Otters on Island

Hi to all. Been meaning to register for a while now but aint got around to it till now. Fished Peg 17 on Island yesterday, bad day - no tench or bits, only 3 eels each around the 4lb mark. The first was on corn!! No sign of any bits even on the maggot but was wondering if the reason was what I saw in front of me. An otter. First time it came out the water and ran up the fallen tree to the left with a 5-6" roach in its mouth. I wasn't sure if I was seeing things until later I noticed it to my right and it swam along underwater right under my feet with once again another roach of the same size in its mouth. Has anyone else noticed these before on Island or any of the Rackerhayes waters?

Hi Steve, perhaps a call to Max at Tackle Trader may be in order. We had some at Well Barn Pond but Ron went to the Otter Sanctuary and got some traps, haven't seen any since!

Good post and thanks for the info.

Definitely an otter? No chance it could have been a mink?

Do mink swim underwater? It was a hazelnut brown colour and it swam underwater with a roach in its mouth. I've never seen a mink Barry so don't know what they look like. Are there mink at Rackerhayes?

Stop Press quick edit: Just looked up mink on the web and I reckon you could be right - it looks more like a mink than an otter that I saw.

Yeah I fished dores a couple of weeks ago and an otter swam straight past our swim into a hedge with a rather nice sized roach.
It was definatly an otter and not a mink. Couldnt believe it..!!