Wondering your experiences with drags water trapping. I usually use railroad plates when road trapping. River trapping with a boat they are too heavy to carry any amount. Was thinking about 2 prong drags. Like a 2 or 3 pound JC Conner type drag. Anyone have any experience or other suggestions? I have 4 feet of chain on the traps. Run blind sets. Coon, Mink & rats are the targets. Thanks for any input.

I doubt a mink or muskrat will even move a 3 pound drag but a coon will. That drag will lock him up for sure though but you could always prehook it also so there's that now I'll leave it to the experts

I agree with Artrapper no issue with rats or mink coon are as strong as any animal trapped but if there is brush they will not travel far but if they get in open water you might have issues.

If you are in Wisconsin, there should be enough trees that a small, cut on site, wooden drag (4-5' X 2" diam.) would be a better all around choice. Rig your chain so you can cinch it tight about 1' from the end of the sapling/branch. If high water is a possibility, wire the other end (with some 14 ga. wire) to something solid. A coon can take a metal grapple drag up a tree and you can be searching at the wrong elevation for him ! ! ! ! Disposable cable anchors (if the soil is right) could also save space/weight and hold the animals you mentioned. Make you own out of em conduit to see if that will work out of your canoe/boat and, if they can't be retrieved, cut the cable and go. They will corrode away to nothing in a few of years in your acidic waters........... the mike

just watch for high water coming and if can prehook.

I use drags and have experience with Mink & Coon on drags. You will be find with pre-hooking. I feel 4' of chain is too short for Coon (if not pre-hooking), just my opinion.

For River Trapping from Boat-
I feel a better option is extension cables with adjustable loops vs. extra chain with heavy drag.
Extension cables are lightweight, inexpensive, versatile, fast setup, and will get the job done.
I love my drags, but with you boat trapping, cable extension may be best method if you plan on pre-hooking.

Go out long before the season opens with a chain saw. cut limbs/ small trees for drags. 4-6 footers with a 4 inch or bigger diameter. stack them up so they can dry for several months. Else beaver will haul off your drag and trap. Put a couple wraps of GOOD wire on them and twist it the ends. Buy fence staples. Secure the wire with a staple so it cant slide off an end. Get back in your boat and distribute them. Can tie your 10 foot 3/322 cables on when you make sets. cables get pretty twisted after a catch or three. Bring plenty.

I tried them on some mink and muskrat traps, and you know what happened right caught the biggest coon ive ever caught. Think i m over drags for water critters. Going back to drowning rigs so i get more mink.

Danny, you are the hardest worker and put the effort in with all your tips. Would you consider finishing some furs for an old man like me sometime (LOL).

im a long way from you. you have to bring em dowm and haul em back.

making drags like that isnt hard. whats hard is moving them. once you have a few where your sets go they last awhile. coons can not get them up in a tree to good./ a big plus coon trapping.

i had a badger on a drag like that caught on top a pond dam. i looked around a few minutes before i found it. was expecting a cat or coyote to go right down off it and tangle. that badger ran across the top of the dam. then dug a hole and buried itself . now that was work digging that badger up.

regular steel coyote drags are a poor choice for coons. they can and will get way up in a tree. if staking or drowners are not going to work a limb like that will.

I run all 1.5 b&l longs for mink and rats. I move the chain clasp to the frame corner opposite of the spring and add 4ft of 2/0 twist link chain and 4 crunch proof swivels and a 2 prong fox/coon size drag. I run a t-bar stake through a swivel to anchor when its needed (most off the time it is). I think I'm gonna weld flat stock on bottom of them over summer for some added weight, just an idea. I love my settup. Hold coon that wonder in to them very well. I have held several otter and beaver in them as well.

I got this idea from rich faler's mink book and modified it to fit me.

The last time I had to retrieve a coon from high up in a large cottonwood with my 1.5 coil and two prong fox drag on a long chain, I swore it was the last time I ever used a drag for any coon or mink set.
I have a buddy that uses very heavy coyote drags and has had zero problems with coon on those. I'd lean toward something like verses a light 2 prong fox drag.