I'm not much of a water trapper but with no snow and a late start due to knee surgery I'm trying to scratch my trapping itch. I'm trying my hand at some muskrat and mink trapping but I'm having a rough go of it. I have found a few old bank dens and have set them and managed to catch 2 nice muskrats. I know there are muskrats in this river but I'm having a hard time catching anymore than 2 . I have baited sets as well and they are usually tripped every morning with nothing in them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sometimes you can just slick the bank up with your foot, bed trap solid a little offset from center of the fake slide. Put bait or lure at top of slide. White cotton ball draws attention

You should be able to find spots where they dig up the bank looking for roots of where they dig and eat. Set where they leave the watdr. A good muskrat lure is helpful

I've used the fake slide and pockets with pretty good success. With the fake slide you can take a plastic fork and put scratch marks on it. For lure always had luck with Minnesota trapline bread and butter. Use it on q-tips inside the pocket also.

The only problem with finding where they are eating roots is it's the edge of a corn field and this fall was too wet to pick it all so there is a lot of corn on the banks from the coons and squerels. I'll try some pockets and hope the water doesn't fluctuate too much with the snow we are supposed to get this week. I'm sure I'm making this harder than it really is but it's a learning curve for me.

Is the stream wadeable? If so, getting in the stream will quickly reveal sign of feeding as you wade along the banks. The suggestions for pocket sets and fake scratching will work also. Again, the use of a good sweet smelling muskrat lure will ensure you have skinning to do

Is the stream wadeable? If so, getting in the stream will quickly reveal sign of feeding as you wade along the banks. The suggestions for pocket sets and fake scratching will work also. Again, the use of a good sweet smelling muskrat lure will ensure you have skinning to do

I was a bit redundant there!!

This is a river not a stream. I can walk in some spots and some spots the bank is too steep to walk. But I have a good stretch to work with and I also have some ogormans rat call lure and some Lennon's muskrat lure to use. I'll try some slides and pockets and see if I can catch some more. I have used these lureson some of the sticks I have baited connison but still no luck. But we will see. I'll leave the house at 3:45 amto make sure I have an extra 5-10 minutes to make a few sets before work.

Carmen's hudsen seal is a great muskrat lure,parsnip that has been rubbed with dirt makes a great bait.good luck!

Another thing to do is find your self a point. Set up a small fresh mud pile at the water line on the point. Set guide sticks around you trap. Your going to attract attention. A sweet smelling lure never hurts either. It's like the smell of BBQ. To them. I use Halseth muskrat lure one