River Otters

I used to think it was pretty awesome seeing the River Otters in my pond and using my floating dock to stretch out a bit. It didn't even bother me too badly when they would leave piles of Bluegill scales on the dock. Then they got to leaving piles of something else on my dock! The honeymoon was over when I began to find Bass skulls on the dock! They got nearly all of my larger Bass over the next few weeks until they finally moved downstream for the summer. Unfortunately the weather has cooled and I saw momma otter and three half grown ones in the pond this weekend. Don't know how in the heck they can catch a bass (you guys know how fast Bass are) but they do. They scatter and run when they see me but come back in a week or two. Wish they would winter somewhere else but my place fits all their needs.

Back in 2009 here in west Kentucky we had a very dry summer. All the creeks went dry and some of the Watershed lakes did also. I have two ponds on my property and the smaller one fed by the runoff from my neighbor's field followed suit. My upper pond (1/2 acre) is fed by a dedicated well, so I kept it up the whole season. Having the only standing water around was neat. We saw lots of critters coming to the pond. We saw fox, coyote, deer (have those around here all the time), racoon, possum and of course, a few skunk. And we got at least three otters from the nearby watershed impoundment. They were fun to watch. I thought they would be good for the pond, as I never took any fish out of it. BUT as the summer went on, I saw a steady rapid decrease in the numbers of fish I could catch. It used to be that I could take an ultralight with a small jig and easily catch (and release) dozens of small bluegill and bank runner bass. While I thought they would thin the fish out a bit, they cleaned out the entire pond! It took two years for the BGs and Bass to re-establish, and they are nowhere as populous as they used to be.

I am sorry to hear this. On Pisghgag (sp) bay earlier this year we saw a couple of otters, they were so neat to see.
Had no idea they were affeciting the fish population.

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Originally Posted by funfishers

I am sorry to hear this. On Pisghgag (sp) bay earlier this year we saw a couple of otters, they were so neat to see.
Had no idea they were affeciting the fish population.

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I agree that they are fun to watch. On a large impoundment or a river, I don't think they would be a threat to the fish population, but in a small pond they are.

Growing up in South Alabama you didn't see things like that. Too many gators. First time seeing any was in the lakes here in Tennessee. Pretty interesting critters. Wouldn't be to happy if they were eating the fish out of my pond