And then there were none.....

When we bought our property it had two ponds.  The bigger one seemed just right for stocking.  And we did stock it with catfish and hybrid sunfish and some minnows.  We fed them.  They would come to the sound of our cowbell twice a day.  They grew big and fat and a little sassy.  We caught a few, threw them back in to grow a little bigger.  The first winter all went well.  But then the otters made their way, one frosty winter's night, creeping up from Pine Creek...and leaving the heads of several catfish in a row on the bank...and a pile of fish scale poop in the weeds.  The DOC calls it otter latrines.  

So we restocked.  Surely to goodness the fish would survive and we would have some fun seeing them bite on our hook and pull and tug in that feisty way that small fish have?  They thrived again....growing plump and happy, swimming along the edges and deep in the dim reaches of the pond.  Joy to see them feed on little pieces of grasshopper and worm that we threw in to tempt them.  And then the winter came...again.  And again the otters came...and dined.  

This past spring we restocked another time.  The new fish were not as fat and sassy as the ones we had previously.  Perhaps they knew what might happen to them.  Or maybe the ghosts of their brother and sister sunfish visited them on starry, moonless summer nights and whispered tales of horror..of being gobbled by giant beings who swam and grabbed them up off their nighttime beds.

Today I walked the margin of the pond.  And what did I find?  Otter poop, laced with fish scales.  No catfish heads, but lots of evidence that fish were eaten here...and few were left to tell the tale.

I have decided that I am done with providing the otters from Pine Creek free winter banquets.  The otters are welcome to any fish they can find....until there are none left in my once lovely pond.  A sad tale but true.  Sunfish are no match for a hungry otter on the prowl.