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Post by walleyed on Oct 25, 2020 13:48:49 GMT -5
7:01 AM today found walleyed on the North Channel, Southern Bank of The Salmon River Estuary ready to string steel in what might be the last October 25th Muskrat opener in our lifetime.
There were 3 other rat trappers jockeying for position that walleyed knew of but plenty of trapping opportunity for everyone.
Walleyed's canoe was laden down with 90 Duke #160's and #110's and a equal amount of orange topped wooden stakes and once walleyed climbed aboard the water was lapping at the gunwales.
Many of the previously scouted runs and den holes were clogged with leaves from an extremely heavy leaf fall on Friday & Saturday so It was a challenge to find & set traps in certain stretches of estuary.
When the dust settled around 10:00AM the canoe was empty of lumber & steel and walleyed paddled down stream where much to his dismay, an Island in the lower estuary where walleyed had scouted 100 dens and runs on Thursday was festooned with Lathe stakes and Pink tally flags signaling he had been beaten to the hot spot.
The Plan, which has worked many times in the past, was for a return to the boat ramp to retrieve more stakes & traps in order to properly set the Muskrat infested Island.
Having been aced out of the hotspot, walleyed trailered up his canoe, and headed for the next spot on his itinerary.
Upon his arrival at Skinner Creek, walleyed crossed paths with the Great Eastern Basin Rat Trapper, Glen Parkhurst who, it turns out, was the one who beat walleyed to the Muskrat infested Island on Salmon River estuary.
Glen was more than a little perturbed upon learning he might be enjoying his last October 25th muskrat opener and had no knowledge of the Season change proposal, and had not been contacted by anyone from NYSTA or OCTA to poll his input.
Glen headed up Skinner Creek and walleyed headed downstream and deployed another 44 #160's before calling it a day at 1:00PM.
walleyed now has 134 muskrat sets soaking in the Eastern Basin of Lake Ontario coastal estuary & Marsh.
Hope to set more tomorrow and check today's set.
Stay tuned.
walleyed
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Post by trappermac on Oct 25, 2020 15:13:57 GMT -5
Nice report, best of luck to you.
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Post by nyrat on Oct 25, 2020 17:35:34 GMT -5
may all your traps be full in the morning
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Post by turtledale on Oct 26, 2020 4:54:21 GMT -5
Nice reading hope your boat is full of rats on the ride back tomorrow
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Post by eightysixcj on Oct 26, 2020 11:01:00 GMT -5
Nice report. Thanks
Good luck!
Tom
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Oct 26, 2020 16:19:34 GMT -5
It would take a week to detail half of what the past 3 days have been like for me... and most of it because of COVID-related issues that honestly should have been non-issues with family (mainly grandsons and potential exposure which today tests were negative), school precautionary closings today, and (today) finding a place to do rapid testing so the boys can resume school and daycare. Finally got that done a little after 3, after starting the search at 7 this morning and burning a half tank of gas driving around... No traps set at all, yet. On another note, at both farms, we're seeing more bears this year (especially the past 2 months) than all the years before combined. I'm concerned that some of my traps, especially the #4 Bridger double longsprings (NY land legal), are capable of holding bear BUT maybe not the staking methods (double 2' rebar, and 20" 3/16" cable super stakes). The last thing(s) I want are to catch one but lose the set, OR catching one and having to get the DEC to come on over and help with the release. 2020 SUCKS. But we'll get through it.
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Post by walleyed on Oct 26, 2020 16:28:16 GMT -5
walleyed opened his door at 6:00AM to rain & wind in stark contrast to yesterday's blue sky and warm temperatures which was a pleasure for opening day.
After breakfast, we arrived at Salmon River Estuary at 7:45AM greeted by a 1 foot chop and a hard south-east wind which made to bit of a challenge to paddle upstream to the northern channel where all of our sets had soaked overnight.
The first set was empty, but soon it was a rat in every set, or so it seemed.
Having not squeezed open many #160's in the past year walleyed soon developed rather sore hands and was soon wishing for the occasional empty trap. (not really)
The wind made hovering in place over the set location while each rat was shook out the the trap, re-set, and replaced into the run or den entrance a bit of a task.
The wind had kicked up quite a hodge-podge of floating detritus which clogged quite a few sets. In fact, if a trap was empty, it was because the leaves got to it before a rat did.
When the canoe hit the boat launch at 12:05PM, the tote holding the rat catch was filled to overflowing.
Two attempts to swing it up into the pickup bed failed. and 15 rats had to be offloaded before the tote could be hoisted up into the pickup.
Headed for Skinner creek where we met up with Glen Parkhurst coming up stream and he was heading upstream of Route 3 to set and check additional traps.
When we hit the ramp at 2:50PM we had filled a second tote 3/4 full with rats.
It had rained pretty much non-stop for the whole day, and there was not a dry spot any where on the trapper.
The catch is now drying before the fans, and we are drying out as well.
The statistics for the day are as follows:
90 sets on Salmon River Estuary yielded 57 rats. 44 sets on Skinner Creek Estuary gave up 29 rats.
First Day of Muskrat trapping total was 86 Muskrat.
We are very happy with that, and will be doing some skinning in the morning.
Thanks for looking.
Stay tuned.
walleyed
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Oct 26, 2020 17:01:53 GMT -5
What a sweet first check, Bob! Very happy for you, at least until the skinning begins lol!
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Post by trappermac on Oct 26, 2020 17:44:39 GMT -5
Nice going Bob, great first days catch.
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Post by joemarshditchrat on Oct 26, 2020 17:59:16 GMT -5
Do you have to split thatcatch with you trapping partner Austin?
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Post by bill1960 on Oct 26, 2020 19:30:41 GMT -5
walleyed who is the we you talk about
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Post by trappermac on Oct 26, 2020 19:37:01 GMT -5
I think that's him and his canoe....or could it be...Austin?!
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Post by milkie62 on Oct 26, 2020 23:49:52 GMT -5
Over the years, do you recall your best year of an opening morning take ?
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Post by walleyed on Oct 27, 2020 0:48:45 GMT -5
walleyed who is the we you talk about That's the Royal "We" as in me, myself, and I. Just an Expression. Can't find anyone interested in trapping near worthless $2.00 rats. LOL w
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Post by walleyed on Oct 27, 2020 0:50:44 GMT -5
Over the years, do you recall your best year of an opening morning take ? Yup, 93 out of 129 set traps. w
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Post by nyredfox on Oct 27, 2020 5:42:21 GMT -5
Glad to see you’re still hammering away Bob! Hard work in an off season like this, defines a true trapper! Most have thrown in the towel! Enjoy reading your daily updates, please keep them coming!
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Oct 27, 2020 8:49:47 GMT -5
walleyed who is the we you talk about (He's Gollum, from Lord of the Rings, speaks of himself in third person) ...'cept, muskrats ain't nowhere NEAR to being "precious."
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Post by whartonrattrapper on Oct 28, 2020 6:40:56 GMT -5
Good to see your giving it a go!
Now bring back the Muskrat meter
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Post by walleyed on Oct 28, 2020 14:35:30 GMT -5
walleyed spent all of Tuesday skinning muskrat and left the traps alone for a two day soak.
We were back on the water today at 7:30AM amid rain & a modest south-west wind and had 3 of the 1st 4 traps holding a rat.
Things went not as productive from there with trap after trap empty.
Spotted another trapper launching a small skiff filled with stakes adorned with orange tally flags who I did not recognize so that made 5 different trappers working the Salmon River Estuary.
we pulled one whole side(south) of the North channel island as it did not produce a single rat, and will make for an easier pull when we pull up stakes to shuffle our traps to a new location.
Found a J-13 Fire Tiger Rapala washed up in the cattails for a nice fishing bonus.
Saw two Immature Bald Eagles perched in a willow tree on my way back to the boat launch
The take for the day at Salmon River Estuary was just 31 rats out of 90 traps.
Made our way to the Skinner Creek Estuary as a light, misty rain was falling and garnered another 13 muskrat out of 44 sets.
Grand total for the two day soak was 44 rats.
The catch is drying before the fans, and walleyed is relaxing in his compound.
Stay Tuned.
walleyed
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Post by dinorocks on Oct 28, 2020 16:01:15 GMT -5
That’s Great!!
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austin
test results are back... I am joerat's daddy
Posts: 483
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Post by austin on Oct 29, 2020 7:25:47 GMT -5
Bobby... here you are! We found you!!! been looking for this thread on trapperman where you traditionally post it. Did you choose to stay local with your updates this time? Your portly Canadian friend Boco started a "Where's Walleyed?" thread over there and all remaining thirteen posters in that site are adding on as usual in any event, congrats on a great start to the season. How's the local beaver & otter sign look? Sounds like all you guys there have to assign parking spaces for water crafts in & out of Port Ontario launches. Apparently Covid Cuomo's kibosh to life in NYS has the masses chasing those hapless muskrats up there. We might have traffic jams down here too, if in fact any southern zone muskrats survived the epic 2020 drought.
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Post by walleyed on Oct 29, 2020 15:56:08 GMT -5
Just finally got my 43 rats skinned from yesterday and four coon the Fur Fairy left on Monday. More skinning work than walleyed cares to do in one day. But better than freezing it whole and having to deal with it as a frozen block after putting off the inevitable. Snow in the forecast for tomorrow, and It's not even November 1st yet. Imagine That !!! w
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austin
test results are back... I am joerat's daddy
Posts: 483
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Post by austin on Oct 29, 2020 17:31:13 GMT -5
43 rats = 90 minutes skinning if you wanna loaf, or 60 minutes if you really want them done. All depends on what else you got going on in life at the time. Or you can freeze them whole on their backs, partially thaw later and peel them while the body cavity contents are still frozen. Good news is, freeze them wet and the water turns to frost in a freezer. Brush them off when you take them out and the fur is bone dry. little fur handling tricks you learn from the high-volume lifestyle. If you ride down to the Flatiron sales this year with Rockwood like you have many times in the past, Von and I will help you work thru the muskrats handling process
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austin
test results are back... I am joerat's daddy
Posts: 483
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Post by austin on Oct 29, 2020 17:32:37 GMT -5
P.S.... temps are rising back in the 60s F middle of next week and forward. As usual, the last week of October is/was nasty weather but no worries... Indian Summer temps are on their way in November. Keep your sunscreen handy
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Post by joemarshditchrat on Oct 29, 2020 17:36:05 GMT -5
Austin, Groeny paid me way more for my rats then rockwood paid you for yours.....come on over and I will show you how it's done.
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