otter trapping

[Born2late]

Interested what kind of sets you guys do to catch otters?
I've caught them passing through culverts.Also caught two last year at a T in a ditch line which i fenced off and then wrapped a salmon skin in the top of the cage.
The other I caught last year was in a section of ditch i couldn't even touch the water since the banks were so steep and the ditch was to deep.I put a cable on my double door trap and put a bass swim bait with no hooks suspended by braided line in the middle. threw it in and let it sink to the bottom.Caught it three days later.
Wondering what other water sets can be used to catch them.Seems like my area has tons of them so i'm going to try to catch a few more to help the fish population out.
Thanks

[Special T]

Where are you at? My folks have a family of 5 or so wrapping on thier dock at lake Cavanaugh... I also heard of some folks with the same on Big Lake Skagit County

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[Born2late]

i live in marysville.If they need help let me know be happy to try.

[JakeLand]

You can live cage trap them like a coon on the dock @ kit Carson

[Humptulips]

I bet the majority of otters caught are caught in some sort of blind set. In this State that is mostly going to mean some sort of swim through under water set in a channel, culvert, narrow place in a creek, bottom edge set or cross over.
I have set dry land cross overs and I do not think they are as effective but they do work. You need a strong trap for a dry land set. Most of the home made traps are built with 14 gauge and an otter will chew out of them.
Lured and baited sets have not been good for me but I do know some use them successfully.

[Special T]

i live in marysville.If they need help let me know be happy to try.

Pm me tap talk won't let me pm you

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[Born2late]

Jake , I might try that this year, since i have stronger traps now. I had two last year that i lost due to them chewing holes through the top of the cage.I think both were my fault because i set them with to little of water over the top of the cage and didn't bed them flat enough and they were able to rock the cage and tip it enough to get air out of the corner and then proceeded to chew a hole big enough to crawl out of. New traps have heavy wire and are 1 x 1 instead a 1 x 2 so should be good.

[Kit Carson]

You can live cage trap them like a coon on the dock @ kit Carson

I haven't been trapping for very long but..
For the on the land sets (almost always on a dock)...
I've had the most success in the large Havahart traps (very strong, they're not chewin thru those).
Wired a can of sardines up high behind the pan (ideally behind some coni triggers if it's a modified cage).
I like to make a little "cup" out of tinfoil and then pour the sardine juices in there...also use clam juice. Put that cup in the bottom of the trap behind the pan.
Wire some big shiny fishing flashers up in the top-back of the trap next to ur shiny can full of sardines. I always dribble a little of the juices from the front of the trap all the way to the back to lead them in with scent/flavor.
A few drops of Cavens Otter Lure "Supreme" and/or Lenon's Otter "super all call lure" into the tin foil cup works nicely too.

I had an opportunity to put several traps and  trail cams in a large boat house and test baits and lures on several different otter families. That's what worked the best for me. I could really tell what they liked and didn't like with multiple video cams on the traps but I think every area is different and everyone has their own style. Good luck this year man!

[Born2late]

thanks for the tips, I'll give it a try. Was kind of thinking something along those lines,never thought of the clam juice though.