I weigh 140, and I use #3 longs a lot. I have a good catch pole #1, gotta be able to control the animal safely, for you and it. Then I have two Irwin clamps. They can be operated with one hand. One clamp per spring, while holding the animal safely down using the other. I usually also put a foot on the control pole to insure things stay put, after the second clamp is in place. The rest is just releasing the animal unharmed. You can get some heavier duty Irwin's that are pretty short. I have a pair that I use on the line, and for working on long springs. They're just handy if you own long springs.