Octopus

So, lets say I am on my yak bottom fishing and I catch an octopus.  What next?

Call Fishmaster for assistance..

Kill it. Save for later and eat.  Recipe used at gs8 was just posted a few days ago.

I caught a big octopus about like that one in the picture tossing a swimbait at Muir Beach one time. He was tricky to deal with. His tentacles were flailing all over, sticking to everything in reach (my arms included). Ended up getting him unstuck and he squirted off, spraying water all over me...

I wish I woulda been prepared with the know how to prep and cook that thing... Octopus is tasty.

So, lets say I am on my yak bottom fishing and I catch an octopus.  What next?

Let it go.

My 2¢


Bushy

So, lets say I am on my yak bottom fishing and I catch an octopus.  What next?

Let it go.

My 2¢


Bushy

At the potluck at GS7, when Andy told his story, he said that, too.

So, lets say I am on my yak bottom fishing and I catch an octopus.  What next?

Let it go.

My 2¢


Bushy

... on to your partners stringer that is.  I'll eat that shit!

-Allen

So, lets say I am on my yak bottom fishing and I catch an octopus.  What next?

Let it go.

My 2¢


Bushy

... on to your partners stringer that is.  I'll eat that shit!

-Allen

Lol. That would be my kinda statement !!!

So, lets say I am on my yak bottom fishing and I catch an octopus.  What next?

Gaffed it, grab the head and turn it inside out and pull the guts out and he will be done. I saw FishMaster1 at GS8 beat up on the poor octopus with his fist and it was hilarious. Got a good laugh out of that one.

So, lets say I am on my yak bottom fishing and I catch an octopus.  What next?

Let it go.

My 2¢


Bushy

Unless I'm starving or have a small one for bait I let them go, too smart for me to snuff out.

And from another angle, not sure about the regs but I've heard of people lining a crab hoop with fine mesh and getting them.

But I will eat the chewy little bastards!  For hours. The same tasteless chunk.

tako rules!!

I caught one at GS8 as well, and lets say it was a learning experience.  The Octo actually attacked my Big Hammer and was hooked quite well.  What I did and probably a mistake was to bring it to the kayak before I had a plan. 

It promptly stuck itself to the bottom of my kayak and was reaching at me from both sides.  I did get a gaff into it, but was pretty useless, as I was able to nearly straighten the hook trying to pull that sucker off.

A buddy came over to help me and it grabbed onto his yak as well. It was hilarious watching Octo arms coming up on both sides of both of our kayaks at the same time.

The only thing I could do was go at it's head with a knife prison style until it went limp and was easier to remove from the bottom of the kayak.

Next time I plan to have a burlap bag handy and keep the Octo dangling below until I have the burlap bag in hand and at the ready.  My thinking is that I could pull it up to the kayak and try to bag it.  It should not be able to get a grip with it's suction cups on the bag, and where I could get my gaff into its head to dispatch it.

Oh, BTW......... 

Octo is awesome!  BigJim prepped some of mine real quick to share with the KayakJack Taco Shack.  Holy crap that was good stuff.

I found that the Octo has a mild crab flavor to it, and when boiled properly as BigJim suggests, it has nearly no chewiness to it.  Much like a squid prepared properly. 

If you want to know what a bite would look like, take a look at my 6" Big Hammer.  It was hooked right near the beak and was chomped on several times.