• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Otters, Threat or Not??

Joe, smaller fish will be virtually anything that swims where the otters inhabit, they ain't fussy. Zander are not generally present where most of the damage to our favourite quarry swim.
Ray, you forget to mention that otters, like cats, enjoy chasing and playing/mauling their prey, but not necessarily eating it. It just happens to die anyway.
 
Chris Guy said:
Joe, smaller fish will be virtually anything that swims where the otters inhabit, they ain't fussy. Zander are not generally present where most of the damage to our favourite quarry swim.
Ray, you forget to mention that otters, like cats, enjoy chasing and playing/mauling their prey, but not necessarily eating it. It just happens to die anyway.
Click to expand...

Chris I dont know what rivers you fish ? I do a lot of my fishing on the W/Avon where I know Zander are present . So are you suggesting that Zander are only taking Chub , Roach etc etc and are leaving the small Barbel alone ?
 
Joe Fletcher said:
Chris I dont know what rivers you fish ? I do a lot of my fishing on the W/Avon where I know Zander are present . So are you suggesting that Zander are only taking Chub , Roach etc etc and are leaving the small Barbel alone ?
Click to expand...

They are REALLY picky eaters Joe....a nightmare for the parents when the kids are growing up :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
Joe Fletcher said:
Chris I dont know what rivers you fish ? I do a lot of my fishing on the W/Avon where I know Zander are present . So are you suggesting that Zander are only taking Chub , Roach etc etc and are leaving the small Barbel alone ?
Click to expand...

Of course not Joe, but there are few if any zander in the upper Ouse, Kennet, Thames, Wensum, Windrush, Colne, Lea, D/Stour, H/Avon, Teme........... I could go on. My point was and is, most well known barbel rivers do not have a serious head of zander, but they do have a serious head of otters.
 
So where do we stick our money this year?? The Angling Trust or The Predation Action Group.
I really dont know but I feel that I as an Angler should be doing something and if its sticking my money into a group that have a voice then thats what I will do.

Maybe a new thread should be started??
 
We need some rain, without it we wont have to worry about otters............. or anything else eating everything in the river.
 
Keep your money in your pocket would be my advise..The rivers and the enviroment we live in is forever changing, sometimes for the good but mostly of late it seems for the worse..How long before on many stretches of small rivers will the Barbel be a endangered species?..Sadly that wont be too long on some rivers..Theres absulutely no dowt the damage Otters and cormarants have created on many rivers otherwise where have the once healthy shoals of Barbel gone?..Well sorry to say they aint hiding in the weed as most will believe, probably to justify the very fact that nothing can be seen anymore and not want to believe that they have gone for good..Personally i wouldent believe a word that comes out of the EA propaganda machine because they are very good at bending truths and hoodwinking just about everyone into thinking there is no problem.
 
Very Interesting debate but have to agree with Bob as my local river the Bristol Avon is in serious decline where barbel are concerned, I have fished the middle river for a lot of years and never saw a otter then they started to appear and now see them everywhere on the river from the centre of Bristol to somerford on the upper river.
The Bristol Avon has suffered big time and don’t know what the solution is as they are now here to stay and we can’t do anything about it.

Andy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top