Building Homemade Catfish Slat Traps: Part 1 (Start to Finish How To)

How to Build catfish slat traps, start to finish. we're doing it all off Dad's old pattern. Best traps ever!!

[@robertchall8576]

I just know your dad with out knowing him would be proud of you for keeping them traps and teaching us how to make one

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yes sir. He taught me a lot, and was always willing to help others and share his information. Guess I got a touch of that 🤣

[@kylepeden8036]

I'm learning a lot from all your vedios on catfish n . Thanks.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thank you for watching!! Good luck

[@kcobb0807]

Man I liked this video. Gonna enjoy this series. Been wanting to make a few instead of just buying those wire traps, and these look real good.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks!! They not bad to make if you got the time, patience, and tools

[@lesterlangley7550]

Great Video as usual.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks Lester, appreciate the long time follow!!

[@sidneypersilverjr.7190]

Very cool that your doing that in remembrance of your pop.. my hats off to ya .. 👍🏼

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yes sir, Im still figuring them out. Right now we're kinda delayed on fishing with getting ready for Hunting season and our annual Elk Trip. I'll get back to fishing a little maybe end of September

[@nola6382]

Loved seeing memories of your dad. He was a jack of all trades. Raising rabbits. First time I ever ate then was at their house. I remember the cane syrup he use to make too!

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Glad to see you following our channel. Girl, Mom sent me some videos a few days ago that had you in it. We were up at Bull Shoals, lol. I'll have to go back through it, record it and send to you. Hope y'all doing well!!

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

I'll be including more of Dads stuff as I can dig it up. My only regret in life is not filming enough videos

[@nola6382]

Oh my, I remember when we went, your dad fly fished, that was the first time I had ever seen anyone fly fishing.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

@@nola6382 The video has you fishing in it, lol.

[@nola6382]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 oh my

[@royhammett3572]

Brad: great informative video about slat traps - can't wait to see you do the build. I have fished wire nets for years but I would like to try out the slats. Also, I am all in on you honoring the memories of your Dad and keeping the family traditions alive! thanks - Roy

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Appreciate it Roy, I'll have more bits and pieces about Dads involvement in our lifestyle!! I think slat traps catch better, are less maintenance, but gotta watch the back. They are heavy. Best to have a buddy

[@TennesseeTim38451]

Great video!! Can’t wait to see the next one.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks for watching. Hoping the get part 2 out in the next couple weeks. Maybe next week!!

[@TennesseeTim38451]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 I live near your brother Steven. If you ever get up this way, bring your live scope, got a couple place on Kentucky lake to tell you about.

[@rodmanning7114]

Keep it up. All catfish nets,boxes and lines all the ways to catch them cats.what memories. Thanks for doing these videos

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thank you sir for watching. Glad you enjoy!!!

[@williamknight7040]

Looking forward to it.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks!!

[@johngarrie2633]

Liked the video. Will be waiting for rest of this build . Won’t to build some to put around my house in the bayou. Yes I live in Rayne Louisiana 😝

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Cool, you'll be able to fish our exact dimensions!!! Trying to get the lumber cut this weekend. Soon as it's cut, we will do the build video!!!

[@terryclark1952]

Boy, that brings back memories. You right though I don’t know how I still have a back after pulling those boxes in back in the day. Me and my son built one several years back only to find out they illegal up here now. Love it keep ‘em coming.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

It looks like there legal in Arkansas in places, but you gotta be careful where and when

[@terryclark1952]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 yeah just not where I am seems like

[@MichaelTaylor-fk7mn]

Man just found yall I really like it

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Man if you just found us, you got a lot of catching up to do🤣. I think 78 videos worth, lol

[@AdrenalineTurkeyCall]

Heck yeah bud. This should be a good one. I’ve never fooled with slats but should be an interesting series. Can’t wait to see what you come out with. Can’t get over how much your boy looks like you when you were young.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

He don't anymore, lol. He way bigger than me🤣

[@AdrenalineTurkeyCall]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 don’t feel bad. Mine passed me up in height at 16.

[@SmithFarmandOutdoors]

See you this weekend.

[@Dylan1094]

Really really excited about this one going to try to build a couple also

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Awesome. Don't think it's gonna be hard once the Throats are built

[@Dylan1094]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 yeah I'm curious to see how you do those looks like the toughest part

[@jerryraiford4563]

Good information thanks

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks!

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

I'll be getting on a build video hopefully this week. We benn tied up putting up our Garden vegetables the last couple weeks

[@clinte9897]

I’ve fished hoop nets and wire nets off and on for 20 years. Never had the chance to fish slats. I’ve never invested in one but I’d like to try my hand at building one. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Not many people like us share what had taken us years of trial and error to figure out. Good luck fishing

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yes sir. It's all about helping fellow outdoorsmen and women. When our youth grows older and wishes they'd paid more attention, they will just be able to go to KZbin 🤣

[@davedriscoll1652]

Enjoyed it look foward to part two. I have some old blake & lamb ratraps from the 70s & 80s that i probably wont use for same reason, good memories of dad. God bless

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Sure glad those fellows passed a few things on to us!!

[@davedriscoll1652]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 amen, nice to have good memories in a world getting weirder every minute

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

@@davedriscoll1652 Weirder, poorer, less safe. What I call God's Country is where I spend most my time so I don't worry about it much, lol

[@TheCajunHomestead]

Man great video. How have I not seen your Channel. Well I have to binge watch you now. I have been been around this life style all my live. Been there done it. But you give the best explanation of how to build a slat trap ever, most my friends use hoop nets here on the Calcasieu River. What part of the state are you in. I am in the SW Louisiana area, Beauregard Parish. Man y’all living the life. Awesome

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks. We're north of Monroe in Union Parish. Be sure to share the channel to all your buddies down there. We visit the PAC, Grand isle areas pretty often for some Saltwater fix. Hopefully we do some content down there soon. KZbin works kinda funny. They ultimately control how many people get the opportunity to find us, but shares in different demographics helps a lot. We're starting to grow pretty good, so good things in the Future!!!

[@johnnymack9600]

Great content, thanks for the videos you put out.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks for watching, glad to have you on board!!

[@coopsoutdoors2428]

Continuing the tradition. Good for you. I look forward to this series even tho traps of any kind are illegal in Georgia.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yes sir, thanks. I wasn't familiar with Georgia's laws on them. I've personally never seen Blues or channels endangered enough in Louisiana for them to be outlawed. Channels reproduce like rabbits, lol. We're loaded with them

[@coopsoutdoors2428]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 Our rivers are full of cats too. We limb line and trot line for em. But no traps. Welcome to Georgia, owned and operated by the DNR, Lol

[@RaisedOutdoors]

Now that’s something I haven’t seen in a long time and have never personally fished them. I’m ready to see the build and how you float them! Definitely something I’m interested in! I watch these videos and realize how poor a job I do at explaining anything I’m doing, but I figure I need to show folks what we’re doing and why so they can be successful too.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Patience in what your doing!! I learn from your videos, and believe it or not, I'll learn from my own videos. In our early stages I realized I wasn't explaining well enough. At first I just wanted to share our adventures. Then as I started reading comments and questions I realized the same knowledge about fishing and hunting don't reach everybody, or don't get passed on. Now I'm trying to share our adventures, while sharing the small amount of knowledge I have, lol. If each video I make helps one person in the outdoors, or brings another into our world, that's good enough for me!! I think like anything else, the more ya do it, the better ya get at it!!

[@RaisedOutdoors]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 yessir! I help a lot of folks locally but find talking on the camera a little uncomfortable. I really appreciate you!

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

@@RaisedOutdoors it gets better. I was, and am still that way sometimes

[@WilliamSmith-kj5tk]

That is simply awesome

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Hopefully the new ones will be!!

[@springcreeker1]

Great video! I thought I was the only one that catches better with slat traps.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

I did when I fished both. Curious because of Floydaltonmillers question in previous comment, did you fish the same amount of bait in each so you had a comparison?

[@springcreeker1]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 for the most part I would say, same amount.

[@BruceDylanFuller]

cant wait. ive built similar traps my grandpa taught me from hardware cloth for little creek cats but never caught that many fish. thanks for sharing!

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yes sir, same here. These slat traps take filling the freezer to a whole new level. However, I'll say that it's not legal in some states, so gotta be up on the regulations!!

[@darrellmartin157]

Bruce you still playing softball?

[@robertwilliams2551]

Awesome thanks for sharing

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yes sir, thanks for watching!!

[@jeffbo850]

Cool, I think it's a great idea to show these types of videos. My dad passed away several years ago. We fished them. We also had good luck 👍.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Their hard to beat IMO. Glad your Dad passed this down to you. Passing this Down to next generations, and preserving the American way of survival is what our channel is about!!

[@patrickpaul7475]

Awesome video. I use to presoak my box’s. I now just weight them down on the first trip. By the time I presoaked and got them to the river they would be drying out again. I also clean them and put them back in a shed after using them. I use a air stapler about every other year to tighten up any loose slats and replace slats as necessary.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yeah, I'll probably store mine that way once made this time. I've done both ways, but I have presoaked in my pond, or just add a couple window weights on first trip for sinking.

[@StaggsintheWild]

Just finished Part 1 and about to watch part II. We ran what Dad called “log traps” (slat traps) when I was a little boy … some of my earliest memories.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

We're gonna be making adjustments on the catch throat. It's gonna be 19-21 degree taper with thinner fingers and 1/4" spacing. Hope that helps!!

[@ericorange441]

Interesting!! Can't wait to see yall building these.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

We will roll out part 2 soon as we saw the lumber!! Lot of people don't realize what goes in to making lumber for things like this, so we're taking it from tree, all the way to fish on the table!!

[@floydaltonmiller]

I look forward to seeing the series. Other than material what would be the biggest difference in wire nets?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

When I get done with these traps, I'm gonna fish them side x side against a wire net and we will see. I did it before and caught more in the traps. My thoughts were that maybe it's more natural being wood. However, I'm more apt to think it's a combination of the throats catch better, and slat traps hold cheese better. You can't dump a bucket of cheese in a wire net. That being said, I'm not sure if we put the same amount of bait in trap and net, which catches better. We will find out

[@darrylfasi6144]

Really looking forward to these videos. Thanks

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks for watching, should be two more to complete the build

[@lawrencebaradell]

awesome thank you

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks for watching and getting in the comments section!!

[@jeremyblalack]

Great video !! I bought 5 slat traps from a local guy that makes them recently and planning on making more. It took a while for them to water log and sink. We are catching fish but the traps aren't filling up like I'd expected. Hopefully moving them around will help. One thing I've learned is crab tongs sure are handy! Looking forward to the next video on them.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Your right, I need a set of crab tongs, lol. What body of water are you fishing, what size traps, and what are you baiting with?

[@jeremyblalack]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 I'm fishing Sardis lake in Ms with 14"×14" traps baited with cheese. After watching your video, I may not be putting enough cheese in there. I'm only putting about 5lbs in a 1/8" mesh bait bag.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

@@jeremyblalack yeah, y'all got tighter regs with 15 being the largest traps I believe. You can use small amounts until you find them. Once one catches good load it up. If you got one in a good spot, you'll catch until the cheese is gone. Once it's gone, they quit going in. Cake it tight under the 2nd throat. About half a bucket and see what happens. Let us know if it helps. Just get rid of the bait bags. Most people think they help hold the smell in there better. It actually keeps that cheese from getting in the water good, drawing them in. It's kinda like chumming. If you throw a few bait your fish leave, if you throw a lot, and keep it going they will pile in 😉. If your cheese is runny, you can thicken it with cotton seed mill if you can find it at a feed store

[@darrellmartin157]

Can't wait to see these videos and see his pattern. Hard to find good traps. I bought some red oak to make some traps. Problem was my saw would only cut just a little over 1 1/2". The boards were ". I love fishing slat traps. Can't for next video!!!!!

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yes sir, we're excited to see how this goes. Usually we're doing stuff we've done before, but I'm always up for a challenge. I've got some carpentry experience, but not these. Dad never worried about if he'd done it before, he just always did it. Long as we're doing this, there will always be new stuff we're gonna try. Now the fishing end of it, I got that, LoL.

[@darrellmartin157]

You can see they are very good traps

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

@@darrellmartin157 yes sir, those traps caught really good. Two runs in Oct would keep me in fish through January 😉

[@jodymiller8404]

I like that carrying on a tradition. What part of Louisiana yall from. Ill like to get up with and run some of those slat traps.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

We're from North Louisiana. We don't run a lot of slat traps, truth is they are heavy. However they are a part of our past time and a lot of people still enjoy using them

[@kenemory2219]

Love it can't wait to see the next one

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks Ken, Glad you enjoyed it!!

[@dawnkringle1620]

Just found this channel. How cool! Just wondering, how come these slat traps and wire traps have 2 cones?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

One is a guide, the second is a catch throat. The old timers figured out years ago, they catch better set up like that. The guide holds them near the catch one longer creating more opportunities for them to go in

[@davidduplantis2070]

Had a couple from my grandpaw 50 years ago looking forward to the series i may build a couple. You think Cypress will work?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Cypress isn't dense enough. Its too hard to sink

[@calvinmire6104]

❤

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks!

[@adama2979]

Love the design! Just started hoop net fishing this year and I've learned alot from your video's. I want to try the wire traps but idk if it's legal in Arkansas

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yeah man, thanks for watching and following us. Be sure to read up on Arkansas legalities. I'm not up on them. I know Arkansas gets confusing because certain water is limited to certain fish. I'm sure not up on what gear is legal

[@rodmanning7114]

I was thinking you need a bullfrog catch and cook. Nothing like them frog legs.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

You are so right about that. We normally catch a few, I just ain't had time. I'll try getting that done. These frogs far and few between in North Louisiana 🤣

[@Itsjustmedanielle]

Heck yeah!! I have told him the same thing

[@christopherfairburn586]

Looks good going to be some great video do you think the wooden throat works better then the plastic one that you can buy

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Far as I know, most of the older Commercial fishermen I've known all fished wooden Throats. You'll catch with plastic throats, but I personally don't think as well. We fished them when I was a kid, but I haven't in years. Maybe somebody with more experience with plastics will chime in!!

[@terrymcguire8476]

I built some 7 foot x 2 ft x 2 ft out of white oak and they're so heavy , you have to have a winch to pick them up.

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yes, I wouldn't go over 5 or 6 ft long and 16 in wide myself

[@Swampster9]

Great video! What are thickness of the slats?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

They look to be about 3/16. I'ma go over all that soon as I have a chance to do the 2nd video. Last couple weeks been Crazy, lol

[@Swampster9]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 looking forward to your next video. Thankyou

[@jameslbishop]

I here in alabama and I live on the Coosa River i want to start running slat traps I already have 10 of them soaking I was wondering if you can do some videos on how to run them thanks

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Yes we will be doing that as soon as we get them built. That being said, watch our wire net videos, and fish them the same way. Stay All on the Bell so you get the next few slat trap ones. Gonna take us a couple weeks to get them all out. Thanks for watching!!

[@taylorbernard8497]

Like the video

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Thanks Taylor!

[@tommcgee6729]

Where do you get your cheese?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Unfortunately to get a Barrel nowadays you gotta run to Jonesville. A few of the local bait stores sell by the bucket, but you can't afford it that way. I don't use a lot of cheese these days because of that

[@lucky5th2]

What kind of cheese?

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Scrap cheese. Most people buy it in bulk. Net companies sell it. Some bait shops sell it depending on where your from.

[@lucky5th2]

@@godscountryhuntingfishing1638 thanks

[@robertchall8576]

I might not aught to be watching how to build a trap there not to be used in Texas unless on privet property in pounds l.learned the basic on net tying madea few dip nets and clothes bags

[@godscountryhuntingfishing1638]

Well, you can always just consider it clean entertainment, lol