|
|
| I have had a loon follow a glide bait, a sea gull and an osprey check out top waters. Last Friday I was casting the edge of a cabbage patch and dragging a sucker. Up ahead I noticed something in the water and saw it was a pair of otters on the inside edge of the cabbage. I don't often see them in the lake, normally they are in the creek that feeds the lake. They checked me out and then swam into the bog type brush along the lakes edge. They never got close but I did keep an eye on them, thinking that 12" sucker might look appealing. Wondering if any have had a problem with them and live bait. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 2280
Location: Chisholm, MN | North of 8 - 10/23/2017 8:13 AM
I have had a loon follow a glide bait, a sea gull and an osprey check out top waters. Last Friday I was casting the edge of a cabbage patch and dragging a sucker. Up ahead I noticed something in the water and saw it was a pair of otters on the inside edge of the cabbage. I don't often see them in the lake, normally they are in the creek that feeds the lake. They checked me out and then swam into the bog type brush along the lakes edge. They never got close but I did keep an eye on them, thinking that 12" sucker might look appealing. Wondering if any have had a problem with them and live bait.
Never had any problems. Overall, I think they are smart enough to know it's food for them. Never know though. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 77
| This last weekend I saw a loon near the boat, I was running three rods. Two propwash rods and a board.
I started yelling, waiving my arms etc, trying to get it to fly away. It dove and grabbed a bait. Luckily it let go, but I didn't see it come up.
Next day there was another one. Again, same thing. Yelling, waving and it dove by the boat. This one didn't grab a bait but could see it on the electronics. (see attached).
Not much you can do really...
Edit: Image to big to attach.
https://imgur.com/a/U7ooJ
Edited by SkiNoob 10/23/2017 10:21 AM
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 293
Location: Sakatchewan,Canada | Kirby Budrow - 10/23/2017 9:32 AM
North of 8 - 10/23/2017 8:13 AM
I have had a loon follow a glide bait, a sea gull and an osprey check out top waters. Last Friday I was casting the edge of a cabbage patch and dragging a sucker. Up ahead I noticed something in the water and saw it was a pair of otters on the inside edge of the cabbage. I don't often see them in the lake, normally they are in the creek that feeds the lake. They checked me out and then swam into the bog type brush along the lakes edge. They never got close but I did keep an eye on them, thinking that 12" sucker might look appealing. Wondering if any have had a problem with them and live bait.
Never had any problems. Overall, I think they are smart enough to know it's food for them. Never know though.
That isn't the case unfortunately. On the 3rd of October I was bringing a Savage Gear 16" line thru trout in and I had two large otters following in aggressively. I quickly yanked the bait in because it looked like of of them was gonna nail it. After I pulled it in to my surprise 4 otters stuck their head out of the water and looked at me. That was my first otter experience following a bait in. Just goes to show it does happen, and that was an artificial, I can see them taking a live or dead sucker.
Edited by Pike Master 10/23/2017 5:46 PM
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 1220
| This musky fishing is full of daunting challenges, if it’s not one thing it’s the otter! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1767
Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | Had one try and crawl into my boat repeatedly on an isolated reef in the middle of Lake of the Woods. Not sure how that would have turned out, but wasn’t going to allow it to find out |
|
| |
|
Posts: 1759
Location: new richmond, wi. & isle, mn | Lived on a flowage that the otters would come down to the wide spread by the dam in November. Never saw them all summer. But come late fall they acted like they owned the place. Snarling at you and in their own way trying to intimidate you. Absolutely fearless late fall. We ran suckers and never had a problem. Beautiful animals with quite the personality and a joy to watch. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 83
Location: North of Sweden! | Junkman - 10/24/2017 1:38 AM
This musky fishing is full of daunting challenges, if it’s not one thing it’s the otter!
AAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!
best post ever, this made my morning!!! :D
kind regards
/peter |
|
| |
|
| jchiggins - 10/23/2017 11:11 PM
Lived on a flowage that the otters would come down to the wide spread by the dam in November. Never saw them all summer. But come late fall they acted like they owned the place. Snarling at you and in their own way trying to intimidate you. Absolutely fearless late fall. We ran suckers and never had a problem. Beautiful animals with quite the personality and a joy to watch.
When northern WI experienced a severe drought from 2004 to 2010, we saw otters quite often on the chain where we now live. Guessing that the creeks they normally spent most of their time in had too little flow. Stood on our dock one day and watched a family group of 5 feeding on blue gills just a few feet away. They would bite completely through a blue gill with one bite. That same weekend we were out in the canoe when suddenly the same group came up all around us. We must have disturbed their hunting because they would stick their heads out of the water and hiss at us. We got the hint and moved on. During the winter we see them feeding in open water by the bridge and then climbing on to ice to eat. They pop up in small holes in the ice to catch a breath then down again. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 343
| I hooked an otter on a brushog jig once, they fight really well, tried everything I could think of to get him to come loose. He finally crawled on the bank near me and I finally got an angle that he pulled loose, didn't have any desire to try to unhook him, would have broke my line rather than deal with those claws and teeth. Has anyone ever noticed when otters are present in an area the fish shut off (even muskies), I hate seeing them in an area I was planning on fishing. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 8720
| They are smart enough to work the latch on a sucker cage and empty it of all your bait, so I know they eat them.
I also have it on good authority that if you decide to go swimming and you get too close to them they get very angry and chase you back into the boat. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 572
| Musky Brian - 10/23/2017 7:15 PM
Had one try and crawl into my boat repeatedly on an isolated reef in the middle of Lake of the Woods. Not sure how that would have turned out, but wasn’t going to allow it to find out
Lol....not an otter, but we had a little red squirrel do the same thing on LOTW this summer. Very strange. Came off an island, made a beeline swimming toward our boat and tried its best to climb aboard. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 665
Location: Twin Cities, MN | Well, the 4 otters that made an appearance in the wetland behind my house on Sunday seemed very well behaved, but I was disappointed that they did not return my old mud puppy that bit the dust from last summer after a brief tangle with a canadian goose ( managed to fly into my line purely by accident, I was not trying to chase him away by throwing it directly at his head )
I have also had a Loon chase my bucktail and come under my boat after it, and I have had a beaver decide I was too close to his den, and he proceeded to smack his tail in the water about 10 times in the exact same location I just had 2 misses on a nice musky. I briefly thought of whipping my bucktail at him, but decided with my luck I would actually hook him.
Pal
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 20180
Location: oswego, il | They really do make a great icey treat 
Attachments
----------------
 0007239285300_A.jpg (53KB - 462 downloads)
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 667
Location: Wisconsin | ToddM - 10/24/2017 12:58 PM
They really do make a great icey treat :-)
Nice! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 8720
| moderators must have taken the day off.... |
|
| |
|
Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | esoxaddict - 10/24/2017 4:37 PM
moderators must have taken the day off....
i believe they are at AML fishing this week ...
cat's away ... mice act like rats. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 293
Location: Sakatchewan,Canada | esoxaddict - 10/24/2017 3:14 PM
I'd imagine they are better than "Poultry Pops"...
LOL!!! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 256
| I had a buddy snag one on Rainy Lake. It bit him trying to get the lure off. Spent the rest of the day heading to the hospital getting rabies shots.
|
|
| |
|
Posts: 246
| Never had an otter chase lures but I've had them bark and make all sorts of noise at me. They are great to watch. I do have issues with hawks, eagles and seagulls chasing a bait every now and then. |
|
| |
|
| zombietrolling - 10/28/2017 9:06 AM
Never had an otter chase lures but I've had them bark and make all sorts of noise at me. They are great to watch. I do have issues with hawks, eagles and seagulls chasing a bait every now and then.
I have fished with them in the area many times casting lures. What worried me was that live sucker behind the boat. I think they are way too smart to hit a lure but a nice fat sucker might prove too tempting. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 51
| Greetings,
A few years ago, my partner and I were fishing a remote bay on a lake in NW Ontario. I was casting a Top Raider over a cabbage bed near the head of this bay. I had a massive blow-up on the Top Raider near the far end of my cast. There was no weight on the lure so assumed that a nice fish simply missed. I burned the lure in and immediately casted back, just behind where the blow-up took place. This time, there was a blow-up much nearer the boat. Then, an adult otter popped it's head out of the water and started scolding me with a series of barks and woof type sounds.
I looked at my partner and said "what would I do if I had hooked it?". He just looked back at me and said in a monotone voice "there wouldn't be a drop of blood left". We continue to call that bay "Mad Otter Bay" to this very day.
Good fishing and tight lines!! |
|
| |
|
Posts: 7010
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Just got back from AML (yes, the mice had a few days to play). My boat was full of snow one (actually many) morning and all over the back deck were little otter tracks. Strangely they didnt grab my suckers even though the livewell was partially propped open. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 293
Location: Sakatchewan,Canada | Are you sure those little otter tracks weren't actually mink tracks? Minks are notorious for touring boats and it would not surprise me if those tracks were left by a mink |
|
| |
|
| I am thinking mink or weasel tracks as well. The otter tracks I have seen are anything but little. Maybe 3" wide and even longer than wide. |
|
| |
|
Posts: 7010
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Then I'm glad it was a mink instead of an otter....since no suckers were stolen and no big otter poops in the boat. |
|
| |
