Otters ?

[Ketchn]

Do Otters scare away fish when they frequent an area ?
a few weeks ago a place I like got real quiet fish wise and it shouldn't be that way right now .
All these large piles of do do showed up that are absolutely disgusting with fish bones and feathers in them and I cant begin to describe how ghastly they smell .
a bud with me asked what the heck eats fish and kills water birds and leaves that kind of mess all over the place .
I had no idea and said maybe some kind of really large active raccoons ?
Then yesterday a local fella said an otter showed up and was hanging around there every day . Said it was stealing his fish off his stringer as well .
So is this something otters do as far as do do and then the next question is will they run off fish ? And to be sure I will just let you imagine the piles of do do rather than taking a picture of them ….just saying
never seen a wild one in fresh water myself , only the salty versions up in Alaska in the ocean .
"Do" tell me what you might know about them and thanks in advance
on a side note all kidding around aside "if" them older gents ketch him hanging around that fishing hole its liable to be a not good day for that there otter from what I heard as well .I heard tell the local beaver that bothered them got it a while back and saw a beaver carcass on the shore about the same time I heard they was tired of him slapping the water and running off the fish .

[Eagle 1]

We lost a pond full of catfish and was told otters had cleaned us out . Very few catfish survived . The creek that leads to and from our lake is according to game and fish, is full of otters . I killed several muskrats but did not see an otter till it was to late . Things swim under the surface pushing up a trail of water like a torpedo( not sure this is always the case , only saw one ) . Walk around lake/pond looking for trails (look like beaver slides ) and walk them out to search for bones . fish bones that is . We were told the heavy stocking of mussels provide a food source for them . We had catfish mostly up to two lbs . when we noticed a decline.Will eat you out of house/home in a matter of weeks we were told .

[D10]

Otters will clean out the big fish in pools in creeks and ponds. Have seen this first hand. They will hang around an area as long as there is a good food supply around, then they move on. I have also heard of them stealing fish off stringers or fish baskets. The big piles of stinky scales on the bank is a dead give away. I’m not sure what the trapping season is in Texas, but if you know any trappers, they could take care of it legally.


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[NwLa sacalait]

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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[Special K]

Yes, they will work on the fish in any sort of impounded water feature such as a small lake or a pond where the fish cannot escape. I learned a little something about this when some buddies and I were working to stock a two acre pond with bass, crappie and catfish. Once we got it stocked pretty good the land owner began to see otters more frequently and saw the same type of evidence that you are that they were working on the fish and even the smaller ducks. Since the landowner wanted them gone... I began to sit on the hillside a hundred and fifty yards or so away with my rifle to watch for them... and it wasn't long before I noticed a catfish (about a three pounder) suspended upside down out of the water and heading for the pond dam... which by the way is quite a strange sight. When I looked through the binoculars... I could see that a good size otter had a death grip on him and (otters) apparently turn these bigger fish upside down to calm the fish until it can get them to the bank to kill them. When he was dragging his prey up onto the pond dam I put a 7MM bullet between his shoulders and the catfish flopped around until it found its way back to the water. This particular otter was a big male and (guessing) weighed about 25 or 26 lbs.

Otters are very aggressive swimmers and can out maneuver and catch most fish even in the deeper water.

[Smitty39365]

They will demolish the fish population in a pond...all species if left unchecked. Had a pair get in our pond, saw one with a bass, weighed what was left of it after he swam out the spillway to get away from me... over 6lbs and there was about 1/3 of it eaten.


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[Alphahawk]

Otters consume about 2.5 pounds of fish everyday. TWRA did a reintroduction here a number of years back and it did not set well with a whole lot of fisherman. Some of the streams they put them in have really suffered fish wise.

Regards


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[SKs Crappie Catching Adventures]

They may not scare them away but there will be far less fish there for sure..... Those things can eat some fish.....

[Redge]

Yes sir they do do make a huge mess! Pun intended
One of them old guys, needs to take care of that pronto!


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[Pondfisher42]

I was kind to my ponds visitor, it had a 3 lb catfish for his last meal

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