river otter on the Silver Fork

**neil** · 08-22-2011, 12:17 PM

We saw a river otter on the Silver Fork this weekend, several miles up from the South Fork. Cute little fella...came out of the water at the foot of a pool, looked at us, then jumped back in and was gone. No time for a snapshot.

My question: what impact would the presence of an otter have on fishing? I'm assuming slightly to highly negative. The fishing was noticebly slower than it was just a couple of weeks ago...I figured increased fishing pressure, but maybe the otter is a factor?

Any wildlife biologists out there?

(Obligatory fishing report: got a few fish during the day on nymphs (all bows), and evening bite on dry flies was pretty good upriver, away from campsites and the like. Got my first two browns on a fly rod, so the weekend is considered a success despite the pedestrian fish count.)

**ownfl4g** · 08-22-2011, 01:03 PM

I had a run in with a really big otter on the Truckee a couple weekends ago, almost thought it was a bear in the water. Anyways, it would be convenient to be able to use him for the excuse as to why I didn't catch anything.

**Jay** · 08-22-2011, 03:20 PM

They are a cool creature, and they belong in our waterways. That being said, I HATE those little furballs. I rate their impact as being HIGHLY negative. I have seen families of them decimate bass ponds in a matter of months. I even had one attack one of my 10" planter pattern swimbaits a few years ago.

**JayDubP** · 08-22-2011, 03:44 PM

Years ago I was floating Klamath just down river from Aikens Creek Flat with my 2 kids and saw a family of river otters playing-- had a 6ft or so long slide-- they were slide down into the river and climb up again and slide into the river. We watched them for 15 mins-- they sure did not care we were watching.

**Bill Kiene semi-retired** · 08-22-2011, 07:25 PM

We saw the big ones in the Amazon drainage.

Looked like short legged Labrador Retrievers.

**wineslob** · 08-23-2011, 07:29 AM

I've seen first hand the devastation Otters can have on a fishery.
There is a water supply ditch that I've been fly fishing for nearly 30 years. It was full of browns up to 14"-15". In the last 4 years Otters got into the ditch and destroyed the trout population.
My best guess would be by 95%. There's nearly nothing left.

**dpentoney** · 08-23-2011, 10:44 AM

No doubt they eat quite a few fish, but I spent a ton of time watching otters on the North Fork of the Smith when I was young and what they mostly ate was a lot of crayfish.

**fishsticker78** · 08-24-2011, 08:53 AM

No doubt river otters eat fish. However, they are native in many of the state's drainages and have co-existed with fish (salmonids)for a very long time. In this situation, it is a natural predator-prey relationship. In contrast, with man-made structures (diversion ditches, reservoirs, etc.) containing both native and non-native fish species (bass, bluegill, hatchery trout) river otters can be disasterous to fish populations because they have the clear advantage.

BS · 08-24-2011, 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by wineslob

I've seen first hand the devastation Otters can have on a fishery.
There is a water supply ditch that I've been fly fishing for nearly 30 years. It was full of browns up to 14"-15". In the last 4 years Otters got into the ditch and destroyed the trout population.
My best guess would be by 95%. There's nearly nothing left.

And when they had migrated into the reservoir at the end of said ditch, the end result was the same.

Bob