I have several baited "pole" sets ( 1.5 coil on Hagz bracket on pole with carrot 12" up pole) and also 110's baited with carrots under water. I have yet to catch a thing with them. I have multiple sets at a pond and in a ditch and all my catches have been with 110's in runs, bottom edge sets, and bank den sets. Is there a trick to using these sets ? I put them near cat tails and grassy overhangs and still no action. Any thoughts ? Thanks

Are you using lure?Pole sets are kind of a crapshoot.50 0/0 catch rate is kind of my average but sometimes 90 0/0 and sometimes 15 0/0.In some area’s the rats seem to have no interest at all.

Bring your bait closer to the trap. I put mine 6 to 8 inches above. Try parsnips. As stated I have had ponds where they produced great and ponds where they didn't. I usually only use them where run sets and holes/huts are inaccessible.

How far under water should the trap be ?

I have the traps about 1/2" to 1" under the water line. I had my bait about 10" up from the water line. I will try moving it down a little and adding some lure.

I like 1”to 2” but I’m constantly monitoring river levels.If the waters rising I may set 1/8” under water and do afternoon check instead of early morning.Sounds like the dum dum South Dakota rats will climb on a trap out of water but they don’t do that by me.

Very little trapping experience here, but I have had no luck with carrots the past 2 years. When I switched to apples, I started to catch rats. Going to get parnsips so I don't have the bait turning brownso fast.

I have had great success with baited sets while trapping In ND. Just about every rat we caught was caught On a float or a stool. And lots of rats caught In baited 160s. Bait just above the water line.
But I was doing my ADC rat trapping In the city park where we can't use foot holds so I figured I would use baited 160s. I made 31 baited sets and In 3 checks I never had one of those sets worked. I don't have a answer to why they wouldn't take bait.

Keep mine 1 inch or so below water

For me baited 110s had a lot of misses. Now I use 150s. That extra half inch makes a difference. I put a carrot on the trigger but the trap is upside down and trigger facing up. 160s are better but I have more 150s from early open water trapping. The trap is a few inches below the bottom of the ice if in deep water. Set on bubble trails.

We use single spring 160s (we just take off the spring with the chain on) . We put orange duct tape on the trigger, set the trap upside down and in open water on the bottom and under ice just below the ice. We tried, pink and green duct tape but success has always been better with orange. If you are in runs being used then the rats are avoiding your traps or you are not setting where they are swimming. Also it is still quite early in the winter and there is plenty of food yet, maybe in February etc. you will have better luck with bait. If I were using poles I would use lure and I would have the lure just above the water line and the trap about 2 inches or 3 inches below the water line.

Bryce

For open water trapping in my opinion, the other sets you made will out produce the baited set. I would only use the baited set if I couldn't find any other options. And then I would trust a good lure more than the bait,something like Carmans MCL100.

I had the same issue in an area and never got a hit on a baited set. Next marsh i trapped it worked great. I used potato, carrot, 2 different lures, nothing got em interested in the first spot.

We have a 5 day underwater check here if you get to work sets under the ice don’t check everyday go with 3-4 days checks as they seldom work soon after the ice is broken.

The only problem with that Is the ice just keeps getting thicker.

I don't under ice trap as much as you Wisconsin guys..but celery works for me.

I haven't had great luck with baited sets on open water I mainly just set the runs with 150s and on the hut with 1.5s and lenons. Only time I've had success with baited sets is under ice with 110s and carrots on the trigger put in the path between the hut and the feed bed.

The consensus seems to be rats are attracted to bait underwater but not so much open water. I 'm starting to wonder Beav....If all those rats you caught in the Dakotas wasn't about the bait as much as location

Q ) How warm is the water ?
Let's start there.
How about a main food source : ie : water lily , arrowhead , cattails, etc.
How fast does your bait draw up or mold ?

Lots of reasons animals don't respond well to bait and those above, are but a few.

Open water baited sets(except lured pocket sets) have never produced higher than about 1 in 10. But like a Charlie Brown it is one of the classic sets that I try every season whether a high catch set or not. Tried every thing for bait with both footholds and BG's. Only location I had over 25% was in large culvert, small bridges. Their success for me is directly linked with m'rat population. I can catch m'rats in the high hundreds when we have them but not with baited sets sadly(quick and easy as they are). I do know trappers that they are the ticket for, none around me though that I've met. The Hagz and fiberglass poles actually caught more mink for me when baited with fish or m'rat( I had to cut up some plastic milk jugs to slide on pole over bait to hide bait from above though). They really caught mink when waters started locking up and their are open pockets here and there. If the water is moving at all or its a spring hole ice is slow to build up on pole(especially if one bus a little vaseline on rod at waterline). But under ICE baited sets are productive for me at 50 -75% catch but it is often its only a few days until ice is too thick to make it practical here. Even if I didn't care about getting thru several inches of ice the lower light level from ice/snow really drops catch rate(really got to have trap located right in their path of travel or forage area. Hard to locate with cloudy, snow covered ice.

So I wouldn't feel negative if they aren't producing for you, try the methods that will.