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Sooner or later an unfenced lake will be victim to an otter and become barren. Example; a club pit, 28 acres, about 75 fish, if that. Otter was taking 1-2 fish a winter for 3 years...not nice but no impact on the fishing. Suddenly we were 6 fish down in Dec to Jan, including two 30s. And those were the ones we found. Following year the lake fished so poorly as the fish were in the weedbeds out in the middle and reluctant to venture out to feed for fear of being eaten. Another 8 went the following winter. I dropped my ticket. From what I gather similar numbers went winter 2016/17 and more this winter. It's also fished equally as poor as my last season. It'll soon be ultra low stock with 10-20 carp left which are super wary. The otter will move on to easier hunting grounds but those fish will still be spooky as. It becomes a different challenge, a different lake. Likely the tench population will explode and it'll be producing more big tincas than it has done in recent years. One mans loss, another mans gain as they say. No doubt some hardcore guys will enjoy the challenge of a handful of carp amongst hundreds, if not thousands of tench.

I find that if the stripped off bit is too long once the rig is tied, just push it back through the eye and give it a couple more wraps round the shank and then pull back through the eye again. If the stripped section is too short when the rig is tied, just push the coating up a bit with finger nails. You will soon get it spot on.

Can you compare America with our tiny country ?.... the anglers over there are't fishing fisheries for starters & the rivers they are fishing are rammed with carp so they won't see a issue just the odd dead fish & also there supposed to knock carp on the head anyway , you can bow fish for them, completely different scenario. It really boils down to what sort of lakes your fishing, if it's very low stock like one of my lakes & your losing fish then yes it won't take long for it not to be worth fishing as otters need to eat there own body weight in food every day & considering the will take a 20lb + carp and only eat the offal you can lose a few big fish a day , like many others around the Cotswolds that have been hit hard & were tough waters anyway there now devoid of fish & anglers . There is a reason why so many lakes are having to fence & the more that do will obviously put the ones that don't or can't at bigger risk . If you search back years on here I had a similar view to cm's as I fished along side otters on the Wye for years , unfortunately there are to many people interfering with otters these days & numbers are getting silly . Eventually there will be a cull on them i reckon but it will be to late for many fisheries. The problem will be getting on lakes in the future that are fenced busy will be an understatement & certainly not what I look for in my fishing.

My lakes un-fenced. They haven't worked the code out on the gate yet.....

Some good pointers there thanks very much. So thats just what I did I have tyed hair rigs before in mono so I new what lengths I wanted, what hooks I was using and what length hairs I wanted. So just had a play around with different lengths of striping until I got just what I was looking for. So notes now made so next batch I make should be more straightforward. Thanks Yonny and B.C

Here you go gov:

I think it depends what you want out of your fishing and how much the ticket costs..... If they are getting caught, then why not have a go for them. If it's one particular fish you are targeting and you are not sure if it is still in there, that could mess with your head. If you are looking for a bite a chuck, probably not the best place to fish either..(but who want's that anyway?) Here's the thing, a place gets a reputation for being ottered, loads of anglers drop off, more bank space, still enough fish to go at. It's not all bad.... You'll get a better idea of what's left when they group up to spawn. If it's a big enough water, the otter may have found easier pickings elsewhere having thinned the numbers out on your lake. And just like the otter, the glory hunters will look for easier pickings too, imo, making the few anglers that fish it, easy to be around. A real buzz catching one too, as you don't know what's left. In some ways like fishing for the unknown... So, "yes" to your question. As long as price and expectations are set accordingly imo.

No, Cropredy. I've walked a lot of the canal last 5 / 6 months (drop shotting, just looking) from Napton southwards and that's the only sign I've seen. There are loads of people walking / cycling etc. them these days; hard to find somewhere to fish sometimes, found a couple of potential places. Still haven't caught anything drop shotting , but it really is a nice way to fish in the cold you get to see so much.

You put a positive spin on the issue and that's great because most other people like me are a bit doom and gloom, I'm a big fish angler so me and the otters are after the same fish unfortunately. You can have a special 40 in a lake full of 20's and doubles and I will fish it, loose the 40 and I'm gone full stop. If there's no chance of beating a PB of some kind or getting the killer trophy shot of an absolute stunner why am I there, yes I enjoy fishing and catching any size carp but there HAS to be the potential to make my year worthwhile with that one target fish. I know you'll hate that but it is what it is, when I started a 20 was massive and where I live they were very few and far between, times have changed and I now have different expectations. If I'm going to blank it will be fishing for dream fish not run of the mill that I've done a thousand times before.

What you have to bare in mind is that the carp are a major problem in these areas you speak of cm . Because of the warm conditions they breed like you wouldn't believe... hence why there are plans to mass cull carp . We get a small breeding window & the % of them don't make it .... so that's why we have lakes & rivers being emptied & they don't. It all boils down to numbers at the end of the day + the sheer size of the countries . Horseshoe is still a great tench water.

OK CM I hear what you're saying and thats true they don't eat every fish necessarily so the lakes may well hold fish and find a balance of some sort, HOWEVER they usually take the biggest fish which in business terms is immediately enough to kill their business or clear their waiting lists. Once the main target fish are gone the lake is dead anyway IMO, and we all know they are usually the first to go!!!

The fish think they are, I reckon to a degree they are safer. all those underwater highways in the weedbeds. I'm talking 7-8ft of canadian. Proper dense. sure they can find routes and hideaways. Never totally safe but these fish dont have the instincts associated with this predator. Maybe in time fish will have learnt the evasion methods and less will be getting killed? who knows.

This does seem to be the pattern on many lakes Vic. Get the odd visit over a period of time , can be months & months apart . Then bang get a big hit & lots of loses , my thinking is this is down to them emptying another lake somewhere else so the kills on your lake will increase . Not sure about carp being safe in snags / weed though Vic, but suppose they might think they are & hold up , even easier target for the otter, open water they stand a better chance but the otter is the apex preditor & nothing is safe tbh unfortunately they are incredibly good at catching fish .

Even on fenced lakes, if there is a break in the fence, or a tree falls over it, an otter can get in very quickly. One night and in the morning I found 2 dead carp, both doubles. This is in a lake with crayfish, which I would have thought would have offered an easier challenge. I know a lake near to RAF Fairford lost the majority of the carp stock, and some big tench as well. Andy52 is the one who got me up to date on the place when I mentioned I knew a very cheap fishery in that area.

An old boy on one of my old waters used to sell leads to us for about 50p each. One day he showed us ones he had made from a sea shapes ice cube set, crab shapes and all sorts hilarious! Looked pretty good lol and he always called me Steve! Great times 😊

A few things come into play imo. how big a loop you want on the hair, how many times you want to wrap around the shank, how much stripped braid you want leaving the eye of the hook, what size bait/hair length. Trial and error really, but once you are settled on a favourite rig/presentation and tried tying a few, you'll soon get a feel for how much to strip off.

I seem to carry a fair few. But that's mainly due to the water I'm fishing at the minute. And my laziness to not bother organising my lead pouch. Probably around 20-30 leads from 1oz to 3oz. Also that extra weight in my rucksack helps burn some vital extra calories whilst I'm barrowing about. That's my justification anyway!