carbon drowning rods

[rk660]

I used the new "speed of light" drowning rods the last couple days. Used on mb-750 w/ 12" chain. I set well crossed dams on one creek, 2 drowning rods and one 660 per dam. Had double on both dams today. one per dam on drowning rods and one each 660. I also set 5 coon sets with the rods and took one coon. They worked flawlessly. One beaver on Mb with rod was on bottom side was in about only 2 ft. of water and alive. Like Clint L. said, they just spin round and round w/o tangling up. That exactly what the live beaver did. Another thing that was nice, instead of playing waiting game for a shot, just pull up drowning rod, drag up to ya and shoot. It was a breeze to set compared to wading out to top of boots on steep slope of dam to set bottom end of drowner. Im using split rings right now which are slower than I care, but will have some snaps shortly that will make attaching trap to rod a snap. As light as these rods are its no trouble dragging a couple down to creek. I think I'm going to need 4-6 doz of these for coon trapping on steep banks that drop sharp. One real nice thing about these rods would also be if wanting to throw in a water set here or there on a dryland line you wouldnt need hip boots, you could set and retreive with just knee boots. Ive passed a lot of easy water fur sometimes because I didnt want to change into hip boots. They will bow around about like a beaver hoop, so you and bend them over a ledge also. Also since mine are the 10' rods, I can bow them and still get into my pickup w/o hanging out rear topper door, just bow them till they fit. Small test I know but I very much like what I see so far, I think Ive now seen the end of my slide wires on beaver.

Would have been nice pics today, one in 660, one in drowner rod on each dam, bu forgot camera. Ive been setting some coon/fox/cat snares and am going to be using some 1/16 microlocks on coon with the stinger springs and hope to have some news soon on how they perform.

[mostinterestingmanintheworld]

Rich this is something I don't believe I've heard about.

Joel

[rk660]

carbon fiber drowning rods and stakes, made by Tim Kreshel out of MN. Drowning rods are a rod with a stake loop at top end and lock stop at bottom end, so you just shove the bottom end of rod into mud in deep water and stake the top end at the set. It has a one way slide lock just like a drowning wire lock.

Yesterday at this creek, I waisted the last 1/2 hr of daylight talking to a guy checking his cows across the fence. He came walking down to truck so I went up to talk to him. He is running a trail cam on this creek and told me he has seen a lion 3 times since August on his cams. Bad news is he hasnt ever seen a bobcat on this creek. Not every creek around here has a bobcat on it, and although I always set some snares higher up for cats, Ive never caught a bobcat off this particular creek. Wonder now if I set some up coyote high what kind of cat I'll catch. If that happens, I know the perfect place to stash it, in a 4 ft long cage trap about 70 miles south of here, LOL. I'll let him do lunch with the fish cops.

[kyboy]

I use rebar drowning rods for about 75% of my beaver sets now. Heres the lock I make for mine. Im interested in the price of the carbon rods.

[mattduncan]

good to hear rich i've been waiting to hear a report from someone who has tried them i guess now i'll buy some .Did you try any of the stakes?

[thebeav2]

I use 3/8ths rebar and two staking points at the bank and you don't even have to shove the bottom end Into the creek bottom.
I would think If you had a hard clay bottom or a rocky bottom the carbon rods would be useless and you would still have to wade out and anchor the deep end.
Two staking points at the bank won't allow the rod to rotate once a catch Is made.


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[ScottW]

I haven't used the carbon rods but I bought one of the stakes at the MN convention to "test" it. I pounded it in and pulled it out of our lawn in 4 spots.....only one of the spots did I hit a big rock or such and I only hit the stake 2 times when it hit this rock and then I pulled it out and moved it a couple feet. Anyways, to make a short story out of it, after these 4 drives the formerly sharpened end of the stake was already starting to bust apart and any type of point on the stake woudl have likely been gone in a couple more drives into teh ground. I haven't used it and have saved it just to show people who are curious, if I remember I try get a pic of it today and post it. So unless you have pure nice rockless soil, I would stick with rebar for stakes! Happy trapping. ScottW

[musher]

stupid questions for kyboy: I've never seen that before. Is there an "up" or "down" to a rerod? What do you make your slider out of? Why do you have the square piece with the s-hook on the bottom? (or is it a top view of another slider?) If it is another slider what keeps the trap from sliding right off when you pull on the stake? Is that a dogless trap?

Thanks.

[kyboy]

The other square piece is the top veiw of another slider lock. I make mine out of 3/4" or 1" square tubing. I also have some L-locks made from angle steel. There is a large nut or washer welded to the top to put a stake thru. There is a lug welded about a foot from the bottom to keep the slider from coming off. The rebar works either way, its non directional as far as that goes. They work vvery well and arnt hard to make.

[thebeav2]

I was always concerned on what would happen when you put the vise grips on the carbon stake and tried to twist it out of frozen ground.

[rk660]

Dont know about stakes in adverse conditions, almost a given that they wont hold up like steel. But water trapping your pretty much in mud and what Ive seen so far I doubt undo breakage in the mud. Ive hammered in a couple doz stakes, we'll see how they hold up when pulling out of frozen ground. Being able to bow the drowning rods is what I really liked so far. For a boat trapper where weight is a big factor, is where I think these stakes stakes and rods will shine, as 1/3 weight of steel. If your floating a boat chances are you are not pounding into frozen tundra. I'll try some stakes on land set later and will report back what I find, good or bad..