Recently a few bass fishermen have complained that otters are eating the bass in Clear Lake and that they should be removed to protect the fishery.
Actually, otters were in the lake long before the first bass were stocked in Lake County and it”s true their population has increased in recent years. However, the number of bass they actually eat is small in comparison to the overall bass population.
The reason the otters have increased in numbers is because the source of food for the playful animals has increased. The threadfin shad supplied a ready meal for the otters a few years ago. Of course, the shad population has bottomed out but the otters can still find a ready source of food in the other fish in the lake. Biologists consider otters the ultimate fishermen.
According to wildlife biologists, the river otter probably migrated to Clear Lake by way of Cache Creek. The creek empties into the Yolo Bypass, which has a large population of otters. Otters are somewhat territorial and as the population in an area grows, a few are forced to leave and establish new territory. That”s what has been happening at Cache Creek. Otters can now be found not only at Clear Lake but at Indian Valley Reservoir as well.
Otters are the largest member of the Mustelidae family, which includes mink, skunks, weasels and badgers. Their life expectancy is about 10 years in the wild. The females give birth to a litter of one to six pups and the pups stay with the mother for about three years. The males don”t assist in the rearing of the young ones.
An adult otter weighs up to 25 pounds and can be 4 feet long. The head is small and round and the feet are webbed. The eyes and ears are also small. In fact, the eyes of the otter have evolved down through the years. While they can see very well underwater, they are nearsighted when on land. Their long and lean body is perfect for swimming. An otter will spend most of his life either in or around water. Their fur is dense, which protects them from cold water. When they dive, their heart rate slows to less than 20 beats per minute, which allows them to conserve oxygen. They can stay underwater for up to 10 minutes. They are incredibly fast swimmers and have little trouble catching a fish.
The otter”s main diet at Clear Lake is crayfish. On rare occasions they will eat bird eggs and even small birds. Because otters have a high metabolic rate they must eat constantly.
Once when fishing in a bass tournament along the docks at Nice I observed an otter diving and coming up with crawdads, which he ate after climbing up on a dock. He did this repeatedly. I told my partner that I bet there were also bass down there feeding on the crawdads. My partner cast a plastic worm resembling a crawdad and immediately caught a 5-pound bass. We stayed there for several hours and caught a healthy limit of bass, which won us $400, all thanks to the otter.
Otters aren”t dangerous to people although they often hiss and may bite if cornered. For the most part they have a live-and-let-live attitude. I have never heard of one attacking a human.
Department of Fish and Game (DFG) wardens say they occasionally receive complaints about otters living in boats moored at docks but have never received reports of otters attacking people. According to the DFG, otters are completely protected in California and cannot be killed or harassed.
They are a fascinating creature and one of my favorite animals in the lake. A few years ago a large female otter and her pup swam around and around my bass boat before placing their paws up on the side and peering over the side at me. A fisherman told me that once while fishing near the state park an otter climbed into his boat and curled up and fell asleep on the rear deck. The animal stayed there for about 30 minutes and then jumped back into the water.
Clear Lake is home to another animal that closely resembles the otter and is actually often mistaken for an otter. That animal is the mink. The mink has the same features as the otter but is much smaller. It”s often found along the rocky shores near Buckingham and in Soda Bay. Minks have even been seen living in the rocks at Library Park in Lakeport.
The otter is another good example of the dozens of interesting birds and animals that call Clear Lake home. It”s just another example of the incredible diversity this lake has to offer.
