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Post by walleyed on Mar 9, 2020 16:44:10 GMT -5
Looks like Ice breakup will be happening tomorrow or the next day on most of Eastern Lake Ontario.
The Muskrat were out swimming everywhere all day.
walleyed deployed a bunch of two trap floats on some rat infested tributaries that cracked open early.
Will drop in a bunch more in the morning.
Time to pile up some Spring Rats.
w
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Post by nyrat on Mar 9, 2020 17:08:21 GMT -5
great to hear you are back at it
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Post by walleyed on Mar 9, 2020 17:33:58 GMT -5
great to hear you are back at it Get up here and get some floats in the water. The lake Level is super high for March, and the cattails are inundated. Should have 100+ floats out here shortly. Come get some steel in the water !!! w
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Post by walleyed on Mar 10, 2020 11:22:29 GMT -5
So much for piling them up. I was counting on the rainfall to get the rats moving. It didn't start raining until dawn this morning. On the other hand, the Ice went out on The northern half of Sandy Pond, and with the South wind, it took out two of my floats. Found and redeployed one but the other has set sail for parts unknown. walleyed caught ONE rat, and released a Redwing blackbird. Hopefully The catch will be better Manyana !! w
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paintedpaw
Retired NYSDEC Lake George Ranger
Posts: 691
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Post by paintedpaw on Mar 10, 2020 15:08:24 GMT -5
Good luck with the rats. Can not believe how much the ice receded on my beaver ponds just over night. A hairy time retrieving a couple of sets. Time to go to scent mounds along the streams.Those big males are moving!
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Post by nyrat on Mar 10, 2020 16:04:01 GMT -5
I ran all the 81 culverts from cental square to mannsville back about 10 years ago right after a heavy rain for three checks close to 100 rats state police gave me a hard time about stopping on 81 but did not say to pull my traps told them was only doing 3 checks
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Post by squash on Mar 10, 2020 16:10:57 GMT -5
Walleyed , Can you post picture of your float set up ??
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Post by walleyed on Mar 10, 2020 16:45:43 GMT -5
Walleyed , Can you post picture of your float set up ?? Don't know how to post pictures on here or anywhere since I got a new computer, and my camera died. No cell phone. My floats are 33" long and about 7" wide. 1/2" side rails running the length of float. Deck Base of float is 1/4" plywood with 1" foam nailed to the full bottom for flotation. 6" strip of hardware cloth stapled to both ends for rats to hook their claws on or bite while hauling themselves up onto float. "1 inch hole in exact center of float for staking to bottom. I use 1/2" schedule 40 Grey Electrical conduit in 5', 7' & 8' lengths cut from 10' sections (currently $1.88 each at Lowes.) for stakes depending on water depth and mud depth. Stake goes thru hole in center of float and is pushed or pounded into bottom. I spray expandable foam in both ends of stakes so they don't clog up with mud and water and gain weight. I set two #1 1/2 Oneida/Victor or Blake & Lamb long springs at either end. They are attached to the float by two small quick-links clipped to a section of pipe strapping screwed to the deck base. Some are painted grey or black, most weathered from years of use. w
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Post by squash on Mar 11, 2020 4:27:07 GMT -5
Walleyed, thank you for the detailed info..
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Post by walleyed on Mar 11, 2020 15:06:30 GMT -5
Really crushed them today.
2 rats, and a toenail. LOL !!!
Found my errant "lost"float swept away during the Ice breakup, and redeployed it in a new, "safer" location.
Set another creek estuary with six floats and two 1.5 stoploss on rat toilets.
Saw two other trappers vehicles at key put-in points at Lake View Marsh.
Water coming down the Two big Sandy Creeks is past flood stage and anyone set there is going to lose some gear.
Glad I held off until the ponds open up. Those two creeks are too flashy in the spring to trust until melt water has subsided.
Hope to set a bunch more tomorrow, and I hope it warms up a tad.
w
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Post by walleyed on Mar 12, 2020 13:03:10 GMT -5
Really smoked them today. 3 rats, missed 4, and found a 2-year lost float from a high wind/Lake Seiche/storm surge event two springs ago. Set another 10 floats and 3 #1.5 stoploss at the South end of Sandy Pond. Still a bunch of ice back in the cattails to melt before we can set a large number of feed bed and toilet sets. Rats are really not hopping on the floats for me yet. Hope things pickup, and warm up soon. w
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Post by jdpaint on Mar 13, 2020 7:00:07 GMT -5
Just set some floats yesterday here in central NY. Plenty of water for a spring rat run. Will let you know if they are climbing here yet.
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Post by dinorocks on Mar 13, 2020 11:22:11 GMT -5
I caught a muskrat while nuisance trapping...it looked like Swiss cheese with all the bite marks!
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Post by walleyed on Mar 13, 2020 20:28:06 GMT -5
Nasty weather with high winds and heavy rain. picked up another five (5) rats today.
Weather was too troublesome to put out any more sets.
Will add more on Sunday.
w
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Post by mark25 on Mar 14, 2020 13:29:45 GMT -5
Walleyed , Can you post picture of your float set up ??
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Post by walleyed on Mar 14, 2020 18:40:45 GMT -5
Walleyed , Can you post picture of your float set up ?? NO!!!!!Can't post pics on here. Digital camera is busted. I don't have a cell phone. If you read this thread from the beginning, another trapper had the same request and I posted a detailed response with all the pertinent details of how I constructed my floats. Check it out and you'll have a good idea what they look like. w
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Post by walleyed on Mar 14, 2020 18:51:33 GMT -5
Checked a few floats we didn't get to yesterday, early this morning and had no catches on them.
Utilizing the Northern Zone 48 hour check for water traps, walleyed will visit his remaining sets on Sunday.
We took a short drive down to Stanley, NY for the Flat Iron Fur Festival and watched trappers sell their fur.
walleyed raided Von Strahan's chili crockpot and visited with fellow trappers.
Saw a couple 7 or 8 road-killed muskrat and a nice mink on the NYS Thruway (I-90) on the way down and back.
w
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Post by jdpaint on Mar 14, 2020 20:32:45 GMT -5
Black muskrats worth more for taxi purposes ? Nothing on floats or Hagz brackets yet ,first time trying the brackets. 160 s on the bottom and footholds on rat toilets are catching some.
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Mar 15, 2020 12:39:05 GMT -5
Way back when, 60s & 70s, local buyer would give us a premium for the black ones. There was one stream in particular that every rat we caught from it was black. Haven't been able to trap those areas for decades now... Don't know about today, maybe if like back then you bring in 25 or 30 in a lot that are all black, but idk...
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Post by walleyed on Mar 15, 2020 14:08:38 GMT -5
Black muskrats worth more for taxi purposes ? Well, of course !!!! BLACK RATS MATTER !!!!! w
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Post by walleyed on Mar 15, 2020 14:24:12 GMT -5
After 4 days of lack luster action on the floats, walleyed pulled out all the stops Friday the 13th and took drastic action.
A daring daylight raid on the Sandy Creek Dollar General Store netted walleyed five $1.00 bags of peppermint & spearmint candies which were then recklessly loaded on to every float to augment the apple baits already deployed.
walleyed paddled up and down stream with his cheeks stuffed like a foraging chipmunk spitting out two mint candies at each float in a last ditch effort to attract climbing muskrats.
Walleyed then let his floats ride on Saturday skipping a check.
When the smoke (and Ice) cleared this Sunday afternoon, walleyed had 20 plump, well-furred water voles riding in the bed of the truck.
It is unclear if the spearmint/peppermint candies had anything to do with the much improved catch or If the rats simply started to climb up onto floats over the last 48 hours.
Spent the last 2 hours adding traps to another 40 floats, and loading them into the truck for a major deployment tomorrow.
Stay tuned.
w
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Post by nyrat on Mar 15, 2020 15:14:41 GMT -5
went 4 for 10 and pulled all 3xl and full of glands no bites yet next Saturday back to the same pond for the last time should be bite up than
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austin
test results are back... I am joerat's daddy
Posts: 483
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Post by austin on Mar 15, 2020 16:35:17 GMT -5
Wednesday 3/10 I dropped canoe on Port Ontario south beach, paddled upstream to the Rt 3 bridge and was thoroughly unimpressed with fresh muskrat sign, or lack thereof. Loaded canoe back up, drove north to Mud Brook and repeated that process... and said process left me equally unimpressed. Nice morning for a leisurely paddle, saw large flocks of swans, misc waterfowl and two dead, very foul floating muskrat bodies. That was it. Very sparse sign, nil fresh toilets, smattering of live houses. Nowhere near worthy of a remote commute. Continued north to check out Dexter Marsh, French Creek, etc all the way to Clayton where I had lunch. Turned south from there, hit I-81 and home three hours later. Next day loaded up the beaver gear and southwest to Alleghany county where beaver alone are (were) open until 3/15. Deployed 13 #330s across various public WMAs already hard hit by fall beaver trappers. Friday check was two adults. Saturday check was seven mixed sizes. Sunday check & pull was three more from big Dukes and one from a vintage B&L #3 long-chained. Old school style. Morning coffee at the Hogsback formation in Letchworth park, roughly two miles from my door. Pondering the next move from here... plans are to pack the beaver (and otter) gear north for a trip to Black Lake - Fort Drum area. A close friend and outdoors partner has a family camp off the point opposite Back Bay. Will deploy from there and roam around the region by auto or canoe, scanning waterways for fresh mud pies glistening in the early spring sun. Stay tuned
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Post by walleyed on Mar 15, 2020 22:52:57 GMT -5
Black muskrats worth more for taxi purposes ? All kidding aside. I sold a couple at the Herkimer auction a few years ago to Jeff Backus for $7.00 each when normal colored rats had a Top of $5 or $6 dollars. I think if You had them tanned and peddled them on E-bay you might get in The $20.00 range. w
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Post by jdpaint on Mar 16, 2020 8:19:48 GMT -5
Thanks for the options walleyed.Im glad to hear they are climbing for you. 0 catches here so far.What are your water levels like up north ? We had little snow pack and the water is dropping fast. I hate to say it but I think we need rain for trapping LOL.Im not sure but I think the water level should be up by the yellow at minor flood stage for mass travel. Good luck and be safe.
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