Spotted my first otter this morning sitting under my feeder on the deck of my pontoon boat. Feeder is bolted to the pontoon boat deck. He was on the boat!! Recent 6 inches of rain and a creek that runs around my property may have caused him to show up. Plus the fact he was eating dropped feed under the feeder. I videoed him and he is huge! He dove in the water and I walked to the ponds edge and sure enough he came up only 40-50 ft from me. He saw me and swam back and forth kinda growling at me. I have this all on video. When I moved he dove under with a huge splash. Scared the crap out of me as I was still filming! I saw him surface 2 more times but had to leave. I came back about one hour later and no sign of him at all. I have cleared shoreline and the only thing he could hide under would be the 30 ft pontoon boat. Do yall think we are now on his "feeding route" and he will return every day or was he just passing thru after the rains?? How much will he eat and what should I expect in the near future? Are they hard to catch? It was a bad morning... gbh on one end of the pond and a otter on the other. Starting to get upset!!

I can relate. From my limited experience, they will stay as long as the feeding is good. I've had one at my pond now for 3 weeks. I hate to imagine the damage he's done. I just restocked as well after losing all my predators last year to a turnover. I've also had a kingfisher present for a month now as well. I don't mind a visitor, but a permanent resident cannot be good.

Learn about conibar 330 traps. They do not sleep.

Also, read up on nuisance otters here:

http://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoo...ral-regulations

Thanks Brian, and I'm glad you liked the jelly!!

Thanks HighFlyer for the Texas Parks & Wildlife link:

"A landowner on their own land or their authorized agent is not required to have a trapper's or hunting license if these nuisance animals are taken while causing loss or damage to agricultural crops, livestock, poultry, or personal property. However, such animals or their pelts may not be possessed or sold"

Shoot em!!!!! FAST. Only need a CITE tag if you are wanting to get the hide.

Is that usually the pattern?
They resurface a lot giving you a good chance to shoot them?
Someone told me they mainly surface at night?
I would much prefer shooting over trapping.

I fought them hard at my old pond. they are easy to catch in the streams near your pond especially if you have beaver dams. they use the same crossings as beavers. they are extremely hard to catch in open water such as the pond. That is not typical of them making a large splash when they dart under water. it would be great if that was a case of mistaken identity and it was actually a beaver. i had tons of beavers right below my pond, but only saw one get in there and it was right after a large rain event.

from what i observed it was mainly the bluegill that took a hard hit in the pond. i think the bass may be too fast. they wore my bluegill out.
i eliminated them anyway possible!!

Never even seen an otter or muskrat. North Texas just doesn't have them.

I had an otter problem for a while, but a pro trapper "handled" that problem. They will definitely eat a lot of fish. I once saw one sitting on the bank eating small bass like corn on the cob. That's when I called the trapper. They will likely return, as they do tend to migrate, but they are easily trapped.

Flame, Highflyer taught me how to use a conibar 330 trap. He was trapping Otters at the time on his lake. The otters I have seen(not at my place) were not large. A Huge one I have never seen, but huge Beavers, yep seen and caught one with the trap. The large splash u describe sounds more like beaver. I think they look similar when in the water. Also lots of trapping info vids on U Tube. I have been expecting otters to show up but so far Zero Otters. Good luck, PS, we were not able to shoot the beav even after many attempts.

Yes we do, and more of them than you would think.

My first siting was in Clarksville, Texas, on one of our larger ponds. This was well before I was into pond management. I was deer hunting and sitting on the pool dam, watching the field below, when I saw two otters in the pond. I watched them all morning, and bet they caught a fish every second or third dive. Then they would surface, lay on their back and eat. It was pretty cool. Never crossed my mind they would eat ALL the fish. I watch them all weekend, then did some research when I got back to the house. Turns out they really will wipe out a pond. .

The pond they were in, was one of our best fishing ponds. It was two years before we caught much of anything out of that pond, and it never did recover before we sold about 4 or 5 years later.

.
Wow...that's crazy Brian.
Didn't really know they can completely wipe out a pond!
That could be expensive as hell.
If I see one I wont postpone action!

I lost all but one Tilapia from Extratopia this fall. I was not happy. I now have a trapping license. Needless to say, they are on my list.

Do we need a trapping license for private property nuisance control? Not surprised.

BTW, it is my understanding that Texas will/has stopped issuing nuisance cormorant licenses.

Dave, that's correct. I got online to check out the federal permits, and it'll take somebody smarter than me to figure out how to get one for the average pond owner.

This reminds me of the fact that our Feds don't have a clue on what goes on in Middle America. They have no real life experience when it comes to cormorants and the destruction they can do and they money they can cost a land owner. Some of those people have no respect for land owners, sometimes I think they are just jealous and have a bad attitude and are socialist.

Sorry for the rant, but just ticks me off sometime

Dave,
No license is needed to control nuisance beaver and otter, but if you want to keep the pelts, you need the license.

Cormorants are another issue. The state permit is no longer issued (due to a Federal lawsuit), you have to go to the USF&W for that.

Sounds like an early morning or early evening visit with a 12 gauge and some #4 lead shot are in order. Bring a little stealth along and your problem might just be solved. BM61

If it went underwater with a great big splash, you sure it wasn't a beaver? They slap their tail on the surface to warn other beavers in the area of danger.