As of about May my bass catching has been all but been non existent. I have had 20+ fish days out of each of my acre and a half ponds that are side by side. I knew i have good sized fish in there and live 50ft from both ponds but I stopped seeing any activity. No one else fishes my ponds. Now, yesterday I saw 3 to 4 good size river otters swimming around and have decided to trap them. I called a local trapper and he came out and said I have a colony of muskrats on top of this otter problem. Follow me on this one....I have been trying my tail off at learning how to get rid of a bad rusty crawfish problem, at least what I assumed was a crawfish problem. I have holes that surround my pond every foot or so in the diameter of about 3 inches, but no mounds on top, flat holes on slow grading banks. I have went around at night with a spot light and have seen BIG, I mean BIG crawfish lerch back into their holes, but they are 10-20ft away from my bank. Now,....for reference, my ponds are drained 3-4ft in Pond B and 10 ft in the other, Pond A. Pond A we will call it has 30 ft of exposed bank with grass now grown on it before the dam. Pond B, has steeper banks but also has grass now grown on it. They have been this way for 2 to 3 years. I have almost finish cut grass on most of the property see no huts, no big gaping holes in the banks edge like muskrats would make. After rains I can hear the water draining out of my lake under the dams core and out behind the dam wall.

Question 1: Is this damage really muskrats?


Q2: Do muskrats dig holes in the middle of grass 10 ft away from water, almost straight down?

Q3: Besides trapping, any good way of finding out if they are in fact whats making my fish disappear? FYI.....I see no half eaten fish, no floaters, no nothing.....just water.

what state is never never land in ?

Pics would be helpful. Do you see any muskrat runs along the pond bottom? They would look like little round bottom ditches 8 inches or so wide.

I'll post pictures soon. I'm going to upload to a link. I'm in Kentucky in an area that is very wet usually, about a mile from a decent creek and 4 miles from a good size river. No runs at all.

Otters can decimate a pond, taking large fish out.

You may want to change your location in your signature to Kentucky instead of never never land, or you will be constantly asked where you are located. Information for ponds is highly geographic, meaning what works well in Texas might not work well in Minnesota.

I'll edit location soon. It was that way for a reason. Upon which, I believe has passed.

I believe Rusties might be native to your area however I have never heard of them Borrowing above the water line. They could be Red Swamp Crayfish or another borrower.

Have you tried using live bait, (bluegills or other fish) below a float?? Hard for a bass to resist.

I've not tried live bait. I've got gizzard shad as big as your hand in both ponds. There is enough forage to support growing big bass. I'll try live bait to see.

My trapper thinks the craw fish are using the old muskrat holes. I've NEVER seen any of these craw fish outside a hole. They're big, and aggressive. I'll post pictures probably tomorrow....you can tell me what type they are.

IMHO The presence of a large number of shad makes me think the otters did not wipe out the pond and the other species should be there as well, unless there was a fish kill sometime you are not aware of.

Don't worry brah, a couple of us are in the witness protection program as well.

The otters are a definite problem. Much more than muskrats. I have to agree with Bill about the shad. Otters aren't selective predators.

Here are is a link to the pictures I said I'd provide.


http://imgur.com/a/SWAir

&

http://imgur.com/a/gYbkW

FWIW I do not see any sign of fresh muskrat activity. The damage looks like burrowing crawfish damage to me.

Look familiar?

https://www.google.com/search?q=burrowing+crawfish+damage&biw=1366&bih=599&tbm=isch&imgil=1OEQPL1A1RStiM%253A%253BjUoh4bAE5iD7jM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ces.ncsu.edu%25252Fdepts%25252Fent%25252Fnotes%25252FO%25252526T%25252Flawn%25252Fnote126%25252Fnote126.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=1OEQPL1A1RStiM%253A%252CjUoh4bAE5iD7jM%252C_&usg=__OI1LSF7NQf1vuI4wXssMRiRc2Eo%3D&ved=0ahUKEwiL4dC67s7JAhUKPiYKHaOkCsgQyjcIMg&ei=xCloVovvJIr8mAGjyarADA#imgrc=1OEQPL1A1RStiM%3A&usg=__OI1LSF7NQf1vuI4wXssMRiRc2Eo%3D

Yes, but am being told that there are muskrat droppings, and 75% of the holes dont have chimnies. Is that odd? I do see them, but I am being told that they will occupy old muskrat holes. Im going to fix the dam this summer, but dont want a repeat of crawfish drilling holes in my new dam.

Any suggestions given that they are crawfish?

pour something in each hole to kill them?

Can you dig one of those crayfish as to ID them. It sure did not look to be a rusty, curious what species they might be.

What a lovely place you have there.

Muskrat don't set up where there is not easy access
to good food. Apple trees, cat tails, and lots of good
roots to eat under the ice. They need to breath air so
their paths are not very deep in the shore edge 3 feet max.
It will look like a cow path. If you have a number of them
you will see them early morning. Only dive under if they
are spooked or need to duck under a stick.

Those holes are not muskrat. It is rare for them to have another
hole out on top of the bank.

Cheers Don.

EDIT: forgot to add that if their is abundant food you
will have a hard time catching your fish.

Setup 1 or 2 game cameras on that shore line. Pound a stick in the ground put camera about 2feet up off of stick. If there is anything in there like muskrat or beavers or otters it will show it. Might even catch one of those crawdads coming out of their holes if that's what that is?? Game cameras they tell a lot!!

RC

Looking at the last few photos in that second link, to me, it looks like chimneys were probably there when the burrows were new and just got knocked down, possibly by rain.

FWIW

I have never seen a muskrat burrow that looks anything like that.

Any one have any experience at getting a handle on such bad infestation of crawfish then? I doubt muskrat traps are going to get rid of my problem then.

A teaspoon or 2 of granular Boric Acid down the dirt chimney will get rid of a lot...

I don't see much muskrat activity either. The round holes with your foot in the pic are crawfish holes. Bacon on a string, feel them grab it, slowly pull them out. Like Rex said, boric acid, import a couple families of raccoons, put out minnow traps baited with liver (in the water).

Nice, never heard of that.

Would it be best to ID the crayfish first? I mean maybe they are good ones? They really seem to be BIG ones WOW!

If they burrow, they are BAD!!!

I'm wondering about the otters. If they stayed until they were ready to move on, I'd be surprised if you really have many fish left. The crawfish and other critters may have cleaned up the remains. Otters were nearly wiped out in this country at one time, then they were protected and reintroduced in some areas, and now they are a problem again. Otterhounds were used to control them in England, but then hunting with hounds was banned. One result of that is that otterhounds, which were already rare, are now almost extinct. There are fewer than 1,000 in the world, and the breed has inherited health problems because of their few numbers and inbreeding. I've followed the breed for years, although I've never even seen one, and the only breeders or owners I know of are show dog people. None hunt. I think it's a shame. Otterhounds have a job to do, in this country at least, but they aren't being used to do it, and their numbers dwindle.

Where does one pick up Boric Acid? I don't wanna end up on the FBI's watch list for ordering as much as I'd need. HA! I've been told Copper Sulfate, but I also have researched that too much will kill all of your invertebrates, which will eventually harm your entire fish population. I'm trying to save what I have, not kick off an entire fish kill while getting rid of the ankle breakers. I'm honestly scared when my dogs take off running around the ponds.

Turleman....that's what happened here in Ky. Fish and Wildlife had a bright idea to repopulate the region. Now the environment is impacted by their presence negatively. I am sure they did it to support another presence in the woods or water, but they have tremendously over populated.

Did your dogs have any interaction with the otters? Otters are in the weasel family, and all weasels, with the possible exception of skunks, are viscous fighters, and deadly in deep water.

I would be tempted to try catching some first with either a Gee Crawfish Trap (they look too big for a minnow trap opening to me) or the bacon on a string trick. Might as well see if you can have a nice crawfish boil before you whack them! If water temps are cold, they may not be active and just sitting in their burrows so trapping might not work until spring.

I haven't bought any lately, but you used to be able to buy boric acid at a drugstore pretty cheap.

Boric acid can be found in most non-chain pharmacies and hardware stores.

No none at all.

These you don't want to boil. For whatever reason these crawfish don't go in traps. Ive tried the minnow traps to no avail.....only to trap......Yep, you guessed it,...minnows. Baited it with bacon. I have tried the bacon on a fishing line. Damn thing took drag. plugged its little legs into the side of the burrow. It literally bent my rod before letting go. I went after it with a post hole digger. 3ft later. No mud bug.

FOR ID:

Go early in the morning with a shotgun and transplant the otters.

The one pictured in the bucket has a Prehistoric look. Looks like he is all armored up. No idea on what type of crawfish he is. Took me almost a yr to find out what type of crawfish I put in m pond. Lots and Lots of different crawfish around.

Tracy