Post by YukonJack on Sept 7, 2012 8:47:22 GMT -5
Heres the story about the bass above i found surfing the net,,,,,'
A month ago the fountain in our pond stopped running. I tried to reset it a couple times, and I killed a nest of ants that had taken over the control box, but the fountain would not run. Last summer the Muskrats chewed through the power cord and this incident was exhibiting the same characteristics – as soon as you turn on the power the ground fault circuit or the built-in circuit on the plug flipped.
I dragged the pump out and sure enough there were five or six spots on the cable that had been chewed. Once out of the water the pump would run. Unlike last summer when they only chewed through one spot near the pump this would not be an easy fix. Last time we had the cable shortened by 10 inches which removed the damage because it was so close to the pump. The damage this time was throughout the length of the 130′ cord.
I stored the pump and cord in the shed and set about eliminating the Muskrats. We had paid a trapper before to remove some Muskrats but he was not responding to phone calls. The Talberts down the street from us had tried a live trap but only caught one muskrat.
A few years ago I took the test for a fur-bearers permit intending to shoot varmints, probably bobcats. I never got out to hunt but taking the test I had to study and learn some about trapping too. When I was in elementary school I read a look of books about trappers in the frontier days, so the subject was interesting to me. I bought some #120 connibear traps from Gander Mountain and did some studying. The KDWP (Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks) said it was legal to trap nuisance Muskrats on your property off season as long as you don’t use the pelts or meat so I got to work.
I spent a lot of time preparing the traps for use: cleaning off the shipping grease, leaving the traps in water to let them rust, and dieing them. The point of dieing the traps is to eliminate anything shiny that might scare the game and to prevent more rust. The die did not take as well as I expected so I will probably try it again later this year, but I was anxious to get the traps out.
You might wonder why I was in a hurry. Winter was approaching and the fountain will not run if the pond freezes over anyway so why not just wait until Spring? I bought an oxygen test kit and the results said our pond has 5 ppm oxygen which is very near the lower limit for the fish. Some references I found online said you need 3 to 5 ppm to keep fish healthy. The fountain contributes oxygen to the pond – the water passing through the air absorbs oxygen and takes it back into the water. I am not sure how much oxygen the fountain adds but once we get the fountain back on I will take more measurements and have a baseline to compare.
One Saturday I placed four traps. All were one or two feet into the pond from the shoreline, about a foot deep. Two sets were near dens, one at the end of a line through some vegetation, and the last on a rock that looked promising. I planned to check the traps at least once per day, and twice if I could find time. The KDWP requires traps be checked daily.
Saturday night I ran the traps at 9:30pm using a flash light. No hits. The traps were difficult to see because of all the plants around them but I am pretty sure they were all empty. Sunday was a different story. I was staring at the first trap trying to spot the trigger, or possibly a muskrat tail. Something wasn’t right but I could not figure it out until I realized there was an odd shape running out from where the trap was supposed to be. Muskrat? I ran the other traps and went back to get a rake to help pull the suspect trap. If you snapped one on your fingers it would get your attention and probably warrant a trip to the doctor so I use a rake to pull traps out.
When I got back to the first trap I studied the odd shape a little closer and my heart sank when I realized it was not the targeted Muskrat but a bass. A fairly nice one too, about 14 inches. I did not bait the traps so I think it was just bad luck that the bass swam in there. The trap almost chopped it in two. When I pulled the trap open some blood flowed so I don’t think it had been in the trap long.
As I was setting the traps I knew there was a chance to catch something that I would rather leave alone, like a mink or a duck, or possibly a cat. I speculated that a fish could hit it and I have seen perch and sunfish hit on strange things, but I never expected a bass.
I reset the trap and spent a few more days checking them without any other hits. I pulled them from the pond – I suspect that either the Muskrats have vacated or my sets are not going to attract them. We are going to repair the cord on the fountain and try putting it back out in with some Muskrat-resistant conduit. If the Muskrats come back I will reset the traps and try again. I think I need to put the traps further out in the water and I will probably try a “stove-pipe” set inside a length of PVC pipe, above ground.
