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Does The Otter Deserve Such Bad Press?


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Edited by Worms

Eating wild caught fish is good for my health, reduces food miles and keeps me fit trying to catch them........it's my choice to do it, not yours to stop me!

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Went for a walk round a local day ticket fishery today. It has two medium sized lakes which are about 3ft deep, and is home to some mid twenties carp, perch, roach, chub and skimmers. In three places around the lake I found about thirty scales, some of smaller fish but some were clearly of big carp. There were no bones, just a patch of assorted scales. I should also mention it is very very close to a river.

 

 

 

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Would this be otter or a different predator? Or a fish died of natural causes and eaten by rats maybe. Pictures I see in the magazines of where otters have eaten fish usually contain the bones as well so I wasn't sure.

 

Dave

Edited by davedave

As famous fisherman John Gierach once said "I used to like fishing because I thought it had some larger significance. Now I like fishing because it's the one thing I can think of that probably doesn't."

 

 

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Could be an otter Dave, but the odds are much much more likely its something else.

 

Anyone care to guess how many fish there is in the UK, what the average lifespan is and therefore how many die in the lenght of time those scales will be on the the bank.

 

I wouldn't like to try and guess, but i bet it would make the number of healthy fish kill by otters look very small. Infact I would suspect anglers even in these otter infested times still kill more fish than otters do.

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A tiger does not lose sleep over the opinion of sheep

 

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Dave,

 

Otters USUALLY do not carry prey off. If disturbed they will leave it. Something has PROBABLY carried that fish off to eat. I don't know of a predator that licks the platter that clean without at least pounding down the grass.

 

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Good news indeed re the perception of the dasterdley otter, gooseander, cormorant. I note on yet another pred topic, no dissention re the introduced zander. so it's good news all round for the apex fish killers.

 

 

Well no not off the hook really, it just means that in general there's less fish in the river meaning the barbel and chub fishing has in fact been destroyed by your furry friend. They may not of been natural but i don't actually care about that, If you like fishing for a load of 8oz dace thats fine but it doesn't inspire me much.

 

The greatest irony of all is if the PAG and Wilson and whoever else. (and i'm not affiliated or a member btw) hadn't moaned about it and made it quite high profile i doubt the EA would of done anything about it at all.

 

and 'Fakenham club official Dave Playford reports he still spends happy hours dace fishing there, taking up to 50 to the 8oz mark during a two-hour session.' -doesn't think there's anything wrong obviously.

 

'Was that a bit of a swerve detected regarding all the work the e a do to make the river nice for all the licence fee payers, then i discounted that with your hand fed argument. Well done you. :)'

 

Pretty confused at this remark? except the sarcasm :), i buy 2 rod licenses and a boat license, never been checked once, and my local river is getting over run with invasive plants and resembles a toilet after a flood.

 

The storm drain thingy is definitely another delicious topic to explore all the work that the e a and the trust share to make it alls well. Blimey it was only last year the trust joined the campaign for every one in the uk to go on water meters due to shortages, you just can't make it up. :bigemo_harabe_net-163:

Eh? i'm not on about the trust, i can only assume you talk of abstraction? It doesn't affect me either.

 

 

Really? at least their trying to make an effort in the eye's of the media. I'm not calling for the eradication of a species here, just confining them by whatever means to natural rivers and national parks.

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Went for a walk round a local day ticket fishery today. It has two medium sized lakes which are about 3ft deep, and is home to some mid twenties carp, perch, roach, chub and skimmers. In three places around the lake I found about thirty scales, some of smaller fish but some were clearly of big carp. There were no bones, just a patch of assorted scales. I should also mention it is very very close to a river.

 

 

 

DSC00003_zpsbd5ac813.jpg

 

 

 

DSC00002_zps48fe53d9.jpg

 

 

 

Would this be otter or a different predator? Or a fish died of natural causes and eaten by rats maybe. Pictures I see in the magazines of where otters have eaten fish usually contain the bones as well so I wasn't sure.

 

Dave

 

The tell tale signs of a group of Poles. Did you see the characteristic rectangular scorch marks on the ground nearby?

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

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Can't say I did. What makes you say that, because they remove the scales of the fish on the bank before cooking and eating it?

I'd be sceptical if it was our friendly Eastern European poachers, because there is only one track down to the lakes and that goes past the farmhouse, that is how the owner knows when to come and get your money when your fishing. I don't think they'd get away with it on three seperate occasions without a shotgun wielding farmer giving them a polite invitation to leave the lakes. :)

Edited by davedave

As famous fisherman John Gierach once said "I used to like fishing because I thought it had some larger significance. Now I like fishing because it's the one thing I can think of that probably doesn't."

 

 

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Can't say I did. What makes you say that, because they remove the scales of the fish on the bank before cooking and eating it?

 

I'd be sceptical if it was our friendly Eastern European poachers, because there is only one track down to the lakes and that goes past the farmhouse, that is how the owner knows when to come and get your money when your fishing. I don't think they'd get away with it on three seperate occasions without a shotgun wielding farmer giving them a polite invitation to leave the lakes. :)

 

Just my lame attempt at humour, Dave. Not to be taken seriously.

 

Edit - does the fishery owner allow the use of keepnets?

Edited by robtherake

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed."

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Yes but no fish over a pound and not in hot weather. Whether all anglers abide that is anyones guess.

As famous fisherman John Gierach once said "I used to like fishing because I thought it had some larger significance. Now I like fishing because it's the one thing I can think of that probably doesn't."

 

 

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Well no not off the hook really, it just means that in general there's less fish in the river meaning the barbel and chub fishing has in fact been destroyed by your furry friend. They may not of been natural but i don't actually care about that, If you like fishing for a load of 8oz dace thats fine but it doesn't inspire me much.

 

The greatest irony of all is if the PAG and Wilson and whoever else. (and i'm not affiliated or a member btw) hadn't moaned about it and made it quite high profile i doubt the EA would of done anything about it at all.

 

and 'Fakenham club official Dave Playford reports he still spends happy hours dace fishing there, taking up to 50 to the 8oz mark during a two-hour session.' -doesn't think there's anything wrong obviously.

 

'Was that a bit of a swerve detected regarding all the work the e a do to make the river nice for all the licence fee payers, then i discounted that with your hand fed argument. Well done you. :)'

 

Pretty confused at this remark? except the sarcasm :), i buy 2 rod licenses and a boat license, never been checked once, and my local river is getting over run with invasive plants and resembles a toilet after a flood.

 

The storm drain thingy is definitely another delicious topic to explore all the work that the e a and the trust share to make it alls well. Blimey it was only last year the trust joined the campaign for every one in the uk to go on water meters due to shortages, you just can't make it up. :bigemo_harabe_net-163:

Eh? i'm not on about the trust, i can only assume you talk of abstraction? It doesn't affect me either.

 

 

Really? at least their trying to make an effort in the eye's of the media. I'm not calling for the eradication of a species here, just confining them by whatever means to natural rivers and national parks.

Your comments are a little confusing to me (excuse me I'm a simple soul). Your river is obviously in a very poor state due to Man's interventions yet, otters and cormorants are apparently having a whale of a time on the fish that the anglers can't catch.

 

Is it me or does that sound a bit odd? If the fish predators (the visible ones at least) are thriving then surely there can't be too much wrong with the river...natural or not, the otters have decided that there are enough fish in the area to take up holt.

 

I'm sure if you contacted John Wilson et al they could put up some signs to advise the otters to relocate to some "natural" rivers...even SSSIs!...and national parks. Good luck with that plan....I'd love to come and survey the results of that!

Edited by Worms

Eating wild caught fish is good for my health, reduces food miles and keeps me fit trying to catch them........it's my choice to do it, not yours to stop me!

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