Beavers In Ponds

[ratherbfishin1]

Pro tip... 

dont go noodling??

[Joshua Vandamm]

On 5/11/2018 at 5:14 PM, Lead Head said:

I don't know why, and I'm sure it's rare... but there are occasions when beaver will eat fish. After watching one munch on a large perch in a local pond I did a little internet research and it turns out others have seen similar behavior. There is even a YouTube video of a beaver eating a fish. Most documentation I could find was of beavers eating freshly cleaned fish carcasses but I saw what I saw. And before anyone asks... yes it was a beaver, otters don't swim up to the boat and tail slap.

 

Call me crazy if you want... you won't be the first (or last unfortunately)

Or it’s an otter. Pretty similar looking. 

[Lead Head]

It wasn't... when it was done it came over and slapped the water behind me. Had to get the boat paddle and slap the water back at him.

[Joshua Vandamm]

25 minutes ago, Lead Head said:

It wasn't... when it was done it came over and slapped the water behind me. Had to get the boat paddle and slap the water back at him.

LOL. I believe you. Otters slap water just the same tho. 

[Lead Head]

Really? I've never had an otter water slap at me, they usually just run off and hide. There aren't as many otter here as there are beaver so I don't have nearly as much experience with them. This particular beaver was in a pond I would occasionally fish near my house. Our water slapping battles were epic.

[Joshua Vandamm]

Lol. Otters slap even louder than beavers. They roam away from rivers and hop from pond to pond killing the biggest fish. Vermin sobs. 

[lmbfisherman]

I've had an otter get really pissy at me, not only did he slap the water he was barking back at me and seem to me warning/taunting me to get off his river.  

[shovelmouth83]

On 5/11/2018 at 10:54 AM, Joshua Vandamm said:

Mostly they provide structure. Your major problems are not the beavers. That sounds like you need inflow and good filtration to get started. 

Also runoff is probably what’s causing the rusty color. Sure up the bank with rip rap or dig a trench around it. 

if you do did a trench around make sure you have a battle buddy with you and armed. a beaver will charge you and use that dam tail. i have a small lake here and it has two beaver dams. they dont mess with us until we mess with them. 

[buzzbaiter83]

Beavers don't hurt the fish at all. Muskrats, Otter, & snapping turtles will eat anything they can get though. 

[Hook2Jaw]

I'm not here to troll or start an argument, but...

 

Beavers do consume fish.

 

I've never personally seen them do it, but I do know a man that has.  There are multiple accounts of it and several articles written about it online, as well as a YouTube video showing one munching away at a salmon head.  Much like a red deer biting the head off a nesting seabird to consume it's brain, beavers eat fish brains.

 

Most accounts are of beavers munching on carcasses discarded by bears and humans.  I do not personally believe they consume many live fish, but I believe given the chance one will.  Mostly, they seem to dine primarily on dead fish, and in particular, the brain.

 

Beavers are the scavenging zombies of the rodent family, it seems. 

[einscodek]

Turtles, beavers, frogs => fish (sometimes real big!)

[bigbill]

Beaver will swim near me and slap their tail. I’m talking a 48” long Beaver encluding his tail. There is a drainage pipe to keep the pond at a certain height. The Beaver fill the pipe every night, the town shows up with a backhoe to clear the pipe. We have turtles too. When the turtles are active forget about fishing. The otters are out at twilight first sign of light in the morning. I see otters everywhere I fish at.

[NittyGrittyBoy]

In GA, we actually had a bounty on beavers a few yrs back. Dept of Natural Resources would pay you for every beaver tail you turned in. 

 

They were out if control and ruining local fisheries, not just for "selfish man" but for other species and animals. 

 

If you have a few and they're not hurting anything I say leave em. But keep a close eye because it won't take long and you'll have an issue on your hands. 

[NCbassraider]

Lot of inaccurate info in here.  Beavers are vegetarians. Otters don't tail slap, they dive and run.  Beavers tail slap only if you get too close to their lodge. They are territorial and two established Beavers will keep others out.  They even run off their young eventually. 

 

Otters constantly roam so they have no reason to tail slap anything.

 

Most states wont let you relocate either as they are rabies carriers.  Besides, they will just come back.

 

Otters will decimate a pond or small lake.  A family of 4 can clean out a small pond in a short period of time.  THey eat about half their body weight a day in fish and the adults take big fish first. 

I have lived this nightmare and have been trapping them non stop.  If you own a body of water, educate yourself on what otter scat looks like and watch for it constantly.  Use trail cameras and check them every few days.  Otters come and go, even in a great fishery they will come in and out with days in between.  

[Joshua Vandamm]

On 2/4/2019 at 11:34 PM, NCbassraider said:

Lot of inaccurate info in here.  Beavers are vegetarians. Otters don't tail slap, they dive and run.  Beavers tail slap only if you get too close to their lodge. They are territorial and two established Beavers will keep others out.  They even run off their young eventually. 

 

Otters constantly roam so they have no reason to tail slap anything.

 

Most states wont let you relocate either as they are rabies carriers.  Besides, they will just come back.

 

Otters will decimate a pond or small lake.  A family of 4 can clean out a small pond in a short period of time.  THey eat about half their body weight a day in fish and the adults take big fish first. 

I have lived this nightmare and have been trapping them non stop.  If you own a body of water, educate yourself on what otter scat looks like and watch for it constantly.  Use trail cameras and check them every few days.  Otters come and go, even in a great fishery they will come in and out with days in between.  

Otters do tail slap. They do it as a warning. And to signal others family of danger. I’ve seen them on documentaries doing it. They’re louder than beavers even. 

[Russ E]

1 hour ago, Joshua Vandamm said:

Otters do tail slap. They do it as a warning. And to signal others family of danger. I’ve seen them on documentaries doing it. They’re louder than beavers even. 

growing up in Eastern Iowa, where otters were reintroduced and common on the rivers and some ponds, I have never heard an otter slap the water as a warning. They do make a lot of noise snorting and chattering when they feel threatened.

even if they did slap, there is no way their tail can make a slap anything near a big beaver.

A big beaver on the other hand will scare the crap out of you when they slap the water.

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, Russ E said:

growing up in Eastern Iowa, where otters were reintroduced and common on the rivers and some ponds, I have never heard an otter slap the water as a warning. They do make a lot of noise snorting and chattering when they feel threatened.

even if they did slap, there is no way their tail can make a slap anything near a big beaver.

A big beaver on the other hand will scare the crap out of you when they slap the water.

Otters are noisy critters with all their chattering, but simple physics makes it pretty clear which one would make a louder tail slap. I've heard giant 60-80lb beavers on the rivers tail slap and it sounds like a giant boulder dropped into the water from a tall building. Lots of videos of beavers tail slapping out there, none of otters that I can find.

[NCbassraider]

On 2/7/2019 at 9:52 PM, Joshua Vandamm said:

Otters do tail slap. They do it as a warning. And to signal others family of danger. I’ve seen them on documentaries doing it. They’re louder than beavers even. 

I am around them everyday and have never seen one tail slap.  I also could not find any video on youtube of it occurring.  If it happens it is rare and certainly not typical behavior and no chance in hell louder or a bigger splash than a beaver.  I have had a beaver sneak up and hit my boat like a tsunami.

 

Beavers do it as a warning if you get too near a den as they are territorial.  Otters are not territorial and would have no reason to do so.   They communicate to their young in other manners.