My floats have been retired and used for Trapper Ed classes.....Even though they don't work lol..... They are a good visual display for young trappers

Hearing spotty success with them is kind of a bummer. With the kind of muck, I experience up here, there is not a lot walking in it (like quicksand Imo). I had high hopes for these floats. I'll try them again this coming spring with the advice you guys shared and cross my fingers.. Thanks again for all the input!!

Never tried colony traps with them either. Can't much see the bottom of these channels to easily spot runs but the videos I've seen of them -- they look fun.

Robert

I've tried floats a few times but no luck. I use the Hagz system often and have done decent. I'm not ready to give up on floats yet. I have a few other places I'd like to try a float to see if I can get a few catches.

The key to success is to use them in the SPRING, not the fall.

Use them in conjunction with over hanging vegetation or trees.

Use them under the overhanging cover of
bridges, docks, or other man-made structures.

Use them set tightly to cattails, reeds, or bull-rush edge cover.

Use them on inside bends of creeks, brooks or streams or
on points or projections along straight line vegetative cover.

Make sure the floats are built stable enough. or staked securely enough
so the float won't tip drastically when muskrats try to climb aboard.

Unstable floats will flip over, cause your traps to slip off into the water,
or cause rats to lose their balance and fall off the float.

These tips will increase your floats efficacy, efficiency,
& success rate by a wide margin.

w

Those suggestions will help but there are still better sets. But the biggest problem Is that most states don't have a TRUE SPRING SEASON.

Very true. Our season ends March 1st.

Thanks for the tips! Floats are not my go-to set due to weight and extra equipment to carry. I just put them out as kind of a what the heck set.

Have caught thousands of rats on floats in the fall, no they don’t work as good as in spring but they are still the easiest/best method for me in fall outside of setting on edge of house.
I don’t use bait but rely on good lure and adding a good gob of mud and vegetation to the float to resemble a feed pile. You need a larger float to do it but it works well here. Rats chewing on my floats were I add lure is a bigger problem in fall then I have in spring so I know they are responding well to the lure.