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Otter on deadbait

Anthony Pearson

Anthony Pearson

Senior Member
No I haven't!! But...I had an otter in my swim for almost an hour this evening. I'd already wound in the deadbait I was using for pike and put out a rod for barbel, but it crossed my mind that it was a possibility and wondered if anyone's ever had theirs taken by an otter? Or a livebait.....
 
Not an Otter but I have hooked and landed a Cormorant on a livie before....wondered if I had a record capture for the Severn so organised witnesses to come and witness the weighing but unfortunately it died in the sack before they arrived:rolleyes:

I've also had a seagull hooked fairly and squarely on a deadbait....it swooped down and picked it up as it lay behind me waiting for the cross breeze to abate before casting - What a fight:cool::cool::cool:

I recall hooking several Geese and Swans in the past when surface fishing for Carp and even getting as screaming run off a rat that picked up a piece of liver intended for Catfish....I had put the rod in the alarm with the baited hook in the butt ring as I went for a pee...took a while to work out what was happening in the dark:eek::eek:

I reckon an Otter would really pull back:)


Paul
 
Likewise, as far as the bird life is concerned. My worst (but best fight) being a mallard on 16 elastic whilst pole fishing. A bloody nightmare!
 
I've had a Barbel grabbed by an Otter, below is the (almost live) report I wrote at the time (June 2011 on the Wye)

"I heard a disturbance in the bush next to me stood up to take a look and less than 6ft away from me an Otter with 2 young entered the water. As I reached for my phone to take a picture my downstream rod attempted to leave the rest so I grabbed it. Worryingly as I retrieved the Barbel the Otter family were swimming down the line towards it and I was relieved when they passed each other travelling in opposite directions. Not for long though as mother Otter must have done an underwater u-turn and grabbed the Barbel. I pumped like mad and was briefly attached to both Otter and Barbel. Eventually mother let go after a second grab and the 7-10 Barbel was released with just a couple of small puncture wounds and swam off strongly. Exciting times :) "
 
Hooked a seal on a livebait fishing the relief channel in the mid 70s, didnt land it thankfully as the line parted as it was trying to make its way back to the sea.
 
I hooked a big Bull seal when Uptiding a whole mackerel for Tope, it took off like a train, stripped about 200 yards of line from the reel, surfaced, then turned and raced back toward me on the surface, I wound in like crazy, then when it was within about 30 yards from the boat it dived, the rod bent double, suddenly everything went slack, I wound in to find a very mangled bit of mackerel attached to an 8/0 hook that had been crushed as if by a pair of pliers.

I also "caught " a dog that got into my bait bucket whilst beach fishing, the animal wolfed down a load of Squid and Mackerel,whilst its brain dead owner stood and watched with a big smile on his stupid face , I had no sympathy AT ALL, he thought it was funny till I pointed out that the dog now had a couple of 1/0 hooks in its stomach, as the baited trace that had been in the bucket was now missing..the he decided it was my fault.....needless to say he recieved the worse end of that argument..
I did point out that he would not like it if somebody elses dog stuck its head in his picnic basket and scoffed his lunch..moron could not see any comparison...... well I hope it cost him a few hundred pounds to get the dog sorted out...and to find there were no hooks there at all, may make him think twice about letting the dog do whatever it wants while he looked on. Worst thing is that the idiot had it on a lead at the time.

DOHh !

Dave
 
I think the question was "have any of you caught an otter on a dead bait". Not a seal, not a cormorant, not a seagull or even a duck. lol

btw I caught a golden eye duck on maggot. ;)
 
Chris....would have been a short thread then if only Otters that were foul hooked were included:rolleyes:
 
Did hook an otter on a hali pellet at night -- very confusing - same bite as mr barbel , same screamer downstream -- then I realised it was heading for my bank and barbel always go for the opposite bank , but got it moving upstream , then realised it was on the surface -- hook then pulled and in it came with a nice fur tuft on it .
Mr otter surfaced again in front of me , another joined it and we all had a hissing competition that I definitely won !!!
All happened a bit fast and was very confusing !!
 
I had a great battle with a heavy biggun of fort lauderdale jetty.

20 mins later a 50lb turtle hit the surface...
 
I had my Labrador in the ear on the back cast with a size 10 cats whisker, the silly bugger took off across the field, I clamped down on the reel. the tippet broke and he came trotting back to me with a big green and white punk rockers ear ring.

That was the first and last time he came fishing with me.
 
Caught a Mallard firmly in the beak, took it to the vets and it was fine.
Also casted over a Blackbird, the line caught over it wings and brought it in like washing on a clothes line, released unharmed although a bit confused :)
 
I was fishing for mackerel in weymouth harbour one beautiful sunny evening, a stone's throw from all those lovely resteraunts where they all sit outside and admire the boats coming in and out.

I cast my mackerel strip out towards the middle and it never landed.

I spent the next ten minutes with my rod bent skywards fighting a seagul with crowds and crowds of people gathering round to find out what all the squacking was about - telling me how cruel i was.

Thankfully just as i was getting him close the hook pulled - really didn't fancy trying to unhook it!
 
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