I have a new area to coon trap this fall. All of the waterways on it are very deep, wide, sloughs that drain ag fields.The edge is a few inches to a foot deep, but more than a step in is over your head. Would a drowner rod anchored at the bank and angled downstream (good amount of current in these sloughs) and set so the rod is under water but the deep end is free work for coon, rats and mink? Might get on occasional otter or beaver, but would targeting coon. I'm thinking the weight of the trap plus the current would do the job.

Can you not drive the rod into the bottom ?

Rod has to be fairly stiff. Use 1/2" rebar minimum and have 2 anchor points at the bank end (2 washers welded to rebar about 1' apart -- anchor with stakes). The water end of the rebar does not have to be driven into the bottom if coon is the catch but an otter or beaver will bend the rod if not secured (driven ) in the water.

You would be lucky to hit the bottom with a 10 foot rod, and if you could it is nothing but loose silt muck. The rod would never hold.

If you can double stake the top of the rod so it can't swivel it will work. But if a back foot beaver or otter get in it, you might have a pretzel when you come back.

When I can't get a 12 ft rod into the bottom, I put about 30 lbs of weight at the rods bottom...double t-stake the top.

You could be better off going old school with a weight on bottom and wire to shore...as shown in the Basic Sets forum here, click on Castor Mound Set for sketches of weight an slide wire.

cable with a weight on the bottom

I would not use weight ,you mite not get it back. The muck ditches here I lost some brake rotors I could get out of muck.

Kenny, that is my thought exactly and why I asked about the free floating rod.

Seems to me the current flow would make the catch rise up to the top without a fairly heavy weight, or a drowner wire.

This. Put on stake at the end and one 18" from the end so it can't turn, or you can push the end of the drowner into the bank below the set and put your stake out part way down the rod. Coons and even big beaver can't get much traction in open water. They won't last long.

There have been swift water rescue swimmers that have drowned in shallow water. Even when on a tether in a strong current. Water flow doesn't make you float.

I trapped a river for many years that had the same physical conditions. Maybe a couple inches deep for a foot or so, then dropped off to eight feet or more. I struggled with cables and drowner weights, and finally went with drowner rods.

The rods were 10' lengths of 3/8" rerod. A slider lock was on the rod, designed to go one way. A nut was welded onto the terminal end to keep the slide from coming off. Eighteen inches from the bank end, a nut was welded onto the side of the rod. The nut was big enough to allow a 24" length of 3/8" stake to go through.

Now, time to set. The trap was S-linked onto the drowner lock. Angling the rod with the current slightly, the rod was pushed into the bank, horizontally, so the 18" of rerod was stuck into the bank, and pushed in until the side nut was just at the bank. The trap stake was shoved through the nut, and the set was made. Pocket, pipe, blind, etc.

The theory was the critter would get into the trap, slide its way out onto the rod, and the end of the rod with trap and critter would be heavy enough to dispatch the critter. And it worked.

Couple of things to keep in mind:

1) make darned sure there's nothing out there to hang up the rod from dropping down. No logs, no stumps, etc. I recall this one big boar 'coon that greeted me by waving to me as I was checking the sets one evening from the boat. He had slid out, gained traction with a log, then curled that 3/8" rerod right over into a huge arc. Was standing on the bank with his paw up in the air waiting for me. That taught me to check for sure there were no obstructions.

2) use a trowel to dig under the rod in the shallow water to be sure the slider can slide. A muskrat or mink may hang up if the slider can't move properly.

Shared this technique with many other water trappers. Most of 'em poo pooed it, said it wouldn't work. Well, it worked for me for 20+ years in this stretch of river. But only for those sets that dropped right off.

When trapping beaver I went traditional to 1/2" rerod that stuck into the bottom or went with cable and weights. Didn't trust the 3/8" rerod.

I hope this helps you out. PM me if you have more questions about this particular technique. I trapped out of a boat and it was easy to have 25 of these rods on each side of the boat when starting a stretch of the river.

Today I trap a different river under different conditions and no longer have this horizontal drowner rod employed. I cut all the 10' sticks in half and have employed them as a vertical short terminal rod with a hammer pipe and am very pleased with the setup.

ADC and Muskrat - that is what I was looking for!

Muskrat, do you have a pic of how your short rod setup works? I trap some other waterways that they may work on.

Thanks!

Anthony T, I'll try and get something together tonight.

Why not just a larger trap and a long chain ?

I don't go with larger traps since I want my 'rats and mink down and out of sight. If they're up in the shallows caught in a larger trap they can't move they're gong to be fed upon before I check the sets.

Anthony T -- short rod set up.

Here's the short rod. 5 foot stick of 3/8" rerod. There's a nut smashed onto the rerod, looks to be about 24" down from the end. The end that is on the street is the top, The bottom end is in the bed of the truck. The pipe to the left is the "hammer pipe". I have an S-hook attached to the end of a drowner cable. That way the 3/8" rerod can slide through it. Slide it through, push it into the substrate, and use the pipe to hammer it down. Doesn't work in rock.



Here's a shot of that rerod going through the S-hook to secure the end of the drowner cable. This is an older pic and I've changed something since that I'll mention a little later.



You can set these DPs anywhere in a drowning situation so long as there's no entanglement from the trap to the terminal end of the cable.



River dropped a foot plus one day and the eagles had snackums.



Look at the 'coon sign on this bank. I usually have 4-6 Dps on this bank alone.



Now, in this pic there are two sets. One of 'em scored a 'coon as you can see in the water. Both sets have a DP and both DPs are cabled to one terminal short rod. In situations like this I will grab a 10' cable and a 15' cable. Both are anchored at the set location with a 24" or 18" length of rerod, depending on substrate. The longer cable, in this case the 15 footer, is the upstream cable. Wearing chest waders, I will grab one short rod, the hammer pipe, and the ends of both cables. I'll walk out holding the ends of the cables and when both are tight, I'll slide that rerod through both S-hooks and push it into the substrate. Then take the pipe and hammer that down. Remember, the nut with about 24" of rerod above it is the top of the rod.



In the boat there are four milk crates. One has 6' lengths, another 10', 15' and 20'. There's a bucket in the back with "specials" that have 30s, 40s, and 50 footers. In some cases I slide 'coon over sandbars 'til I get to deeper water.

Now, the change to that second pic that I mentioned earlier. You can see how that 'coon can slide all the way to the terminal rod. I've had them power out using the rod as leverage. To solve that I cut off the end and slid a stop onto the cable. Hammered it down and then finished the cable with the double ferrule and an S-link. I've experimented with different lengths and have come up with 30" as a distance from the end of the cable to keep 'coon from powering out. The 6 footers have their stop at 24".

This is what works for me. You can make a hundred sets with 50 short rods in the boat, setting everything in pairs. When I'm trapping deeper water than I can wade out into I incorporate 10' sticks with the same setup. Or go with a drowner weight.

Anyway, for what it's worth.

Muskrat, thanks for the great pics and explanation. I could use that system on some of the other creeks I trap. I also have to deal with eagles and they will grab any critter that is not under the water.