Ive done some looking in archives and havent found too much!
There are some questions I have and Probably some others also.

1.Whats the range for an Otter? Aprox is fine
2.How many otter to an area? Understand thats a loaded Q. Just an average. Dont want to trap them all out that way there are more seasons to come in an area.
3.Has anyone had success with fish/or? baited coni triggers?
4.Are they day or nite critters?
5.??

Well thats all I can think of for now. Thank you and have a good day.

otters love fish and i know someone has caught many otters on fish

I don't know anyone who has caught otter with baited sets.I would much rather have good blind sets in water channels,cross overs,trails,etc.

I and others I know have seen them in the daytime.

yeah its all good info. Now I just need to get the territory of them covered and the Q about how many could be in an area

Could be one or two.Could be a whole litter with the parents.Otter cover miles.Could stay in one area for a while or might not come back to an area for a couple weeks.

A wise young man working a few years back with our conservation dept.on an otter program ran telemetry studies on otters that had been implanted and or radioed told me this."Our studies show if an otter wants to go 5 miles across open fields in one night,they'll do it."I never did ask him what they figured was an avg. home range in Missouri.Have just always remembered that little bit of Info.More nocturnal but will definitely be out on cloudy,stormy days.I've been in GREAT territory and it be a week or more setting heavy on the blind sets before connecting.

Don't know the exact range, or how many will be in an area. I have seen them on our land during the daytime usually in pairs. I recently trapped one a few weeks ago. I was walking up the creek looking for a place to set a beaver trap, and one came up the creek--and he was wearin small bream out. So i started looking for otter sign--found a toilet, so i set 2 traps and caught one of them. I did have the set baited with a fish, don't know if it made a difference though.

Saw another one 2 days ago out near the head of the pond--same creek. It was wearin out the bream also. I caught a male. I havent seen any in pairs this year in that place though. if i knew there was a whole family there, i would trap another, but if the one i saw the other day is the female, i would prefer to let her stay there to have more little ones.

Col thats great info thanx

On really good otter water if I catch one for every two or three river miles I have got about all that river will give up for that year.

I did read some studies that suggested that home range for males was about 20 to 30 river miles...lot's of depends though.

As far as all the lures and baits... I'd bet that these sets account for less than 5% of all otter caught in north america on a yearly basis. Crossovers and blindsets plus covering lot's of territory is where it's at.

Finally, if you really want to do some good reading about otter trapping buy a copy of "Otter Trapping" by the Washington State Trappers Assoc. It is a compilation of observations and methods by Washington's top otter producers. George Sovie at Cascade Trappers Supply can set you up.

PS I see otter during the daytime often and have checked traps going downstream (with nothing) and had otter in them an hour later as I made my way back up.

Been tryin' to catch one myself. A fella trapper on GBO said they would hit a bucket set for coon baited w/flakey fish. Caught a few coon but no otter.

thank you carl

I read in FFG one time that otters will travel about 20 miles in a 3-4 week span during the summer and will travel 40-60 miles during the winter within a 3-4 week time frame... depending on the accessibility of a reliable food source.
I have seen up to 3 otters together at a time but it wouldnt suprise me to see more.
I am not sure if they are nocturnal,I dont see why not they wouldnt travel at night but I have seen them in the day a number of times.
I have heard of using baited conibears but one of the problems with them is that the otters smarten up quick when they see that there friends are missing due to baited sets(similar to most other furbearers) I have always prefered blindsets because they are more natural and they dont as easily see it coming.

I one time had an otter break a wire (on a lake) and so the next day I came back with a wet suit and snorkle. I kept bobbing up and down looking for it but after a bit I looked out on the arm of the lake I was on and I had 9 otters in the water stretching their heads up as high as the could to see waht the funny black otter was doing. LOL

well taught that was some more great info. Ive pulled two in this one area bolth males. I just dont want to wipe them out of that area.

Otter do move both day or night.

JDW, great questions. River otters are very nomadic and unpredictable. The NTA Trapping Handbook has a good description on home ranges. NTA states that a range of 20sq miles in the summer is to be expected and 60 sq.mi in the winter. You can type in "river otter" on a yahoo or google search engine and you'll find all kinds of helpful info. I have caught otter on a smelt minnow put horizontal on a 330 strigger, but most I caught were on blind sets. Culverts where they cross are excellent sets - check regs! They like to hang out in family packs too, usually occupying old beaver lodges. My son got his first this year on a old beaver bank den they were using.

Having done alot of research on otters.Hear is my two sense.

1.Range depends greatly on the size of the river. My reach suggests that otters prefer small backwater streams with a lot of structure, but they use large rivers to travel. The homerange analysis of my otters was a core home range of 5 to 7 miles of stream while they travel upwards to 20-30 miles regularly.
2.Otter are a communal critter living in family units, but do travel solitary as well. There will commonly be 3-6 otters traveling together. So gang setting is key. I have seen as many as 12 together.
3.Forget the baited triggers use blind sets and dive pole sets. Find they areas they use tiolets/latrines and set them heavy.
4.Otter travel at all hours of the day and night, but from my experience they travel alot at dusk and dawn.
Hope this helps

The info just keeps gettin better. I had no idea on how larg their territory could be. Thats realy big

They do have a big area, but they move a lot too. Watch and set the sign.