Hi Y'all, I'm new to trapping. Santa brought me 3 #4 Bridger dbl longsprings and 2 Z-trap DPs. I'm targeting coons,cats,and coyotes to help the deer and turkeys. I'll trap north east Texas.
I don't have a trap supply nearby but wanted to get started.
I have frozen squirrel, rats,and mice so I'll try that first.
My question is about Thai fish sauce as a lure. It's fermented anchovy and stinks to hi heaven. Has any one used such stuff? Do yotes, cats, and coons like rotten fish stink? And if so,would catfish bait be good as well?

Fish is attractive to most predators. So I don't see why your fish sauce would not be attractive to Coyote and Raccoon. That said ,I would question how long the odor would last exposed to the elements without the compounds actual lures employ for that purpose.
Fish itself is a suitable bait but goes from attractive to eat to attractive to roll in rapidly if not preserved.

Put some sauce on a cotton ball and leave it out in the sun for a couple days. I you can still smell it, they certainly can. You may need to re-lure more often but it will get you started

If it's going to work, a bit of it on a LURE HOLDER with a chunk of rodent and your Thai hole set should be complete.

DP's set them RIGHT ON TOP of raccoon sign. Commercial cat food works as well as anything if domestic animals aren't an issue

I've used the stuff. I used it in bucket sets mainly for coon and didn't have any animal reaction to it. It really doesn't smell like fish imho.
just

You would probably be better off to buy a can of sardines, and drain off the juice for a trapping lure -- might as well use the sardines too.

I'd focus toward next season, and get equipped over the summer.

Thanks for the info. Trapping got rained out this weekend. No coons, and fish stink washed away.I did shoot a big hog tho. Didn't find her. Didn't kill myself looking. One down 1000 to go. From the pix at our feeders,the same is true for coons.
I know dps are easy/quick but they aren't cheap. Are coons smart enough to start avoiding them? I guess I'm asking is it smarter to keep getting dps for coons/possums or go with smaller footholds and make sets? Smaller as in ones I don't need a couple of bar clamps to compress the springs. Or does size even matter as far as trap setting ease?
As you can tell, I'm pretty green at this and past my prime. Somehow my 18 year old brain inhabits a 66 year old body.
Anyway, this isn't about fur. It's about turkey nest raiders and food. Coon is good eats. (So's wild hog)
I guess context would help. Just bought this 103 acre place. It's boondocky but 75 acres is abandoned pasture. Can trap surrounding 400 acres of mixed hardwood and pine plantation. (If I get that ambitious and I check off enough of my CEO's "Do!" list.)
Again, thanks for the input.

There may not be any trap supply dealers near you, but there are plenty of them on line. Why not just order the things you need?

Coons won't avoid DP traps. They are excellent coon catchers and will exclude most animals other than coons. Ordinary sets with foothold traps won't be as exclusive.

I might add that Santa didn't do you any favors with those long spring traps. He should have brought you a few coilsprings as they are much easier to bed and use at land sets.

Perhaps your first investment should be some books and/or videos that will help you get started.

Thanks Hal,
I think Santa thought the #4 dls would do for coyotes and beaver,land or water. Both of which need addressing. But what I'm finding is the most impactful critters are hogs and coons.
I just watched vids on cooning at deer feeders and making feeder stations to draw coons. So I'm thinking my 1st step is to fence my deer feeders to exclude hogs (and maybe trap them on occasion) and use cages to exclude coons from the spinners and use more dps at all feeders.
So, dps are it for coons. That'll work.
I kind of enjoy fooling with the #4s. The place is so gamey I can't help but be successful at some point. But I suspect 3 is enough.
My CEO has a black belt in on line buying.(so l've never done it) Would you suggest lure 1st. Seems that bait equals dang near anything for coons.
Same for coyotes? Bobcats? I have plenty of little critters for bait.
In Texas, as near as I can tell, there is no closed season on coons as long as they are making varments of themselves and you aren't selling the fur.
Thanks for the guidance.

It's hard to beat bacon and bacon grease for bait. Start eating bacon for breakfast every morning for the next week and dump your grease in a glass jar. Save a few strips to crumble up down the hole. I have been killing the coons this year on Hal's Sugar Berries with some bacon grease smeared on top of the DPs. If I could post pictures on these forums, I have several pictures of coons with both hands in the DPs this year. That will free up some money for lure and supplies. Also, you can smear the bacon grease in your dirtholes. Everything likes bacon.

The best investment would be some instructional material. Best bang for the buck would be books (more information,less expensive)
1) One a general how to get started book
2) A specific species book for those you are interested in

Eat more bacon?! I'm all over that!
The bullheads were biting yesterday before the winter mix thunderstorm blew my dog and I off the dock. I'm thinking I'll fry them in bacon grease to enhance the lure effect.
"Sorry about stinking up the house Hon'. I gotta do this to keep my wildlife management tax exemption."
Oh yeah! This retirement gig might be a hoot.

Thanks Hal and Ric,

I'm a books kinda guy. I have about 100 sq.ft. of shelves full. But all I know about trapping is utube vids and y'all. I've got the gist from Clint Locklear and Meat Trapper and others. But I bet they started with a book or books. Are there definitive books on all things trapping, sets and lures and baits? Or 2 or 3 that take one from knowing nothing to (with experience) competence?
Thanks,

Charles Dobbins Land Sets and Trapping Techniques...in my opinion, this is one of the best books a beginner could read. I also really like Dobbins style of writing. He does a good job of not only explaining the set, but also the animal behaviors that he observed that pertain to the set. His dirthole and flat set books are also really good.

Thanks Dfabs, that does look like a good investment.

Ric said earlier that bait can get to be something to "roll in". Is that a bad thing or just a different thing? I've had my dogs roll in cow dung and carrion. So they are attracted to it. Is that a k9 thing? Lowering the likelyhood of a cat or coon catch? Or do you reach a point of diminishing return for everything?

I'll be trapping 2 or 3 days at a time for the forseeable future. If I pull my traps, do I pull the bait too or leave it to sucker varmints into associating the spot with a free meal?

Hmm,might it be good practice to find 6 or 8 good locations and continuously bait dirt holes but only set traps at a couple? Seems their sign might educate me without me educating them.

Thanks guys.