Pot cod guys just started fishing and they get some octopus bycatch. Bought 250 lbs off a friend this morning. Hope to put up about 2K lbs for summer halibut bait. Interesting creatures for sure. One in the picture is about 50#

I like to eat octopus. Do you ever eat any of it?

Keith

Small ones are more tender. Pickled or light smoke and canned are how I like it

I catch Atlantic octopus in my green crab pots last several years since everything is warming up . They come up as spawn in the gulf stream eddies and by october they're big enough to eat. Every year is different though depending on what's coming up, catch a lot of tropical fish too.
Ate a few but usually just toss them back, they are a fascinating critter. Been thinking of potting them on purpose in the good years...

Good but chewy

Interesting. Do they eat the crabs in the pot? They sure grow fast. It’s only a 5 year life cycle on these here

Hang that in your walk thru cubby.

Yes they do, plus the pot acts like a hidey hole for them to hang out in, never saw that the other crabs eat one either. Come december when the water gets cold, they start to turn white and die, then they become crab bait, lol

We are losing more of our cold water species but getting more southern stuff, but so far they can't overwinter.

Same here-crab or shrimp will not come into a pot baited w dead octo. It repels them, but does attract fish. Artificial dens are how they catch the octo in a targeted fishery. No bait needed.

Curious what your green crab pots look like....smaller version of a regular blue crab pot ?

Been looking up octy pots, I think I can make them with 4" sewer pipe, they just want a dark hole to take a nap in,

How big are the ones you get? I researched the lair pots too. One thing the like is a small hole in the back of the pot for water flow. I used to hunt them in their dens at low tide and every den has a small back door

I make my own, I'm on a 3rd generation design... 24x24x12, 1" square mesh, 3 vexar plastic funnels tilting up with about a 2 1/2" inside "hole". No need for a parlor, the funnel design holds them in, no bait chamber needed either, but in leaner years a bait on a spike catches better. You want them chewing on the bait, it's like a chum slick.
They'll hold up to a bushel, but avg is 2-4 pots per bushel.
pretty much any eel pot type pot works but these consistently out produce everything else

They aren't "big", head about the size of a fist or small orange, stretched out about 16,18 inches, that's how fast they grow from spawn to october, but that size is salable. I was thinking of 4" perforated pipe about 16,18" long with a screened back, open front, it would need ballasting to hold it steady in the tide...clipped to a trawl. However its all experimental. If you have any ideas I'm all ears...LOL

Interesting. Would like to see a picture of that. Have you tried putting some kind of fabric around them to make it darker?

I think the pipe would work with a couple pieces of small diameter rebar wired to the outside to keep ‘em from rolling in the current

I would use the black interior pipe, its white on the outside, the plastic is thinner than schedule 40 pvc.I haven't made any yet, still in the thinking planning stage. You can buy ready made chinese eel pots, all black, 4" diameter with a built in funnel, considered that too

I think the pipe would work with a couple pieces of small diameter rebar wired to the outside to keep ‘em from rolling in the current.

That's exactly what I was thinking...

pleasure "talking" with you! reach out if you have anymore ideas....

I see no need for the schedule 40 either. Lighter would be fine. There’ve been some Seagrant studies done here and wood pots outfished others but need a lot of weight to sink em until they get waterlogged and they don’t last as long. Unfortunately here you would need about a 10” diameter pipe as these octo average about 20#. Your 24x24x12 sound perfect