River otters

[pontooner]

Was fishing between the walls at Nolin tailwaters Thur morning when I saw a smallish river otter making it's way up that way, once he got up close to where I was fishing he went down so I reeled in the bluegill I was using for bait because I didn't want him to get a hold of it and started watching for him to see what this rascal was up to.

A few minutes later I saw the flash of a nice sized fish a few feet below the surface and then it started to come up to the top turned sideways like something was wrong with it. Once it got to the top I could see it was a 12-15lbs white perch and sure enough the otter had that thing in it's mouth wrestling with it.

Like I said eariler this was not a really big otter and I had no idea a otter that small could take a fish that size.

Definitely one of the coolest things I've seen while fishing.

[RoadToad]

That's one of the coolest things about fishing. It gets you out in nature, and you see stuff you'd never see otherwise.

[restornator]

i've seen that otter before. But my question is: how do you fish that area? I know there are cats, walleye, white bass, and perch, but they are so finicky

[pontooner]

i've seen that otter before. But my question is: how do you fish that area? I know there are cats, walleye, white bass, and perch, but they are so finicky

Here's what I like to do for the species you listed.

Catfish - The catfish bite hasn't really got going there yet but should pick up any time now. Fish between the walls or at the very end of the sidewalks on either side. For channel cats you can't beat chicken livers but I also like to use cut bluegill and some stink baits work fairly well. For Flatheads try live bluegill, shad or a big ol wad of night crawlers around the same areas listed above.

Walley - Getting a little late in the year for them but you can still catch a decent one now from time to time on night crawlers.

White bass - Try throwing around Rooster tails or any kind of inline spinners down on the sidewalks. I usually do best with a white or chartreuse one and switch up colors if your not getting bit. Fish them slow, fast and everywhere in between until you find the speed they like.


The amount of weight needed really veries on the out flow and what bait/size your using. Just keep changing weights or adding weight until you get your bait to stay in the area your trying to fish. Right now you can get away with 1/2 - 3/4 ounce egg sinker between the walls with most of the baits listed, now if you have a big bluegill on for bait you'll need more weight to keep him from swimming off to far. Down at the ends of the the sidewalks you can use less weight, say a 1/4 -1/2 ounce egg sinker.


The rig I use looks like this - Hook with a split shot 12-16 inches above it and then the egg sinker. Very simple


One more thing, if your getting there after 8:00 am then your getting there to late. The bait stealing bluegill get going around this tiime making it hard to catch anything, not saying you want catch anything but they make it a lot harder. Now late in the evening would proabably be a different story but I don't fish there much then.


Good luck

[redneckshadrap]

Cute ...yeah....fish eating machine...definitely....They are destroying the creeks. They are getting WAY over populated. And they can be vicious......

[restornator]

Cute ...yeah....fish eating machine...definitely....They are destroying the creeks. They are getting WAY over populated. And they can be vicious......

so what's the problem? It sounds like they are doing quite well.

[smashdn]

They are thick in the park on Nolin and Green.

See them playing on the banks or out in the water while camping most everytime I go now.

[Tim_T]

so what's the problem? It sounds like they are doing quite well.

They are doing far too well. There numbers are getting out of control and they can play heck with fish populations. When they were reintroduced I don't think the plan was thought through. They have little in the way of natural predators and nobody traps them any more so there population has skyrocketed.

[restornator]

They are doing far too well. There numbers are getting out of control and they can play heck with fish populations. When they were reintroduced I don't think the plan was thought through. They have little in the way of natural predators and nobody traps them any more so there population has skyrocketed.

Yes they are abundant at Nolin, but would you rather KFW accept new commercial fishing liscenses? As far as I know commercial fishing is illegal unless you had a liscense back in 1998. My stance is humans aren't the only fishermen on public waters.

[smashdn]

Yes they are abundant at Nolin, but would you rather KFW accept new commercial fishing liscenses? As far as I know commercial fishing is illegal unless you had a liscense back in 1998. My stance is humans aren't the only fishermen on public waters.

Application is still on the dept's website. I don't think Nolin Lake is open for commercial fishing however. But we weren't speaking of the lake proper so I don't guess I understand where you are coming from.

[Tim_T]

Yes they are abundant at Nolin, but would you rather KFW accept new commercial fishing liscenses? As far as I know commercial fishing is illegal unless you had a liscense back in 1998. My stance is humans aren't the only fishermen on public waters.

How in the heck did you make this a commercial fishing argument? But to the actual subject, you are taking what I said and spinning it. I am all for having some otters around, but much like any other species, there numbers need to be held in check and there is simply no viable option to do this. Its kind of like the pan to release wolves out west. There was no population control and now some of the elk herds have been devastated, not to mention how hard the have made things on the ranchers.

[mhall]

Cute ...yeah....fish eating machine...definitely....They are destroying the creeks. They are getting WAY over populated. And they can be vicious......

Amen, why in the HELL did they release these things back in the state????

I hate Otters they are as bad or worse then Beavers.