Quick question how long do the rods have to be.

Ive used rods as short as 6ft. Just depends on how far you need to go and how soft the bottoms are

I make 2-8' rods and 2-2' t stakes from 1-20' piece of rebar.

Same here

OK thanks

Depends on the bottom slope and distance you need to get to deep water.
With vertical banks you can get away with as little as four foot if you can anchor both ends.

I like my eight foot fiberglass ones. There are places a couple extra feet would be nice to have but I can usually reach what I need with eight.

For submersion sets,I prefer 10 ft rods. Adjustable cables when I don’t use rods.

I cut my wooden poles 8 and 10 feet.Mostly loon shite bottoms here.

So. . .your rods are poles ( trunks ) from small conifers ?

How does the the trap slide down it and not come back ?

I think he does the old school method of tying a piece of wire to the bottom of the pole then wedges that pole against another pole at the bank and ties the wire to the upper pole. Think Hal describes this in his Beaver 2000 book. Its just a slide wire when you cant wade out to the bottom stake and you dont want to carry in rods.

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I think he does the old school method of tying a piece of wire to the bottom of the pole then wedges that pole against another pole at the bank and ties the wire to the upper pole. Think Hal describes this in his Beaver 2000 book. Its just a slide wire when you cant wade out to the bottom stake and you dont want to carry in rods. [/quote]
I do that myself, although usually I can drive the drowning stake solid enough not to have to wire it to a bank stake, even if the water is deeper than my hip boots where the drowning stake is drove in. Then just use the bank stake that has the other end of the drowning wire tied to it as a handle to pull the drowning stake, pulls much easier than trying to pull the drowning stake itself by grabbing it. Just carrying some wire and a pair of pliers to cut it to length is a lot easier than carrying a bunch of rods, and I'm already carrying an ax to pound stakes, and cut stuff, so nothing extra to carry to cut stakes. One thing, if you are using green poles make sure that you drive the point you have the wire tied to under the mud, I've had beavers cut off my green drowning stakes before, not a big deal as long as they cut it above the wire, (other than you obviously have to cut a new stake to remake the set after a catch) but you might have a rodeo if you had the wire tied off above the bottom and they cut the pole off below the wire and then you caught a beaver.

Yes that is the way it is done-Very old method from way back in the day before conibear invented his beaver trap.Long pole for a deepwater stake,and a positive drowner lock on a slide wire.Make sure your bank stake top is flush with the ground so the beaver cant wrap up before going down the wire.
11ga is the wire,you can use 14 but will have to change more often after multiple catches,
Always inspect wire after each catch for kinks and trim when necessary.
I never use green poles-there are lots of standing dead spruce and tamarack here.I leave them on site up under a big white spruce in the off season at more remote locations.I use these poles also when making baited snare poles for taking beaver under ice in winter.
if you use a green pole,do like said and wrap wire low on pole so it is in the bottom in case another beaver chews it off,which they are apt to do if making the set close to the dam,or in the fall when they are collecting feed.

When making this set,push the deepwater stake into the bottom in deep water to find a good solid "set",then pull it up,wrap wire and re set the deepwater pole in the bottom.Pick your spot at the bank and make your trap bed and berm,set the trap,then set your bank stake up on the bank beyond the trap.Pull wire taught,and cut wire,leaving enough for a bunch of wraps so you can trim the deep end if kinked after a couple catches,and still have plenty of useable wire.Driive the bank stake even with ground.
make sure the slide wire is tight and not loose.This insures the beaver goes all the way down and no kinks.When pulling sets,wrap the wire on the pole for next use.
I been using this simple set up since I started trapping over 50 years ago.
Minimal tools and equipment required to make a bunch of these sets.Just the traps,and the regular trappers kit-wire axe and pliers.Today I mostly use them for problem beaver on nuisance jobs.