Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: walleyed]
#7234390
04/03/21 07:12 PM
04/03/21 07:12 PM
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walleyed
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Got on the water soon after dawn, and it was 20*F, a bit nippy.
With the wind finally dead flat calm, we set Stony Creek and dropped in a dozen #160's and 2 #330 beaver sets.
Loaded the canoe and headed down to Sandy Pond to check the eight set we had there after a two day soak.
Somebody helped themselves to one of my Victor #1.5 Stoploss that we had set on a rat toilet log a few inches under the water. on a six foot conduit stake. They took the trap but left the stake.
Called the ECON game warden to report the theft and cover M.A.
Ended up with 5 rats all together and reset the beaver set that caught the beaver two days ago.
Hope to string some more beaver and rat steel in the morning if it's calm.
Stay Tuned.
walleyed
Last edited by walleyed; 04/03/21 08:52 PM.
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Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: K52]
#7234477
04/03/21 09:03 PM
04/03/21 09:03 PM
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walleyed
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Do you move your sets every third day? I've found after 2 days catching you're better off to move than stay another day, it's always a lower percentage catch for me. If I'm running a lot of sets, yes. It's an odd year with no feed beds and very few rat toilets because of the extreme low water. It's almost all bank dens which are taking the place of floats this year for me. Lot of habitat is not accessible due to the low water. I'm just screwing around with just a few sets any way. No gas in the tank this spring for walleyed. w
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Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: walleyed]
#7234910
04/04/21 12:31 PM
04/04/21 12:31 PM
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walleyed started his day with disappointment as the Easter Bunny did not visit last night and leave any Easter eggs, solid chocolate bunny, or yellow marshmallow peep chicks in our basket.  Stony creek produced 6 rats and two beaver. We set yet another #330 in the channel to the lodge. Sandy Island Beach channel to South Sandy Pond produced 5 rats including the trap thought stolen yesterday. walleyed spotted it about 15 feet from where the stake was, all wrapped up in a wad of aquatic vegetation. Still can't figure how the trap and rat got separated from the 6 foot conduit stake. Just a few days left to beaver season to get a few more. Stay tuned. walleyed
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Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: newfox1]
#7235107
04/04/21 06:05 PM
04/04/21 06:05 PM
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walleyed
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How ya holding up Walleyed, doubt I’m going to hit triple digits, I’m planning on pulling by Wednesday, like to have everything ready for sale on the 10th, are you going.? Nope, I will be selling to Gary Groenewold on April 17th at Carson's Pizza in Adams on Route 11 at 2:00PM. Don't have enough fur to justify the 2+ hour drive to the Herkimer Auction. Plus no commission and no waiting for my check. GROENY ROCKSGood Luck on April 10th with the Auction. w
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Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: K52]
#7235969
04/05/21 09:04 PM
04/05/21 09:04 PM
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walleyed
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Things were a little bit slow today on the abbreviated trap-line.
Stony Creek produced just two rats and no beaver.
Sandy Island Beach channel produced 2 rats and one LM beaver.
Yanked the few traps we had there and pulled out for the season.
This afternoon got caught up on fleshing and stretching the Easter Sunday catch of 11 rats, and then skinned & froze the two beaver for the Groeny pickup.
Depending on how we feel in the morning, we may set the Colwell Ponds (North & South) if the wind isn't howling.
Considering stringing steel at Lower Black Pond as well.
Just 10 days left in the season to collect a few more rats.
Stay Tuned.
walleyed
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Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: walleyed]
#7237379
04/07/21 04:14 PM
04/07/21 04:14 PM
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walleyed
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Finally got back on the water this morning to check Stony Creek after a 2 day soak.
Had to yank the beaver sets as today is April 7th, the last day of Beaver/Otter season in New York State.
Can't for the life of me figure out why NYS was so determined to start all water trapping seasons on the same day (November 1st) but has different closure dates (April 7th) for Beaver/Otter and (April 15th) for Mink/Muskrat ?
It's counter-intuitive and makes no sense if NYS's goal was to eliminate confusion by having the same Opener/Closure dates.
No last day beavers in the 3 channel sets, and the rats sets produced just on lowly muskrat out of a dozen bank den sets.
The game plan was to set some new feed bed/rat toilet sets in some protected, back water side channels on lower Stony Creek estuary.
Not a breath of wind blowing as we eased the canoe up into the narrow, backwater slough just barely wide enough for the canoe.
About 100 feet in, we spotted a nice haul out plastered with rat scat and ample fresh chewings.
walleyed reached for a #1.5 Vic stoploss and conduit stake and had just half-hitched the ring/chain onto the stake when we noticed that the water in the channel was rushing out downstream and the channel was rapidly being de-watered by the lake seiche.
The wind had just come up blowing out of the Northeast and down the Stony Creek estuary and was quickly emptying the creek.
we tried to quickly back paddle down the side channel but were left high and dry in the mud & ooze and beached.
20 minutes of push-poling later, we finally made it back the main stem of the Stony Creek estuary vowing never again to venture into "the channel from hades" until high lake levels return.
Pulled out at the boat launch, and headed south on NYS Route #3 to Colwell Pond at the Lake View WMA.
Loaded up with 23 #1.5 Vic Stoploss and 22 #160 conibear with appropriate stakes and paddled off for the west edge of the main Colwell Pond.
A mild north-east wind of about 5mph was blowing, but easy enough to paddle against.
The first 400 yards of the west shoreline held not a feed-bed, nor rat toilet, nor den hole channel to be seen but the force of the wind started to increase.
Finally at each point we arrived at, several deep entrenched rat runs carved into the sandy pond bottom were clearly visible, and we guarded each one with a #160.
By the time we reached the channel into North Colwell Pond, the wind velocity had increased to 20mph and building, the west shoreline water was becoming muddled and walleyed's ticker was starting to do flips & stutters with accompanying chest pain and we had no more interest in bucking the wind any more today.
All toll, we had dropped in just 7 #160's in den hole channel sets before we pulled the pin and sculled downwind back to the ramp, pulled out, and headed for home for the day.
Plan is to be back on Colwell & North Colwell Ponds early morning to string more steel before the wind comes up and throws a wrench into the works at mid-morning.
Stay tuned.
walleyed
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Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: walleyed]
#7237685
04/07/21 09:23 PM
04/07/21 09:23 PM
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 25,739 New Hampshire
Nessmuck
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Walleyed ...you got a pic of your rat set up on those lathes....do you use a single spring 160 ?
It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
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Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: walleyed]
#7237689
04/07/21 09:29 PM
04/07/21 09:29 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 24,386 Wisconsin
The Beav
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Caught 15 rats today on a ADC job. It was 80 degs when I set yesterday. They still look good and not a bit up rat In the bunch.
The forum Know It All according to Muskrat
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Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: The Beav]
#7237784
04/07/21 10:47 PM
04/07/21 10:47 PM
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Posts: 47,957 james bay frontierOnt.
Boco
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Caught 15 rats today on a ADC job. It was 80 degs when I set yesterday. They still look good and not a bit up rat In the bunch. I hate trapping in the heat,but it has to be done sometimes. Give me 30 below anyday. Not looking forward to summer at all-it is shaping up to be a hot one.
Last edited by Boco; 04/07/21 10:48 PM.
Forget that fear of gravity-get a little savagery in your life.
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Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: walleyed]
#7237802
04/07/21 11:02 PM
04/07/21 11:02 PM
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NorthenTrapper
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I share your hatred of the heat Boco, one of the many reasons northern Canada or Alaska is looking more appealing.
“We will visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footsteps of the Savior,” -Lincoln
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Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: Nessmuck]
#7238148
04/08/21 12:06 PM
04/08/21 12:06 PM
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walleyed
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Walleyed ...you got a pic of your rat set up on those lathes....do you use a single spring 160 ? No pics Nessy, I use a hardwood stake about 4 foot long on a single spring #160 (DUKE). About 1 1/4 thickness, just slides nicely thru the spring eye, and stays put by friction when braced against (between) the trap jaws when set vertically. w
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Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: walleyed]
#7238161
04/08/21 12:20 PM
04/08/21 12:20 PM
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walleyed
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Wind got me again this morning.
Arrived at Colwell Pond at Lakeview WMA to find a 10mph wind from the Southeast blowing across the pond and mucking up the western shoreline.
Got 3 rats from the 7 den hole channel sets we put out yesterday, and then started scanning the shoreline for more set locations.
With the pond mostly drained from the wind, the distance from water to cattails was around 10 yards of loon poop mud mixed with sand and not walk- able.
We searched around 1000 yards of pond edge well into North Colwell pond without seeing a single rat trapping location and with the wind continuing to build, we called off our bid to set any more traps today.
We'll check Stony Creek in the morning.
Stay Tuned.
walleyed
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Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: walleyed]
#7238177
04/08/21 12:45 PM
04/08/21 12:45 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 24,386 Wisconsin
The Beav
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Caught 8 today and pulled out. All males and not a bite In any of them. Maybe since they are being caught In nothing but colony traps they aren't getting hit on by their buddies.
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Re: The Great Northern New York Spring Muskrat Thread
[Re: The Beav]
#7238611
04/08/21 09:16 PM
04/08/21 09:16 PM
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Posts: 9,060 Henderson, N.Y. Jefferson Co.
walleyed
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Caught 8 today and pulled out. All males and not a bite In any of them. Maybe since they are being caught In nothing but colony traps they aren't getting hit on by their buddies. Not much damage here either, Beav. A week ago it was about 50% with a single bite mostly. One of today's rat, a 19" incher, had a large abscess on it's hind quarter about the size of a wooden nickel Forewarned of it's location, walleyed attempted to skin deftly around the festering wound, but failed when it suddenly exploded sending a blast of nasty puss out of the cavity as if launched from a cannon. Did I mention it stank very badly ? We just barely avoided gagging up our dinner and spent the next 5 minutes with a roll of paper towel cleaning up the toxic waste spill. That the 2nd one of those this spring and hopefully the last !!!  w
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