# Otter/mink



## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

Set out some otter sets on saturday. 
Couldn’t help but throw in some mink sets along the way. 
First check no joy on the otter but spotted this nice bridge wall and just had to put a trap there. 
Water is about 3 inches deep right along the wall.


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## BumpRacerX (Dec 31, 2009)

Alright, I'll ask the dumb questions because clearly this set works. And I have a bridge to work with. 

What size trap are you using for this? I've googled and think I have the right stuff.

The real question I have though is are you covering it at all or slap the trap on the bottom and baam?


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

Using a 1.5 long spring in the photo. I would use a 1.5 coil there as well if I wanted to hold a ****. This trap is quite old(weak spring) and my intention is a **** will pull out. With **** prices I don’t really want to catch them. I have a couple pocket sets in that will catch a couple **** this week so I will have a couple to skin and that’s enough for this season. 

yes trap is just setting on the bottom (gravel) tight to the wall and wired off to A large rock in about a foot of water. Took about 2-3 min to make this set. Then put the same set on the other side. 
Every mink traveling this section is going under the road here and they will follow the wall. If the water comes up I might have to raise the trap on a brick or something. 
I don’t always set this spot as it’s a spot I’ve had theft. I only set in the middle of the bridge and keep the catch out of sight. Still I won’t be surprised if something comes up missing.


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

Smear a little bacon grease or fish oil on the wall above the trap and it makes a killer **** set. 

I caught 4 **** at once under this bridge doing that. I think temps were in the single digits that night and they must have all been looking for crayfish under the bridge.


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## 9 (Jan 17, 2000)

BumpRacerX said:


> Alright, I'll ask the dumb questions because clearly this set works. And I have a bridge to work with.
> 
> What size trap are you using for this? I've googled and think I have the right stuff.
> 
> The real question I have though is are you covering it at all or slap the trap on the bottom and baam?


A tried & true favorite blind set of mine. Regardless of the water depth just keep the trap about 1” below the surface and tight to the vertical surface. I always tried to put a small vertical stick just off the trigger jaw about 4”-5” above water level angling away from the trap. This blind set doesn’t need a bridge, any vertical bank will prove just as effective!

Don’t let the deeper water that is encountered deter you from using this set. It’s been historically known as the cement block mink set for decades & decades. A cement block set on end with a shovel size piece of sod on top to bed the trap tight to the vertical surface in and you have a killer mink blind set!


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## 9 (Jan 17, 2000)

Years ago I experimented which was a better set, this TE(top edge) as described in my previous reply or a BE(bottom edge) against the wall. I spent 2 seasons using an adjustable TE stand with a 110 body grip positioned directly below it. During those 2 years I proved the TE out-caught the BE “under a bridge” by 5-1 & 8-1!! That is significant and I quite using BE’s under bridges with open water. Not so with hard water of course.


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

Mink number 2 from the bridge set
Still no otter 










completed set


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## 9 (Jan 17, 2000)

Love all blind sets! 
Merry Christmas to all!


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

Pocket mink


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## shaffe48b (Oct 22, 2019)

All the water is long frozen and covered with snow around me. Maybe I'll try to set a few traps on top of the ice. I set out 5 fox traps tonight.


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## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

I saw where a mink killed something on the creek yesterday.


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

shaffe48b said:


> All the water is long frozen and covered with snow around me. Maybe I'll try to set a few traps on top of the ice. I set out 5 fox traps tonight.


the colder and more froze up the better I like the otter trapping. It’s been too warm here for the last couple weeks.


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

Otter number 1
BE set


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

Couple flat tails 

nice small size one for the slow cooker. 
And one giant


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

Otter are my favorite critter to trap. 
Here is number 2. The old reliable BE on the same point I got one last year. 









Getting dark on me tonight but here’s today’s catch


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

Looks like that first otter was swimming fast when he hit the trap.

Nice catches.
I'm just getting started


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## 9 (Jan 17, 2000)

Though I never trapped otter, it’s pretty tough to beat a BE for any furbearer that swims! It’s all about inherent tendencies!


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## shaffe48b (Oct 22, 2019)

How many traps do you have out.

I went to a shallow pond and while I didn't see any mink tracks I saw what I believe were fox and bobcat tracks. I think the fox like to go down to these gravel holes I've seen them before and there are many around here.

I might check a few other areas for mink.


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

shaffe48b said:


> How many traps do you have out.
> 
> I went to a shallow pond and while I didn't see any mink tracks I saw what I believe were fox and bobcat tracks. I think the fox like to go down to these gravel holes I've seen them before and there are many around here.
> 
> I might check a few other areas for mink.


i have been running 8 otter sets 2 beaver sets and a half dozen mink sets. 
I’d have to set a lot more to make money but it’s just fun getting out. 
had to pull the otter sets today and I’m leaving the mink sets to soak a couple more days. 
I don’t normally catch many beaver on this stretch but this year I got a couple adults and a couple kits. 
found a large colony on another stretch of this creek while deer hunting but I’ll leave them for seed. They are too far from the road for me. 
another week where I’m at and then I’ll rotate to my normal winter line between home and work. I know there’s a few rats and mink hanging out there. That is if the early season trapper didn’t get them all.


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

FREEPOP said:


> Looks like that first otter was swimming fast when he hit the trap.
> 
> Nice catches.
> I'm just getting started


glad I anchored it well. 

Good luck on your line.


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## Fool'em (Sep 29, 2016)

Seldom said:


> Though I never trapped otter, it’s pretty tough to beat a BE for any furbearer that swims! It’s all about inherent tendencies!


I would say an otter is similar to the mink. Kind of like a 25lb mink. I do think that why they both swam thru my traps was not the same reason that a mink would swim thru a trap in the same area. Both small points are easier to swim around than go over. I think otter will travel the center of the stream and are not as edge oriented as a mink. 
the second otter was only a few hundred yards from the mink bridge I posted earlier. He had to have traveled under that bridge before hitting my trap. There are 2 traps guarding both sides of that bridge and if the otter was along either wall he would have hit one of those traps and pulled out. I think the otter travel in the deep water in the center of the bridge because it’s easier swimming. 

For otter I think easy travel or travel pinch points and not hunting for blind sets. 
Kind of why I like chasing both of them. 
fun to catch them both in the same stretch of stream.


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## 574mag (Dec 29, 2017)

SO, I'm checking my water line last month. Small line on a larger river. I'm trapping around some small islands. I see a disturbance in the waterfront thirty yards or so in front of me. I'm in a jon boat with an electric trolling motor, big ol' otter head pops up. He watches me for a few and slips down, not to be seen again. I have been racking my head on how to get one. Don't really want to do coni's on dry ground. Lots of duck hunters around and I don't want a hunting dog. Any thoughts? I know, I know. It's a vague description. But it's such a large area that they can travel. How to narrow it down! The narrowest part is probably 8 or ten feet. Otter is closed here now. But I'll be thinking about this until next year! I promise you that.


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## FREEPOP (Apr 11, 2002)

574mag said:


> SO, I'm checking my water line last month. Small line on a larger river. I'm trapping around some small islands. I see a disturbance in the waterfront thirty yards or so in front of me. I'm in a jon boat with an electric trolling motor, big ol' otter head pops up. He watches me for a few and slips down, not to be seen again. I have been racking my head on how to get one. Don't really want to do coni's on dry ground. Lots of duck hunters around and I don't want a hunting dog. Any thoughts? I know, I know. It's a vague description. But it's such a large area that they can travel. How to narrow it down! The narrowest part is probably 8 or ten feet. Otter is closed here now. But I'll be thinking about this until next year! I promise you that.


Do some research on bottom edge sets.


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## 9 (Jan 17, 2000)

Do a search on Bob Noonan beaver & otter with the bottom edge.


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## Goinpostal83 (Nov 12, 2020)

Look for amy small creek or even trickles coming into river. Or any ponds within a 100 yards or even a bit more and find where they cross over.


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