What is your favorite foot hold set for otter

#3 double longspring on a drowner slide at a beaver dam crossover(after all the beaver have been removed).

Ditto ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I like big longsprings if drowning is an option dosnt matter if its a 3 ,4,5. if anchored i prefer a 11/2 duke .IMO THE DUKE IS SUPPERIOR TO ALL THER 11/2 TRAPS FOR HOLDING OTTER when anchored solid

#48 Newhouse with about eight feet of kinkless chain set at a toilet.

Anyone have luck with dirt hole or baited set, and what kind of lure or bait do you use. Thanks

I’ve caught a few in dirtholes specifically set for them on toilets with torpedo lure, problem with setting a dirt hole for them is weeding through the coons first, where as a 330 in a pinch point will pretty much be otter or beaver.

Cleatus, I have a spot set right now where a coyote comes to hunt a riverbank every so often and about every 3 weeks or so an otter exits the river in the same spot to come up on the bank. Not a toilet but more of a slide. Got a dirthole set for either the coyote or otter. Sleepy Creek #4 double long with lure I made from otter gland down the hole. We will see if it produces and if so, what species. Last year I caught an otter on a baited set. Large fishing lure without the hooks set on the triggers of a Belisle 330. Had an otter in it 3 days later. Although it was a toe catch not a suitcase or body catch.

Most of my otters have been incidentals taken at pocket sets ment for mink/rat or coon and almost all
in duke 1 1/2s it’s incredible how well they managed to hold them

If I know there in the area I do move up to a number 2 and make what I refer to as a high pocket which is just a pocket made so that it is at a level where the otter can look right in without bending down to do so

Most years if I have any number of water sets out I limit out in a couple weeks without even targeting them and sometimes I have to make that call to the DNR to come pick up a few

Really wish they would raise the limit here the things seem to be everywhere nowadays I will see 4/5 most weeks during the summer while traveling for work in wildly different areas so I know they’re not the same groups or individuals

check out flemming 1.5 coil spring traps they are galvanized ,and the springs are stronger ,spray paint and set ,no rust .they do need about as much fine tuning as the duke but have better chains and chrunch proof swivels and music wire springs ,at about the same price as dukes

Why such long chain?

Number 14 jump trap.

Is it worth setting any of my offset jawed traps?

You might catch a few but you are headed for heartbreak with offsets eaven with four coiled traps on a drowner . An otters foot is just to slick and tapered .

Toilet set

I've caught a few in foot traps. I catch them at the spots they climb in and out and i use a beaver castor lure of some sort. Like pond drainer or Backbreaker.

I was advised overwhelmingly by trappers from this site to go strictly regular jaw on water sets and i'm not disappointed. I have caught beavers by 1 that's right 1 toe and drowned them. Never would've done that with a offset trap.

I use a #3 regular coil with a 5 ' chair added, hold them all the time for me and drop a branch on the deep side they will tangle and drown .

Bobcat & k9 supposedly like to sometimes walk stream banks. Do you ever get them in an otter foothold set, like a dirt hole @ a toilet

I am not much of an otter trapper but once had a pair come up a small creek on my cat line.

One of the traps I set was a BMI 4x4 Wolfer which was a very strong little trap but offset.Well,I caught one of them in a dirthole but but it rolled out of there very quickly,leaving vey little circle.At that time,I hadn't heard not to use offsets but I have heard it enough since and I am a believe.

Thinking back,I should have converted that trap to closed and the outcome may have been different.I won't do it again,that's for sure.Besides a couple lions,that was probably the first pullout with those BMI.Like I said,not much of an otter trapper but that is my experience.Those guys are crazy strong and slick.