I was fishing between access 4 and 5 last Monday and had pretty good response from the fish to the flies I was offering. It started from the time I got there and lasted to the time I left. Caught 13 fish in 5 hours. Not a impressive amount but a lot better than I have done lately. It was actually the best day at Putah so far this year. I left the river reluctantly, but I had to get back home to my dog. My wife was out of town, and I had to be sure he didn't pee or poo all over the house. I left the backyard door cracked open for him, but sometimes dogs have a way to show their displeasure the only way they can.

My wife is back, and thinking that I might have another good day on the river, I went back Thursday, planning to stay longer and catch even more fish. I used the same nymphing rig I had on Monday (I never took it off the fly rod,) and started the day at 7am and the same location on the river. 90 minuted went by and only got a grab, but no fish. I was wandering what was different between Monday and Thursday...weather the same, water flow just a little higher, midges hatching as usual...why aren't they hitting my fly? Then I saw the otter! Diving and surfacing every couple of minutes or so and chomping at a fish. The scene lasted a good hour with the otter surfacing at different spots within that stretch of river. I threw rocks at it, made it dive once but it resurfaced minutes later with another fish in its mouth. I bet fish know the otter is around and hunkered down.

That's my explanation of why I caught 13 fish Monday and 2 fish Thursday over the same period of time. I might have caught more if I stayed around until fish felt more at ease. I did move around and got a few more grabs at different locations but the weather started to get pretty warm, so I left.

Anybody with similar experience with otters competing for fish?