So every year I like to run a small river line for a few days. Definitely a lot of work but there is something so peaceful about it. That makes it worth while. I usually like to start the season on the river during my vacation time, but mother nature had other ideas this year. Water was too high for the first few weeks so I had to wait till later in the season. Took a Friday off of work and got out 48 sets. Ran them Saturday and then pulled on Sunday. Would have loved a couple of more days but work called. Here are a few photos from my 3 day adventure:

Here is where I put in:



Here are a few "scenic" shots:






Here is my canoe rig. Nothing fancy and lots of fiberglass patching, but it keeps me afloat:



Lunch Break on Setting Day:



Day 1 Catch. I should note that I have had over 20 coon in that boat at a time. First day I had a 33% catch rate. Not too bad considering my primary opportunity is coon and it got down to 14 degrees that night.



Day 2 Catch. Pretty slow as we got a dusting of snow that pretty much shut the coon down.



So the biggest bummer is that the river is completely blocked at my exit bridge. I had to completely unload the canoe and portage around the blockage all while in sight of my truck. Ended up messing my back up on the last day at this part.




Stinks when the mink heads right down the bank to your pocket but still drew a blank:



This fella didn't know better than to go out in the snow:



Thanks for looking. Maybe next year's weather will work out to stay on the river a bit longer.

Nice!

Nice job

good job! glad the river didn't freeze for yya. were frozen up in NE ohio from the last week.

I’ve been to those places. 🤓

That looks like fun?

Nice little adventure...

Of course you have

Really pretty quiet around here this year with low prices and all.

Well done... Thank you for taking the time to take photos and share with us.. Congrats on your success..

I almost feel like I'm there.

Very cool, that looks like fun!

Looks like you had fun! Nothing quite like floating a river in a canoe. Peaceful trapping, relaxing, a whole different feeling from a road line or driving to sets.

What an adventure, great pic's VC. Thanks for sharing it with us man!

Great post.

Nice. Thanks

River lines are good to run. Looks like that stretch gets some real torrents at some time of the year.

Here's a suggestion: Get yourself a couple of these plastic tubs, drill small holes in the bottom, say 1/4", randomly about, maybe 20 or so, and set the tub up on a small pallet of criscrossed lath in the bow of the canoe. You can glue and screw this lath together in the summer, then paint it if you feel like it. Will last you many seasons and you can make it custom fit your canoe. Doesn't have to be but an inch or two high.



The criss-crossed lath pallet will keep the tub up out of the slop in the bottom of the canoe. After taking your critter out of the trap, rinse it well in the river, shake well, then toss in the plastic tub. The water will drain out into the bottom of the canoe and you won't have all that muddy slop getting into your fur. Keep an ice cream bucket in the canoe under your seat for getting rid of excess water as you continue to fill up with critters. River silt can be hard to get out of 'coon hair especially. Make sure you swish it back and forth especially if you've got one at the bottom of a drowner system.

The tubs can be stacked to start, then separated if you fill more than one. Get tubs like the one in the pic, the handles make 'em easy to lift and move.

Here's another tip. Discovered this whilst cruising the farm section of Farm and Fleet several years ago.

Get yourself a couple of these. You can take your lure, bait, what have you out of that milk crate and put it in these and hang 'em so they're on the inside of the canoe. Gets 'em up off the bottom, easy to access, and you can grab the bucket and go make your set.



I use 4 of these in the boat when running the river line. Two on each side of the boat with identical tools, bait and lure so I can work either bank and not have to reach over the boat or get into it to grab what I want.

Nice pictures and catches.

Thanks for sharing. Nice pictures.

Muskrat,
Thank you for the ideas. I have been trying to find a way to keep the animals out of the shop in the bottom. I will try that.

I will share a few tips I have learned(maybe old news to some of you)

1. I use blue ribbon to mark set locations. Not really noticable to the average person but it is easy to spot if you are looking for it

2. I printed some aerial photos on normal paper size and then home laminated. I number my sets on the maps using a sharpie and then also write that number on my marking ribbon. Really helps to make sure you don't miss a set when jumping back and forth. The river changes year to year so I am also setting different locations. Maps clean up with nail polish remover and have held up for over 5 years. Way better than trying to use electronic technology with muddy, wet fish smelling hands.