I can say without fear or favor that if you have otters, you do not need to harvest bass. They will clean you out in short order. I manage a 50 acre lake. We have almost no harvesting, although we allow it. We buy bass and stock fingerlings every year. For two years our catch rates went down hill, and our typical 7-10 pound fish were scarce. We took out 9 otters this past winter and are now rebuilding. Also, if you fish, you will kill a number of bass without trying. Most will survive, but deep hooked fish are anybody's guess.
