How do you catch an octopus?

[redacted]

OK....
Is there an easier way to do it?

Aisle #3 has the canned version. Fresh is back in the fish market section.

 

[Hank49]

as far as diving with them, if you see one outside its hole, grab it. Aren't they just dying anyway? I believe they grow up, mate and die. Finding them in a hole takes a trained eye. but yeah....tako poki...Nov 3 I'll be gorging on it...

 

[BKP]

I believe they grow up, mate and die.

LOL... yep... that was pretty much my own plan...

 

[Wayward Son]

I see them fairly often, but haven't taken one yet. I do like to eat them, but have no experience in cooking them. I also like to watch them & it seems that when I find one during a dive I end up looking at it & not taking it home for lunch. One of these days one won't be so lucky...

 

[drbill]

I eat them but don't take them in the wild, but what I saw in the video seemed pretty outrageous. With two divers working the octopus, it should not have been that difficult to dispatch it much more quickly. Show respect for those lower on the food chain than yourself is my attitude... but eat them when the time is right.

 

[TMHeimer]

Seems like much of the same banter as in my threads on diving to collect live shells (mollusks). I boil my live shells, though I don't like doing it. We drop live lobsters into boiling water-the only way they can be safely cooked. I don't like doing that either, but sure like eating lobster. The discussions can go one forever. You can't have your octopi and eat it too.

 

[Joediver1]

Ok, I pearsonaly belive the people you have seen in this video have never hunted octo. It looks more like they saw one and decided to catch it" not really knowing how" and in nearly got the better of them. I love to hunt but belive in doing it humanly. That creature should have been put down immediately. This is the reason spearfishing has a bad rap. Only through education can we change others preception of the sport, or should I say food gathering practices..

 

[Zieg]

Apparently, commercial octopus fisherman use long lines, and pots (same concept as crab fisherman in the Bering Sea). The pots look like long tin cans, and take advantage of the octopi habit of seeking shelter. They pull up the pots, the octopi are wedged deep inside, and they transfer them to seawater holding tanks.

Makes more sense than impaling them between the eyes, hauling 'em up, and biting 'em...

What do you think they do with them between the holding tank and the pot, let them die of old age? Let's be realistic, killing any animal is not an easy thing to do.

Years ago I grabbed my first optopus. I didn't have a clue what I was going to do with him. In a split second he had a hold of me. I instantly let go, he took off. I swore I wouldn't grab another until I know how to dispatch them proplerly. While in Spain, I asked some fishermen and they told me to QUICKLY flip the mantle inside-out. They said it scrambles the brain instantly. That's also where I learned to cook them. It works.

I do feel a bit of remorse, I think the octopus is one of the coolest creatures in the ocean, but they taste sooooo good. I also think the lobster is interesting, but I eat them too.

 

[Zieg]

Ohm, I forgot, I only grab octos when I catch them outside their hole. I won't reach into a hole to grab them and I don't poke anything into the hole to get them out. I guess I'm a bit afraid that it might be a female with a cache of eggs. I also don't want to fight with them as we so sadly have seen.

 

[BKP]

What do you think they do with them between the holding tank and the pot, let them die of old age? Let's be realistic, killing any animal is not an easy thing to do.

Gosh, really? I thought they mated with the crew, and moved to West Virginia.

Years ago I grabbed my first optopus. I didn't have a clue what I was going to do with him. In a split second he had a hold of me. I instantly let go, he took off. I swore I wouldn't grab another until I know how to dispatch them proplerly. While in Spain, I asked some fishermen and they told me to QUICKLY flip the mantle inside-out. They said it scrambles the brain instantly. That's also where I learned to cook them. It works.

I do feel a bit of remorse, I think the octopus is one of the coolest creatures in the ocean, but they taste sooooo good. I also think the lobster is interesting, but I eat them too.

I have no delusions about one animal having to die so another can survive. And, I agree, killing isn't easy (at least for most of us).

The issue here wasn't the death of the octopus. Or of a lobster. Or a squid, or a salmon, sow, steer, sturgeon, or swordfish. It was the bodaciously botched attempt at the slaughter (if in fact that was what it was *supposed* to be), and then the incredible audacity of posting it on YouTube as if an animal's extended suffering is synonymous with entertainment. That simply speaks to the character of the participants, and that, I believe, is what the OP and others (including myself) took exception with.