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Otter - Open water otter sets
#2057080
07/11/10 12:46 PM
07/11/10 12:46 PM
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 201 Henderson NC
crankbait
OP
trapper
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OP
trapper
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 201
Henderson NC
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Ok you otter professionals, I have a friend with a dock on the lake that the otters have been using for several months and the surrounding docks as there playground. what is the best way to target them in the fall, when there is no creeks or land crossings. Strickly open water tactics. I can use there dock to set traps on or around if needed. Thanks
Tommy
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Re: Open water otter sets
[Re: crankbait]
#2057260
07/11/10 04:08 PM
07/11/10 04:08 PM
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,738 Iowa
coydog2
trapper
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trapper
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,738
Iowa
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Look for there scat on the bank and look for there slides for in and out of the water. I usely use #3coil on them .
Life member of DAV,NTA,NRA,ITA.Also member of FTA,CBA
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Re: Open water otter sets
[Re: j lord]
#2057346
07/11/10 06:32 PM
07/11/10 06:32 PM
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 201 Henderson NC
crankbait
OP
trapper
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OP
trapper
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 201
Henderson NC
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the problem is most of the toilets are on the dock. what would you bait the gage with?
Tommy
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Re: Open water otter sets
[Re: crankbait]
#2057356
07/11/10 06:42 PM
07/11/10 06:42 PM
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,772 Arkansas
Jim Spencer
"Resident Jerk"
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"Resident Jerk"
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,772
Arkansas
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Fresh fish, especially if there's a fish-cleaning station on the dock. Filleted fish bodies, fish heads, stuff like that - that's the "natural" bait around a fish-cleaning station, and my partner and I have caught quite a few otters on docks using this type of bait.
One thing I think helps when using cage traps is to use the big ones, with plenty of width and height. Seems to make the otters a little less leery of going in.
Also - if you're ever lucky enough to see the otters working around the dock, watch where they go. Set snares in narrow places in the swimways you see them using. We've caught a couple by hanging snares in the narrow gaps between the flotation floats where we've seen them swim, hanging the snare loop half in and half out of the water.
Although I haven't tried it (yet,) I bet the big Superbear traps would work well, if you can figure out a way to hold them in position beside and perpendicular to the dock.
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Re: Open water otter sets
[Re: humptulips]
#2057723
07/12/10 03:49 AM
07/12/10 03:49 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,484 NWWA/AZ
Vinke
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,484
NWWA/AZ
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the problem is most of the toilets are on the dock. what would you bait the cage with? Theeee toilet????????
Slightly used Shoes 4 sale,,,,,,May special,,, Act Now... Free Sock with every purchase
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Re: Open water otter sets
[Re: Vinke]
#2058555
07/12/10 07:52 PM
07/12/10 07:52 PM
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 201 Henderson NC
crankbait
OP
trapper
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OP
trapper
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 201
Henderson NC
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I think my situation best fits the one jim is talking about its a floating dock and a marina two docks down. This dock is 12in. from the surface to the water. and the gap between the floats on the dock are about 12 inch wide. What size snare should I use? The other Ideas sound good too and I will probably use them when the situation is right? Thanks For the help everyone. Tommy
Tommy
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Re: Open water otter sets
[Re: crankbait]
#2058725
07/12/10 09:59 PM
07/12/10 09:59 PM
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Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,777 Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia
Mira Trapper
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,777
Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia
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the problem is most of the toilets are on the dock. what would you bait the gage with? Live eels in a cage in the cage so that they can not get out. Otter will enter the cage to get at a live eel in the blink of an eye. Find a place where you can entice a otter to go through a 330 to get at a mink carcass and you will have the otter if he is around the area at all. I have called in a lot of otter using a mink carcass as bait. The otter will go out of his way to kill a mink or spit at his carcass.
Mac Leod Motto
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Re: Open water otter sets
[Re: crankbait]
#2060399
07/14/10 10:28 AM
07/14/10 10:28 AM
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,772 Arkansas
Jim Spencer
"Resident Jerk"
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"Resident Jerk"
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,772
Arkansas
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I think my situation best fits the one jim is talking about its a floating dock and a marina two docks down. This dock is 12in. from the surface to the water. and the gap between the floats on the dock are about 12 inch wide. What size snare should I use? The other Ideas sound good too and I will probably use them when the situation is right? Thanks For the help everyone. Tommy What my partner and I used was our standard 3/32 snare, with about a 6-inch loop half in and half out of water. We suspended it in place by using a small stape driven into the wood of the dock framework, but not so firmly that the otter couldn't pull it loose. Another thing you need to make allowances for is the tremendous potential for damage a snared otter represents. He can tear up a dock and all attachments if you don't drown him. The way we did it was with redneck engineering: before setting the snare, we ran the cable through one of the holes of a heavy railroad tie plate, which we laid on the edge of the dock above the gap between flotation units where the snare was set. When an otter gets in the snare, it will pull the tie plate off the dock and it slides down the cable to the otter, and holds the critter under and quickly drowns it. Worked like a charm on both otters we've caught this way. You could also use sash weights, a coffee can full of concrete, or other standard trapline drowning weight.
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