Otters ?

[RLS40]

They will empty out a minnow bucket tied to the dock in no time.

[skeetbum]

Used to fish some ponds in a golf course, caught 33 one morning before the groundskeepers started moving around, my cue to go. Saw an otter in there one day and within a month I had a hard time catching anything. Love to watch them but they eat like my son in law.

[patrapper]

They don't scare fish away,they just eat em. If they find a steady food,they will stay there until it is depleted. They eat a pile of fish in a very short time. Trapping is the best way to control them.

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[GreenLine]

Otters are one of the coolest animals on the planet. I’ve trapped lots of them. They definitely like fish. They will impact the bite if they are chasing a meal. Usually they move on and the fish go back to normal after a few minutes.
You can bet the fish will be tight to the cover after the otter comes through.


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[Ketchn]

I read up on otters in Texas and if it is defined as a nuisance otter its a dead critter . Because you see here in Texas we don't have no bleeding hearts for this kind of thing and WE DONT NEED NO STINKIN BADGE !
Our state is quite the kill it if it bothers kinda ya thing ….
If you want it for its fur that's a whole different scenario though and it gets all kinds of bla bla bla international special tag bla bla bla for endangered species protection and fur trapper license so on and etc etc etc .
its my opinion them old timers that fish off that dock are gunna make short work of it if it continues to hang around and do do all over the dock and eat all the crappie they ketch there for dinner on a daily basis .
personally I think just the do do all over the place that STINKS to high heaven is just cause ….just saying

[RLS40]

I have actually had more problems with Loons chasing fish away. Many times I have been on a school of crappies and had a Loon scatter the school. They will follow the boat as they are quite tame due to people feeding them minnows.
They are the state bird and are protected so no preventive action can be taken.

[Cane Pole]

We have otters and muskrats... Muskrats chew holes in the dock flotation . I have a permanent trap for the muskrats. I drown them in the trap. Nuisance law.

Otters are smarter than I am.

[Micropterus salmoides]

I see them all the time where I fish in Louisiana, sometimes 4 or 5 at a time. I haven't noticed that they scare fish off particularly but they usually show up about the time the crappie are migrating so I assume they are following the fish. I've watched them several times sitting on a log or on the bank eating 10-12" crappie. I never thought about shooting them though, they haven't seemed to hurt the crappie population where I'm at, I could see that being different in a pond or small body of water though.

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X2!

Beavers also

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[Ketchn]

all kidding around aside I imagine they are similar to dolphins following the party boats .
they are protected and not to be messed with .
its my opinion since I never seen a freshwater otter in my life and I am on the water constantly ,its actually probably better to live and let live .
my buds has a video of 2 he saw last week on a different water body and they appeared to be male and female and one of them was rather aggressive . he said it hissed and warned them repeatedly about being close to them in a spot that is legendary when it comes to winter crappie in this area of Texas .
I would probably be a lot like he was and marvel at the sight long before I would consider "controlling" them myself .