked to guys all over the country and most places are under a bad drought. And we have all heard for years about the lack of rats all over the country, so I wouldn't worry about a flooded market. What you have to worry about Is a change In the fashion trend. Or cheap farm raised mink, these are the things that will do In the rat market.
Gary
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