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Could've done without this in my little pond

Ruh-ro! From everything I have heard, read, etc, you better get that water wolf quick or that pond will be fishless soon.
 
I agree muddy. But the DNR told me they're fine in creeks and rivers. Ponds a no no. Came across a bridge close to me one day. They were 3 otter catching baby wood ducks. Half grown. The hen was doing her best but wasn't good enough. That's nature.
 
I agree muddy. But the DNR told me they're fine in creeks and rivers. Ponds a no no. Came across a bridge close to me one day. They were 3 otter catching baby wood ducks. Half grown. The hen was doing her best but wasn't good enough. That's nature.

I am not sure what you mean Goatman. "...fine in creeks and rivers. Ponds a no no."
 
That’s no good. Think the dnr will grant a permit to take care of that. Otters are super cool but really bad for stocked ponds. Most otters that I have caught were due to pond owners having that same problem.


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What cybball said. Before there was a trapping season I was issued a nuisance permit. Game Warden said shoot them now. They were still protected in rivers and creeks at that time.
 
I'm torn on this one. I really like having new animals to cam but I know this guy will decimate my fish population in short order. Here are a few of the better pics from this week.
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Great pics. The thing with otters in a pond is that they don't just kill enough fish to feed themselves, they kill them one after another and may only take a bite out of the guts and go back for another. They are fish killing machines that do not stop...until there aren't any fish left.
 
Unless you live on that pond or trap it's a loss. You can restock but they will be back again. Have a friend who is on his 4th restocking of fish. Catfish are the easiest for them to catch as they are slower in winter. Warden told of a pond the otter just piled up the catfish and ate just brains out of them. One Saturday morning several years ago I had 6 otter fishing in my pond.
 
I do live here but I can only see a small portion of the pond from the house. When I bought this place in 2016 the pond was a disaster of duckweed with no fish as far as I could tell. I put some bluegill, crappie, channel cat, redear sunfish, and a couple grass carp in it in mid October 2016. I've spent the last couple summers trying to clear out the weeds and clean up the water. Last fall I was catching crappie about every cast. We asked the neighbor about the pond when we bought the place (the previous landowner passed and his wife didn't really get involved in any of the outside property stuff). He said they used to fish there often and he'd occasionally transplant a good crappie from other places to this pond. Then the fish were just gone. I assume we're now on the otter dinner check rotation. I live near anamosa between the buffalo and the wapsi. There is a valley that runs next to my pond dam that usually has a trickle of water in it. It feeds into the buffalo. I'm guessing with the high water this year that trickle looked a lot more inviting to swimming otters. I'll probably talk to the dnr to see what my immediate options are. I'd love to try to trap him but by November I'm not sure there will be any fish left to keep him coming back. By then I'll probably be back to 10000 bullfrogs and painted turtles.

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I’ve
Unless you live on that pond or trap it's a loss. You can restock but they will be back again. Have a friend who is on his 4th restocking of fish. Catfish are the easiest for them to catch as they are slower in winter. Warden told of a pond the otter just piled up the catfish and ate just brains out of them. One Saturday morning several years ago I had 6 otter fishing in my pond.

I have had this exact thing happen. Big pile of catfish skeletons in the Spring !
Kill em, they will travel a long ways up small creeks to take the candy from a pond just for the sport of killing.
 
I saw otters in creek by my house several times in last month or so. Went to a pond near there with my lil guy where we’ve caught a lot of fish in the past - 2 times now & 1 fish. Went to my other place a few miles away on same day - darn near a fish every cast. I’m 99% sure it’s otters that have ravaged it. Crazy to hear all this above & how aggressive they are.

So what’s yalls thoughts on most effective if/when legal - hanging out & trying to shoot em or trying to trap em?
 
You could talk to your warden and see if he'll get you a nuisance permit but it'll be difficult to get them without being there all the time. You may get some but others will follow. Best bet is to contact a trapper and have him hit on them in the creek or pond in winter. The otter are like coyotes. Take some out and others will fill the gap. Only a matter of time before the other pond will get hit.
 
I've talked with the wildlife depredation guy at the DNR and he stressed good habitat in the pond for fish to escape the otters. He also was of the opinion that killing one is a temporary fix as they have huge ranges and will likely fill in any gaps. I plan to set some traps there this fall. If I can keep the water level where it is there are plenty of opportunities for both blind and pocket sets along the edge where I should be able to catch plenty of coon and a few mink and maybe even an otter. I also plan to set a few submerged buckets specifically for otter. I'm an amateur trapper at best, and I tend to shy away from running traps here at the beginning of November as it's a small property and I'm trying to balance the human presence between trapping and hunting. That being said, I do have other places to hunt and I'd really like to catch an otter...

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Do otters just kill the fish and leave them? I just cannot believe they could eat up an entire pond in a few months. That would be hundreds, possibly thousands of pounds of fish.
 
Do otters just kill the fish and leave them? I just cannot believe they could eat up an entire pond in a few months. That would be hundreds, possibly thousands of pounds of fish.

Actually, it wouldn't take anywhere near a few months to wipe out a small to medium sized pond. A few days might be more like it, especially if multiple otters show up, etc. Yes, they catch and kill them one after another, and either eat nothing at all OR just a bite out of the guts for a great number of them.

A friend of mine had a beautiful pond that is, unfortunately for him, fairly close to the English River. He and the family were catching fish regularly one weekend and went back I think it was just 2 weeks later and couldn't catch a thing. He so happened to check a trail cam that was on the dam of the pond and it was after looking at pics that he figured out that there were otters in the pond. I think he was able to see as many as three at a time on the pics. So roughly, 3 otters cleaned him out in 2 weeks...or less.

Another friend of mine saw an otter in his pond last fall and was enjoying the entertainment of it swimming and fishing and so forth and then noticed that it had a new fish in it's mouth about every 30-45 seconds. They are voracious.
 
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