Otters

andreagrispi · Dec 12, 2010

Went fishing yesterday - wanted to fish the New Junction Canal for big perch but it was frozen up!

Ended up on the Wharfe near Boston Spa - had 4 similar sized perch up to 2lb 4oz but as I was packing up I saw 2 otters within 10 foot from me.

The swim is a turning point for the resident bream which I've had to nearly 9lb in the past - can't imagine there will be many of them left with otters on the stretch.

MarkTheSpark · Dec 12, 2010

Why? Do you think these could be Hitlerian otters, bent on ethnic cleansing of all bream?

---------- Post added at 09:55 ---------- Previous post was at 09:54 ----------

Don't believe everything you read in Angling Times.

andreagrispi · Dec 12, 2010

Large bulky slow fish, easy to catch and kill.

I would think these would be the first species to be attacked. Otters being like all other life - maximum gain for minimum effort.

Pretty obvious really.

hooklineand sinker · Dec 12, 2010

You were treated to an amazing sight a pair of Otters if you lived to be a hundred you would probaly never see a pair of Otters again.You caught fish as well can,t see what your problem is ? So what is they eat a few Bream ?

chav professor · Dec 12, 2010

Don't believe all that anti-otter rhubarb sprouted by the press!!!!! It doesn't add up at all. It has been hyped up out of proportion. they were there before yo saw them and there were bream there then

Fred Bonney · Dec 12, 2010

I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it.
Predators natural or introduced, are not the main problem,the river companies are!

johnnyfby · Dec 12, 2010

I personally feel very sorry for any angler and also the wildlife of the system involved when Otters are running freely to do what Otters do. It must be so frustrating to see the wildlife slowly dissappear and change from abundance to scarce. As Fred has said its not the Otters fault its do gooders, river companies etc, that think a Otter in residence is the ultimate show of a healthy river/lake ecosystem, imo how wrong they are.
I personally like the Otter as an animal, but not as a marauding carnivore eating its way through the enviroment, and many a anglers pleasure.
So enjoy your angling while you have it, and those anglers who think they cause no harm at all, well enough said there....

Ray Daywalker Clarke · Dec 12, 2010

Here we go again.

Otters were hear long before us, and the fishing wasn't bad when they were around before.

Otters don't just catch anything they can, they will try and find easy pray first, like dying fish, chicks etc etc.

Most Predators will try for an easy kill, or something that is already dead.

Otters are here to stay, where they belong, get over it, and get on with it, it's news for the press to sell more copies.

chav professor · Dec 12, 2010

johnnyfby said:
I personally feel very sorry for any angler and also the wildlife of the system involved when Otters are running freely to do what Otters do. It must be so frustrating to see the wildlife slowly dissappear and change from abundance to scarce. As Fred has said its not the Otters fault its do gooders, river companies etc, that think a Otter in residence is the ultimate show of a healthy river/lake ecosystem, imo how wrong they are.
I personally like the Otter as an animal, but not as a marauding carnivore eating its way through the enviroment, and many a anglers pleasure.
So enjoy your angling while you have it, and those anglers who think they cause no harm at all, well enough said there....

This is the type of rhubarb I think we need to address -'marauding carnivores' -'enjoy it while it lasts' etc etc etc. could have come straight from the Angling Times scare mongerers.

I think we have had enough threads adressing the balance - otters will not be the down fall of our sport. They are a NATURAL and INDIGINOUS predator.
Try and fight for an otter cull - ecological science will blow our arguments straight out of the water.

Paul Boote · Dec 12, 2010

The Otter Cull Criers really are just so many piscatorial turkeys voting for their own gory demise at Christmas. So if you want to be fishing in future years and don't want brickbats and even bricks lobbed at you (not merely by the legendary balaclava-ed Antis but also by an outraged seven-year-old primary school attendee named Chloe plus her Heavy Friends - Zoe, Daisy, Freya, Jake, Josh, Ben etc etc) as you try to fish....

Fred Bonney · Dec 12, 2010

" As Fred has said its not the Otters fault its do gooders, river companies etc, that think a Otter in residence is the ultimate show of a healthy river/lake ecosystem, imo how wrong they are."

I didn't say that at all Johnny.

The water companies have nothing whatsover to do with otter introductions, my guess is it didn't even come into the "dogooders" minds either.

johnnyfby · Dec 12, 2010

Apologies for my misinterpretation Fred. To all who comment on my comments, well thats my opinion and if it wasnt for different comment and opinions appearing, whats the point of running a thread and we all might aswell log off now.
Hi Chav, havent the Otters been running amok and marauding down in suffolk/Norfolk? or have they changed their diet down south....?
The evidenceis out there....

Rickrod · Dec 12, 2010

By the way some good perch sport you had there was the river up much..?

chav professor · Dec 12, 2010

johnnyfby said:
Apologies for my misinterpretation Fred. To all who comment on my comments, well thats my opinion and if it wasnt for different comment and opinions appearing, whats the point of running a thread and we all might aswell log off now.
Hi Chav, havent the Otters been running amok and marauding down in suffolk/Norfolk? or have they changed their diet down south....?
The evidenceis out there....

Had Otters down south for decades.

seriously, there has not been a serious problem on my river (the gipping). they are very active at night and they are a common feature of my chub fishing at night.

The wensum has experienced problems but these need to seen in context. Barbel on the Wensum seemed to suffer as a result of otter predation, however, were these fish not ARTIFICIALLY stocked? So unsucessful was this introduction, that they failed to breed - but grew to monstrous proportions so the angling world held these fish up in great estime. Not very sustainable! The Norfolk Anglers Conservation Association have a track record of river improvement and hopefully their fishery will benefit from increased spawning success. If a fishery is so sparsely populated that the few individual fish are given 'names' and no dought personalities - otter predation will appear to have a dramatic effect.

I hope no-one has the stupid idea of ARTIFICIALLY introducing Barbel into my local river - that really WOULD really muck up the chub and roach fishing............

Barbel are a stunning fish - but I am more that happy to catch them in rivers that naturally support breeding populations - not ill thought out introductions.

Ray Daywalker Clarke · Dec 12, 2010

Here Here, well said that man.

BarryC · Dec 12, 2010

About a month ago I was fishing a local pool as the light started to go in the evening.
A movement about 20 yards to my right caught my eye. It was an otter, the first I have ever seen, working its way round the margins.
It had two or three small rudd as it made its way round towards me.
I stayed completely motionless as it continued round, submerging with a trail of bubbles and surfacing every 5 - 6 feet. It surfaced right in front of me under my rod with a small rudd and stayed there and ate it looking straight at me. If it was a dog I could have reached out and stroked it.
I feel privaliged to have seen such a wondefull sight, one I will never forget.

So much for cammo gear.

andreagrispi · Dec 12, 2010

Rickrod said:
By the way some good perch sport you had there was the river up much..?

The river was ripping through at a rate of knots - only two swims I could have fished (only had float gear with me) and caught in both.

waggy · Dec 12, 2010

Otters are the sign of a healthy fishery, as are all of the top predators.
They weed out the sick , the old and the over populated; this is natural selection in action, and for which we should be thankful because if it were left to us Humans, we'd make a pig's ear of it.
So, You find otters, large bream and large perch all together in the same river and you conclude that otters are detrimental? Why don't you re-examine your motives for thinking so and it may lead you to whoever has been f***ing up your thought processes. Clue: only someone with a financial motive sets off this train of thought.

andreagrispi · Dec 12, 2010

I am quite alarmed with some of the emotive responses this thread as evoked. Otters are THE top predator on any water in Britain. The stretch in question has a low density of fish.

The otters I saw were big - they are warm blooded and were swimming in water not much above zero degrees; therefore utilising high levels of energy. They will require a substantial amout of foodstuff and the bream will fit the bill.

The otters were a pleasure to see - seen otters before but on 2 different lakes strangely (they were otters not mink): but, I am an angler and I like those bream - they have provided good sport in the past on light feeder gear. I would be very surprised if they survive, as they are a rich and easy source of food in a very clear and relatively shallow water.

waggy · Dec 12, 2010

Rest easy, Shaun. No predator will clean out it's food resource overnight, let alone your favoured bream. Otters are great nomads and a female will only settle for a short while whilst cubs are in the holt. Fish and otters have co-evolved for countless generations. The problem is with Humans who have outgrown every single wild resource we've encountered in a very short space of time - faster than natural selection can cope with.
Most of us nowadays don't want to see a single species demise because of individual greed or over-expectation.

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