Have any of you used this style of floating colony trap. I found them on YouTube and made a 7” and a 6” today. They have 12” deep tanks below water and a corrugated plastic door that will float up to cover the opening between the two sections. And a small hinged door in the lower section remove caught rats.

There’s a small lake a few miles away. I will run down there this week to see how they float.

I’ve used lots of floats for foot traps but haven’t done much with colony traps and never have used floating colony traps.

Yep, there was a discussion about these a few months ago. They've got their place. Way more bang for the buck loading the truck box with floats/footholds.
I've got mine stashed in the bush near a spot I can use it.

I’m really close to the Washington border and may trap some of my old stomping grounds. Cage/colony are my only options since they outlawed foot traps and body grips in 2000.

There are a couple of locations in the back sloughs and marshes where the "bottom" is hard to define. It might look all of 10" deep, but you can stick a paddle down into it and still not hit something solid. Yet there are distinct 'rat runs through this judging by the clean trails on top of this soft bottom. If you were to set a colony trap in this "run", it would sink and disappear into the goo below.

So I've been tinkering with a floating colony trap design. A typical 24" collapsible colony trap is attached to the underside of a board backed with styrofoam. The ends of the board have holes for sticks to go into and protrude upwards (not into the water) to cause the 'rat or mink to submerge and swim below it, still in the run, and into the colony trap. The colony trap is suspended just above the top of the sediment below, yet fully submerged. So far so good. Everything falls within the regs, so far.

Any other tinkerers out there with this application in mind?

My take on that is that it would fall under the prohibited fencing albeit on top of said colony trap, not on sides. Might be up to a wardens interpretation?

Walt, the last bullet point in the regs regarding colony traps states the following: You may not use a colony trap in conjunction with any fencing, netting or other material placed in the water (including other colony traps) that create an underwater obstruction designed to force or channel any wild animal into the trap.

The sticks protrude above the water, not placed in the water. They create an obstacle above the water, not underwater. Therefore, no interpretation needed.

I would welcome a differing interpretation to these restrictions JO came up with back when colony traps became legal. If cited, I would then appear in court to plead not guilty by reason of reading the law and abiding by it as stated in the regs.

It's time we shucked off most of these restrictions that were put into place for no apparent reason. Worst one? You may not place bait, including scent, in the trap or at the set location. Now if you use colony traps for just a little while, you'll discover they self-bait. A host of little guys just love fartin' around inside these things. Warden comes along, picks up the colony trap, and discovers a crawdad inside. Citation? Who placed the bait? What's the end goal here for these restrictions?

Anyway . . .

I thought that might be the way you were interpreting it and sounds like
a good experimental set.
Turtles and bullheads have both made their way into my colony traps and
been released. That is law that does need some changes.
Let us know how your improved deep run set works.

Mike, I'm waiting for someone to say the obvious,why not put 2 or 3 BG on a stake and cover entire depth. but than us guys that like to experiment wouldn't be able to play around with different techniques. Lol