Otters....do you hate them too?
+13
doug6364
Wigs55
welsh piker
stubbo
Rich_
onetoner
Idlepiker
rozzo
tomthepiker
Eric Edwards
noodle
treble
Andy Macfarlane
17 posters
PikeAngler :: Fishing :: Pike Fishing
Page 2 of 2
Page 2 of 2 • 1, 2
Re: Otters....do you hate them too?
I dont have too much hate for Otters really. Its just the circle of life i guess.
The one animal that really gets my goat are CORMARANTS ! Loath the bloody things ! All should be shot !
The one animal that really gets my goat are CORMARANTS ! Loath the bloody things ! All should be shot !
doug6364- Posts : 683
Join date : 2011-11-29
Age : 60
Location : suffolk
Re: Otters....do you hate them too?
I regularly see otters up here - usually along the coast and occasionally cubs (or is it kittens with otters?) playing in the kelp. Magic.
I've seen a couple on my local river too. I was fly-fishing for sea trout at night one night and stopped for a coffee. I lay back on a big rock and stared at the stars and, as I lay there, one came trotting along the bank and pretty much sniffed in my ear. It realised its mistake and dived straight in the river making a hell of a splash. Frightened the sh*te out of me I can tell you. I see them on some of the lochs I fish for pike and, like one of the other guys said, they always bring a smile to my face.
Being a coarse angler at heart and also from the Midlands originally, I can see there may be an issue with otters helping themselves to stocked coarse lakes but personally can't be too sympathetic to semi-tame fish being munched by a truly wild creature.
I do however think that the potential problem of otters for waters such as the Dorset Stour and other small rivers isn't something that can be so easily dismissed. They will, undoubtedly have an effect on fish stocks in waters that are already under major pressure. Water abstraction, signal crayfish, cormorants, poaching for the table - they're all things that are having a big effect on this type of water and possibly, otters may be an easier target to control than any of the other things I've just mentioned - wrong certainly but as Andy mentions right at the start - a lot of people don't like them and think of them as killers. It's pure ignorance.
I can't help thinking that we (as a species) continually make rods for our own backs. We hunt otters in the past and control their numbers. Then, for whatever reason, hunt them almost to extinction. Now, in our enlightened age, we protect them and reintroduce them into a world where, everywhere they look, there's a pond full of easy to catch fish - like living in a well-stocked pantry. We surely then can't start moaning that our pet fish are getting eaten.
I think this one will go on and on.
I've seen a couple on my local river too. I was fly-fishing for sea trout at night one night and stopped for a coffee. I lay back on a big rock and stared at the stars and, as I lay there, one came trotting along the bank and pretty much sniffed in my ear. It realised its mistake and dived straight in the river making a hell of a splash. Frightened the sh*te out of me I can tell you. I see them on some of the lochs I fish for pike and, like one of the other guys said, they always bring a smile to my face.
Being a coarse angler at heart and also from the Midlands originally, I can see there may be an issue with otters helping themselves to stocked coarse lakes but personally can't be too sympathetic to semi-tame fish being munched by a truly wild creature.
I do however think that the potential problem of otters for waters such as the Dorset Stour and other small rivers isn't something that can be so easily dismissed. They will, undoubtedly have an effect on fish stocks in waters that are already under major pressure. Water abstraction, signal crayfish, cormorants, poaching for the table - they're all things that are having a big effect on this type of water and possibly, otters may be an easier target to control than any of the other things I've just mentioned - wrong certainly but as Andy mentions right at the start - a lot of people don't like them and think of them as killers. It's pure ignorance.
I can't help thinking that we (as a species) continually make rods for our own backs. We hunt otters in the past and control their numbers. Then, for whatever reason, hunt them almost to extinction. Now, in our enlightened age, we protect them and reintroduce them into a world where, everywhere they look, there's a pond full of easy to catch fish - like living in a well-stocked pantry. We surely then can't start moaning that our pet fish are getting eaten.
I think this one will go on and on.
Re: Otters....do you hate them too?
Stowe, historic house & grounds, with historic lakes. However, fishing is about to change, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emxvn0AKbo4.
Saintsince73- Posts : 59
Join date : 2012-01-02
Idlepiker- Posts : 185
Join date : 2013-01-26
Age : 55
Location : Harthill, S. Yorkshire
Re: Otters....do you hate them too?
I would love to see an otter when I'm fishing, all I ever see are rats and swans, I prefer the rats.
sam0402- Posts : 6
Join date : 2013-05-08
Re: Otters....do you hate them too?
I was fishing on Tuesday for a few hours on my local loch but nothing was doing so I decided to fish one of the sluice gates that run in to the river.
I had just settled when I thought I saw something on the opposite bank and then up it popped "mr otter" this animal has become quite the resident on this stretch of river, ive seen him loads of times . well I watched him hunting for a few minutes till he came up with a trout in his mouth took it to the bank and sat there happily tucking in to his meal, I tried filming it on my phone but it not the greatest quality. if I can I will upload it
I had just settled when I thought I saw something on the opposite bank and then up it popped "mr otter" this animal has become quite the resident on this stretch of river, ive seen him loads of times . well I watched him hunting for a few minutes till he came up with a trout in his mouth took it to the bank and sat there happily tucking in to his meal, I tried filming it on my phone but it not the greatest quality. if I can I will upload it
onetoner- Posts : 196
Join date : 2009-01-10
Age : 45
Location : lanarkshire
Re: Otters....do you hate them too?
That's the game.
Andy Macfarlane- Posts : 1879
Join date : 2008-08-13
Location : Glasgow
Page 2 of 2 • 1, 2
PikeAngler :: Fishing :: Pike Fishing
Page 2 of 2
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
|
|