I was joined by an otter yesterday as I was fishing a pool on the Guadalhorce. It made its way upstream through the shallows before easing itself into the slow-flowing pool. I don´t think the otter was frightened but he knew I was there. He eased himself through the water on the opposite bank before vanishing into the plants in the margin.
It is always a treat to see an otter but this one was not altogether a surprise. Downstream, on the margins of another shallow pool I had earlier come across a set of otter tracks freshly set in the mud on the margin. I suspect that the otter that joined me had left those tracks, perhaps earlier in the same day.
The river all around here is relatively undisturbed and looks like perfect habitat for otters. It is nice to know that otters are prospering, not only here in my local river, but in Spain generally. There has been a 70% increase in there numbers over the last 20 years or so in Andalucía.
The presence of the otter seems to have made little difference to my own prospects. I had a fish from both the pools with the otter tracks and the pool where the otter joined me. This second fish took a dry fly which I had been fishing as an indicator for a very small nymph. That came a something of a surprise and it was my first barbel on the dry this year so far.
I hope that I cross paths with the otter again. An afternoon on the river is always fun but an encounter like this makes it even better.
fishydreams 
Enjoyed your previous post about the mayfly and salmon life cycles. There are some E danica mayflies hatching on some of our Welsh rivers right now and much bigger numbers of smaller blue-winged olives. These rivers are very low now after a prolonged dry period but the mayfly fishing for brown trout can still be good.
Salmon of course require good flows to enter our rivers. Sadly it is believed that, once in the estuary, if they miss their physiological window to enter fresh water when adjusting their osmoregulatory functioning to leave the salt they can suffer high mortality. Last week some salmon took advantage of the high tides and entered a lower tidal river to gain fresh water and escape the seals. A number were caught and released unharmed by anglers and I was fortunate to release a fly-caught 36inch, 17lb+ silver beauty. It was kept in the water throughout and shot off like a torpedo after a spectacular and very hectic short fight. We are hoping for a prolonged period of rain now to get more of these fabulous “springers” upriver towards their spawning grounds.
Great that you came into close contact with the otter. I see them often when fishing for sea trout into dusk and darkness. They seem to quickly adjust to the presence of man. I was returning a 7lb sea trout recently when, in the dark, an otter appeared at my side! Was to hoping for an easy supper? Or perhaps just checking that my catch and release technique was up to scratch!
Congratulations on your big salmon and sea trout. It´s great to hear that your otter populations are in good order.