I was out looking for new water to fish and found a beutiful little lake that is probably in the 50 acre range. I was told by my son that it gets relatively little fishing pressure. The only potential problem that I could see was that the lake has a population of river otters in it. I saw around four of them playing in the middle of the lake. There is likely more I did not see. Any ideas on how this might effect the bass, crappie, and sunfish population? Never fished any water where these critters were present.

Well, those guys eat fish and having a strong population of otters means that they need a strong population of fish to support them. Same with really any predator in a good ecosystem.

Kind of off topic but i know they will go after lures, my friend had no idea one was near and we found out all of sudden one in fact, went after his lure and ripped it and the line, hopefully he was fine!

I saw several a few months in a 1/2 acre pond I helped build. They aren't there any more. ;D

i have never had a problem with Otters but one of the private lakes i fish in has 2 or 3 beavers....i kinda like them since they have been chewing trees down and they land in the water giving me more cover to fish 8-)....but do you guys think that they can be the same as Otters and kind of hurt the fish population? b/c we used to catch ALOT of bass over 5 and 6 pounds in that lake but since i have noticed the beavers there i havnt caught a bass 5+ pounds....could that be b/c of the beavers??...thanks...

I'm sure that those beavers were probably there before you noticed them. Just bad luck IMO.

muskies eat bass too

Funny story about these otters. One day, my little brother (at the time only 12) and I were out on our jon boat fishin. We wen't down to a small cove where we fished before but not too often. We heard this HUGE splash which happend to be the otters tail but at the time we didn't know and we wen't in thinkin it was a fish. 2 Minutes later we heard flopping and this crazy breathing soudn and we look over and see this otter literally stuffing a huge fish into its mouth. We were far away from it but at the time my brother practically peed his pants cause he was so scared cause we didn't know what the heck it was. Later on we foudn out that it was an otter though, but still a little spooky. Especially since it had a HUGE fish  ;D

Wow im stupid, i gave false information... that story was about beavers not otters going after the lures, sorry guys  

Otters are very cute and if you hurt one you will burn in hell forever  

You otter not hurt them. I like otters. They are fun to watch. When we go flounder fishing in Chincoteage VA. you have to tie the doors shut on your minnow buckets overnight because the sea otters use them like smorgasboards. I have seen them empty all the buckets in the marina overnight. Free lunch man !

Otters are very cute and if you hurt one you will burn in hell forever  

Lol.  Ditto

Maybe it was Hector from Frontier airlines.............He's out looking for votes!  ;D ;D ;D

Otters are very cute and if you hurt one you will burn in hell forever

No danger of that. The lake is on a military installation, and I think otters are a protected species in VA. Even though I hunt, I'd have a hard time sighting down on an otter or a beaver. They are too fun to watch--beavers help fishing more than hurt it. Best crappie fishing is always near a beaver lodge.

but do you guys think that they can be the same as Otters and kind of hurt the fish population

According to the discovery channel there is no need to worry about beavers eating the fish, apparently they are vegetarians.  The reason for the dam is not to make the pond larger for more fish to eat, but to protect the beavers from predators.

I fish the rivers of eastern NC and we have plenty of otters. When you see two or three playing around you just as soon move on because you ain't going to get

many bites from the fish. They will go into hiding. Fish know not to get anywhere

close to a otter.

We should all have as much fun as an otter in the water.  They are way cool!

The otters may be cute to watch, but they will clean out a pond or small lake.  If there are otters present there are obviously fish present.  I have done some control trapping for landowners.  The otters may look cute and friendly, but they are vicious predators that will travel from pond to pond destroying the fish population.  The otter is the only animal we have in my area that even the coyotes won't bother.  

Wow im stupid, i gave false information... that story was about beavers not otters going after the lures, sorry guys

Well, beavers and otters belong to the same family, kinda like cousins:-

Otter:

Beaver:

Strong family resemblance.  

Otters are very cute and if you hurt one you will burn in hell forever  

I wouldn't mind hurting a few otters around here. If I did, it probably would have much effect on my eternal outlook

Otters or seals=no fish.

That didn't take long.

A-Jay 

7 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

That didn't take long.

A-Jay 

4 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

It got drug up by a spammer, they're gone now ?

On 2/8/2007 at 3:32 AM, Guest avid said:

Otters are very cute and if you hurt one you will burn in hell forever  

If there was an animal hell otters would all be there. They killed and ate all the large catfish in my lake. 

I don’t even want to see another one. As far as my eternal destiny, that’s secure.

I had tried to trap him and just couldn’t after many attempts. Finally layed low for him with my 410 and along he came. Had him , was fixing to pull down on him, and my wife had come up behind me and hollered “ Don’t shoot him “ The otter went under and did not come back up there.

So I actually resorted to prayer about it and never saw him again.

Otters are cute, like the girl you wanted in high school. The one that was pretty, but had a black heart.

I know they are just doing what they were created to do , but when it’s between them and the fish , I’m taking the fish every time!!!