Urban Otters!

[Gavin]

Fun family day...ran by the Alpine Shop for the canoe & kayak show, then to Forest Park for a bike ride...Saw this little otter swimming in the Grand Basin in front of the St. Louis Art Museum...go figure.

[eric1978]

Fun family day...ran by the Alpine Shop for the canoe & kayak show

Grrrrr!!! I meant to go to that but forgot all about it. You know if they're supposed to be there all week or just this weekend?

[Kicknbass]

Are you sure that it wasn't a Muskrat? Can't tell from the photo. I assume you saw him well enough to be certain it was and otter and not a rat?

[Gavin]

The canoe & kayak deal is over as far as I know. But who knows if the tent will be up tomorrow....Thought replacing my tandem canoe...$$$$$$$. Thought again...ended up with another skid plate kit at 15% off. Some interesting boats though...the Native Mariner, Jackson Coosa. Lots of Native Ultimates.

Not exactly sure about what it was...not a mink, seemed kinda long for a muskrat. I figured otter but I never really got a great look at it...WYSIWYG....

[Stoneroller]

i know who bought that coosa. =) but i'm not telling, i'll let him be the one to do that. btw, minimum 6 month wait on a coosa at this point, unless you can get lucky and find one in a store. and jackson doesn't cut deal so expect to pay $999 for the elite if you want one this year. can't wait to get a hands on with that boat and compare it to a couple of others.

btw, i'm scouting forest park for mt lion dens now. =)

[skeeter]

Thanks much for the picture.

I'd definitely agree with you that's an Otter due to head shape and ear placement. Since they follow watercourses it makes sense as the River Des Peres drainage system runs under Forest Park.

If the City still stocks Grand Basin Lake with Bullheads there is also a great food source.

[mhall02]

Looks pretty muskratish to me.

[Bird Watcher]

Looks like a muskrat to me too...but I didn't see it first hand and the OP did.

[Gavin]

Yeah, I'm leaning Muskrat at this point. It still suprised the heck out of us. I'm not too worried about Mountain Lions, but weve seen Coyote's in FP occassionally.

[exiledguide]

Yeah, I'm leaning Muskrat at this point. It still suprised the heck out of us. I'm not too worried about Mountain Lions, but weve seen Coyote's in FP occassionally.

Thanks for the photo. I used to fish there in the 70s. We always saw a few muscrat in the old drainage ditch below the lagoons that platform and the stone walls around the lagoon used to be full of crawfish and the bass would load up in there. Under the bridges and below the spilways on the drainage ditch were productive. I used to get off work in the morning at 7 and drive home on the Forest Park expressway once you got on the fish you could stay on them all week long. Never caught any thing over 4 lbs but a lot of up to 15" bass but never caught a decent sized crappie catfish or bluegill, I fished there on a regular basis until my terminal moved out to the county. I still fished there until the the late 70s when I found a body and decided there was to much wild life in the park. Has anybody fished the park recently? I had heard they were redoing the lakes and were planning to create quality urban fishing. Whatever that means.