There is an old saying that says something to the effect of, "Some don't know what they don't know." I say this in reference to otters and bait. Otters, a lot of otters, can and are caught with bait. I wish it wasn't so but I catch several every year in baited pocket sets and have to let them go because our otter season isn't in yet. AND, if I wanted to catch otters in baited pockets, I would catch more if I set for them by moving the trap back away from the hole 3 or 4 inches instead of having it tight to the hole. Fish and muskrats are my baits that catch otters.
We don't have a lot of otters compared to Mississippi and other southern states but we have enough of them to be a real nuisance. This year I caught 10 otters in Ohio and 7 of them were caught in baited sets. Thankfully I missed at least that many more.
When I trapped Miss. I didn't use any bait because there were crossovers and runs everywhere. Here in Ohio, unless trapping in a beaver swamp, we don't have those kind of options.
Exactly. I catch more otters in a season then most do in a lifetime and it all comes down to where I'm trapping. Crawfish ponds its setting on crossovers and runs. In the 500,000 acre swamp that is my backyard you have to bait for them as there are no set routes. Its pretty easy trapping otters on small rivers and streams as you blind set sign. You get into the swamps where it takes you a hour boat ride and then another hour of polling a pirogue to get to the trappng grounds you better know how to set pocket sets as the otters have hundreds of square miles of ankle to waiste deep swamp it roams. They have food here 365 days a year without waterways freezing over. If you are catching them, keep doing it. It doesn't matter how you do it, just stack the bodies.
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