Anyone with a pond and fish.
Have you seen them yet after their winter slumbers.
We have seen two tiny baby ones... but not one of the regulars.

Mine are showing well and eeven better as the sun shines. I do have a mate with a large pond, normally full of carp and smaller course fish, but this year he's seen nothing and fears that he's had an otter visit.

My experience is that the younger (smaller) they are, the longer it takes.

My four carp are all substantial now and don't really stop anymore in winter, but the Tench have literally just reappeared this week.

timbuktu wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 27, 2025 3:11 pm

Mine are showing well and eeven better as the sun shines. I do have a mate with a large pond, normally full of carp and smaller course fish, but this year he's seen nothing and fears that he's had an otter visit.

All too common, they are an absolute menace.

Just like foxes which kill all the chickens in a coop, an otter will kill every fish and often not eat one of them.

Our pond is just for Frogs now... we had fish but a Heron got them. We also got baby fish too.
Our Frogspawn is hatching and they are devouring the jelly... the circle of life goes on.

Otters are the reason very few garden ponds in my village have any fish in them.

You can try to make your pond secure, but an otter will find a way in.

My largemouth bass have started jumping in the evenings.

I'll stick with my Discus aquarium. Otters can't get in there

Don't think we even have Otters over here anyway

I’m having a Chicken Tarka for my tea tonight.

It’s like a Chicken Tikka. Only it’s a little otter.

Foulthrow wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:33 pm

I’m having a Chicken Tarka for my tea tonight.

It’s like a Chicken Tikka. Only it’s a little otter.

Oldun but its a goodun

Foulthrow wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 28, 2025 4:33 pm

I’m having a Chicken Tarka for my tea tonight.

It’s like a Chicken Tikka. Only it’s a little otter.

There's one for the kids!

Oshkoshclaret wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 28, 2025 2:43 am

My largemouth bass have started jumping in the evenings.

About 10 years ago I was fishing in Lake Garda, and caught a bass.
Most unexpected.
It was a small-mouthed I believe.
We don't have any (legally, anyway) in the UK.

I met a guy last week he showed me his koi carp in his back garden-all brand new with a new fence round thd pond. His last fish all went it was a cormarant he watched it pick a fish up, smacked it dead on his concrete flags and eat it out his patio window. I am a keen angler and between otters -mink and cormorants they are destroying millions of pounds worth of fish each year it’s killing the trade. Fish are very expensive to stock in fisheries. Otters will kill huge carp also.

Nothing better than seeing herons etc and being surrounded by nature while out fishing, and I'd love to see an otter. Also, an abundance of wildlife shows the ecosystem is fine. I've had this conversation with other anglers, and I'm sure some of them would rather fish in a sanitised world of concrete where our native wildlife doesn't get in their way. And yes, I get that stocking is expensive, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Last summer, while fishing a local water, I had a kingfisher preached on one of my bank sticks for over five minutes - so good to see such birds thriving in a semirural setting.

All well and good - apart from Otters have no natural enemy and will soon be out of control, if they're not already.

I'm also an angler, I love being out out on a river.

But I also want to catch fish.

'Out of control otters' sounds like an indie-punk band.

Never seen an otter whilst fishing but a ferret did once come along and make off with a herring that I was supposed to be using as bait

The classic mix for a farm pond here in the Midwest is largemouth bass and bluegill. They tend to find a natural balance between the two species and you'll typically have a ton of 5-8 inch bluegills, about ten 1.5 to 2.5 pound bass per acre, and a few trophy bass in the 3lb+ category. They're both tasty to eat and are good sport fish. I will typically catch a largemouth with my first cast into a pond, which then puts them on their guard and I'm lucky to catch another.

Oshkoshclaret wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 29, 2025 6:47 pm

The classic mix for a farm pond here in the Midwest is largemouth bass and bluegill. They tend to find a natural balance between the two species and you'll typically have a ton of 5-8 inch bluegills, about ten 1.5 to 2.5 pound bass per acre, and a few trophy bass in the 3lb+ category. They're both tasty to eat and are good sport fish. I will typically catch a largemouth with my first cast into a pond, which then puts them on their guard and I'm lucky to catch another.

No catfish?

Oshkoshclaret wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 29, 2025 6:47 pm

The classic mix for a farm pond here in the Midwest is largemouth bass and bluegill. They tend to find a natural balance between the two species and you'll typically have a ton of 5-8 inch bluegills, about ten 1.5 to 2.5 pound bass per acre, and a few trophy bass in the 3lb+ category. They're both tasty to eat and are good sport fish. I will typically catch a largemouth with my first cast into a pond, which then puts them on their guard and I'm lucky to catch another.

No catfish?

Is a Bluegill like a Pumpkinseed?

dougcollins wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 29, 2025 7:19 pm

No catfish?

Is a Bluegill like a Pumpkinseed?
[/quote]

Yes, they are both small sunfish. Actually when I say I've got bluegills I they are more of a bluegill/pumpkinseed hybrid than a purebred bluegill.

I had catfish in a previous pond but didn't like the way they stirred up the water so didn't stock my new pond when I built it. Also, I wanted to try crayfish.