I always liked finding a octopus when I was on the islands for halibut bait. I would cut the legs up and salt them. You hook through the skin and nothing is stealing that bait. You could fish all day with it.

Very interesting Thread

But needs pictures

good read thanks,

I don’t have many pictures but found these. My shrimp pots have a 3” diameter tunnel eye and even the biggest octo can get in. Like a spider, they will inject an enzyme into crab and other shellfish which softens the meat enough that they can suck it out of the shell. With fish once they have ahold they smother it and use their beak to take bite sized chunks almost always eating the liver first. Hanging them on a noose is a good way to hold them and it kills them shortly


Clay pots from the Mediterranean

Best fight I have ever seen on the ocean was between a huge octopus and a seal…….
Not sure who won……

Good times! Same species up here they max out at about 60lbs but I know where you are 100 can be common

Not the blues and old bay again,,,,,,,,,,,….. smiley face……..

In Michigan, they're thrown on the ice at a Redwings hockey game.

lol

I witnessed a similar battle. It was an octopus and a sea lion. The sea lion would surface with the octopus in its jaws and the octopus had some kind of RNC/eye poking thing going on with it’s arms all over the head, neck, and face of that sea lion. The octopus was a briiliant red that was amazing to see.

3 fingers, I saw pictures of the clay type, that's what gave me the idea for the plastic pipe, of course the clay ones don't need ballast... I read that sea grant study, but they were concentrating on your big octopus.

The 24x24 pots were the green crab pots that was asked about, but they do catch the octopus too, and yes, they can squeeze through a small opening.
This is still a work in progress but it's fun designing gear,

I grabbed a octopus by a leg next to the body in a tide pool. It hung onto the reef and wrapped some arms around mine both directions. I was trying to pull it loose from the reef using my legs and could not budge it. It kept tightening the twist on my arm. It had some power. I relaxed my grip and it let go of my arm and it moved off slow. I felt it was daring me to grab it again.

They’re incredibly strong! About half that I see are missing at least one arm.

No trap. Needed just a bait that holds

I saw one come to shore through the surf with his eyes and most of the head above water. He searched a big tide pool with all arms stretched out

I don’t particularly like handling them.
We would end up with them in shrimp pots. They would end up traded to a couple Pilipino women who would make us huge platters of lumpia and pancit in exchange.

There is a smoked octopus product that I know of here, Kraken is the brand name. Rick Pruitt was making it, likely still is. I asked him once how he got the pieces so tender and he explained that it would be blanched in apple cider vinegar before the smoking process. The pieces were clearly from smaller octopus, part of his program for making it marketable.

What fishery are we talking about,,,,, 3,,,,,,
Trawlers killed themselves……

Spot prawns. We never had octopus in the trawls we did for pinks and side stripe.

Dang, might have to try that. I’ve blanched in boiling water to get skin off

The product is solid good. We send it to family in the lesser 48 for stocking stuffer gifts.

I have heard all kinds of methods for tenderizing it. Hammers, grinders, pressure cooking. The acidic breakdown of fibers seems to be the way. Maybe ceviche? I know that works well with the locally gathered clams, only way I can stand eating them….