I fish the west Boca Raton canals in south Florida and I noticed a bunch of carp and some otters in one of the canals. Will this affect the fishing in this canal? I know there’s largemouth in the canal as well as alligator gar. Any light on this situation would be a big help. 

Some feel that otters decimate the bass population. However, I think that a varied mix of plant and animal species, including alligators, gar, carp, and otters, are signs of a healthy ecosystem. 

On 1/30/2019 at 10:19 PM, hawgenvy said:

Some feel that otters decimate the bass population. However, I think that a varied mix of plant and animal species, including alligators, gar, carp, and otters, are signs of a healthy ecosystem. 

Otters do decimate bass populations in certain situations.  I have river otters that have found there way into my 8 acre private pond that was once full of monster LMB.  The otters have depleted the population of bass.  

 

These are river otters that are so over populated at the coast of NC they have worked there way up the river systems and now into my pond which is a canned hunt for them.

 

My trail cameras have identified so may that I have had to hire a trapper and get a permit to get rid of them.  The adults weigh over 30 lbs and eat half their body weight a day in fish.

 

So far we have removed 8 otters and there are still more.  My fish population is almost gone, however.  What a shame.  The adults go after the biggest fish and a bass is no match for an otter.  Good news is they most likely cleaned out the carp first.

What a bummer. Could be worse though: there is a tale of a fisherman in India who accidentally caught a baby otter in a fishing net and the other otters attacked and killed the man.