I am about to start trapping a river. Well we call it a ditch but in most parts of the country it is probably a river, it is about 90 feet wide. (we call the Mississippi a river lol) I will be trapping it for beaver, otter, coon, mink, and muskrat. Any tips or secrets about trapping a large piece of water would be appreciated.

come on folks

have ya boat organized ..... set on sign .... pay CLOSE attention to where waterways meet .... gang set

only time i trapped a big waterway i had trouble with the fluctuation in the water for my coon sets.

If the water is deep tie your tools and stuff to something that floats.
Carry dry clothes.
Visually inspect each trap every check. Mine will silt under sand and mud in 2 days if I don't re-bed them every morning.

If carrying a cell phone, put it in a ziplock. It will stay dry and you don't have to take it out of the bag to talk on it.

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.

You asked
RIVER'N VHS/DVD
by Clint Locklear and Newt Sterling
http://www.snareone.com

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.

1. wear your life jacket
2. don't bypass any islands without scouting them for sign.
3. try to get some topo maps of the area noting everywhere another body of water comes close to the river you are traveling. otter and beaver will travel pretty good distances to bodies of water that do not flow into the river.

Hot coffee, extra gloves, plenty of traps for all situations and various ways to stake them, flagging tape to mark each set location and a pad of paper and pen in a big zip lock bag to write each set down. I put all of my important stuff (cell phone, hand gun, ammo, etc) in a dry box that seals and floats. Having 2 guys will allow you to have a truck low and high so you don't have to back track. This allows you to cover more territory in the same amount of time. Running a river line by boat is great. I hate trapping water any other way now! You cover more ground and areas that car trappers can't get to.

great tips guy, keep em coming

Newt if i had the money i would have already bought you movie. Back about a month ago i had to decide between that and more coon traps, i had to go with the traps.

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.

Dont drink coffee or water just for the sake of something to do. You'll be in waders ALL DAY, and doin your business while wearing waders is a production you only want to go through once maybe twice each day. Pee right before you put on the waders whether you need to or not.

By the way, dont forget the toilet paper.

I would suggest carrying a lighter or waterproof matches if you are going to be away from the truck farther than a half hour. If you happen to capsize or for some other reason get both sets of clothes wet, climb onto the bank or an island and get a small fire going to dry clothes out.
Only for the extremely cold days if far from shelter. The dry toilet paper will help start fires if needed.

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.

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

can you use berkshire type stakes? You'd be amazed how well they hold when sunk deep enough in the mud

i have pogos but how would you set them up on the end of the drowner?

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

124, i sat here and typed it out and them backspaced it like 4 or 5 times. I just cant put the pogo to drowner set up into words.

Ill get you some pics of my drowner rigs tonight. I use 14in 1&1/4 pogs on every set. They will drive in gravel and hold in mud. I coppied them from a demo I saw at the 2006 NTA conv in hutch KS.

its a loop to loop connection so the pogo can be replaced easily if it wont come out when I pull the set. The slide lock is permanently attached to the drowner cable. There fore the trap is permnanently atached to the drowner cable, unless I want to pry open a j-hook in the field, and, well, I dont find myself wanting to do that very often.

Both ends of my 16 ft drowner cable have two inch loops on them. One loop for the pogo anchor loop to loop, and the other loop for the tangle stick or drowner bag. I attack the drowner bag top the cable with a ziptie after I fill it.