I’ve had some good otter trappers say they would never use an offset for otter, and others say they have no problems holding them. Who’s right?

I use
330's water
660's water
220's for land

I've caught 0nly 2 0tter in leghold s both were in 1.5 Northwoods pocket sets

Todd, in one of North American Trapper's dvd ...Johnny Thorpe's shows using a #2 Northwoods offset (out of the box shiny) and catches an otter on dry land. He never talked about offsets or other traps but I'm sure he used old #2 Sq jaw Victors.

I caught a small otter once in a DLS #1 set for mink.
I dont set footholds for otter unless on a drowner.

Caught this one in a #3 Montgomery dogless offset. Set was for bobcat but produced 3 nice large otter instead. Held all of them with no issues.

You could ask 100 trappers and get all different answers.

2X. As someone previously said location location location.

AN offset would be the last trap I would set for any critter unless it was a legal issue.

Same here.

Given a choice...use regular jawed traps (with strong springs) for otter. Especially if he can reach some brush bigger than your thumb.

MB 550 offset 2 coil

No offsets for me when water trapping.

I use either one. I don't really have a preference for water sets. On land I prefer offset jaws

I've never set a foothold in a non drowning set for otter, and I've never set an offset jawed trap for them. So I have no personal experience with offsets. An old otter trapper when I was a kid told me to never use offset traps for otter except the Newhouse's with teeth (48?) and so I always followed his advice. With no issues I saw no reason to change equipment.

Offsets for otter? no, no, no!
Most (all) of my sets for otter are land sets; toilets and trails.
280's on the trails, and 48 Newhouse on the toilets. About 6 feet of chain on the Newhouse, not drowning sets.

Conibears are definitely a better choice for otter, but I've drowned them in beaver sets and I'm not fussy about what footholds I use for beaver

I see some saying never as if it won’t work, but haven’t seen any sort of reason given.

^^^^
Otter are crazy sttong and have a rather tapered foot.
I can't imagine holding one in a non drowning set with off-set jaws.

The oldtimers used to all swear by 48s and with good reason. Without the teeth if the trap slipped down to the toes you came up empty because of the offset. For that reason everybody that trapped otter pretty much figured you had to have teeth. Lot of 48s, 14s, 3 1/2s and of course 3s and 4s with teeth welded in. IMO you don't need teeth but you do need a good strong trap and no offsets. There were a lot of 48s around because the State sold off a lot of them when they got out of the beaver trapping business in '62. I'm talking WA , Waggler knows what I'm talking about.
Conibears are great but on dryland crossovers they soon get wise in my experience. I used to use a lot of 280s when we could use them but there were always those places you needed a foothold. About any Newhouse was my favorite but then years later I had luck with 1 3/4s. Seems small but they didn't have to be offset and they are strong. Maneuvering around the laws at the time to stay legal. Drowning sets of course mostly but I've had a few live. Always interesting pulling an otter out of a hole, trap chain in one hand and pistol in the other.

The reason I asked…

As many know in PA we are limited to a 6.5” outside jawspread trap.

That Bridger #3 Dogless has a lot of nice features that would make it decent PA beaver and otter trap. I don’t like the fact that MTP made the offset 1/4” after buying the company.

About the only thing I feel an offset they big is good for us coyotes and wolves.

If one switched out the loose jaw with a regular jaw it would narrow up that offset.

Someone might say why don’t Bridger make a 3 Dogless regular jaw but I don’t think the trap will set with a regular jaw used as the power jaw. I’d need one to play with.