It’s almost Crab time!

[h20hunter]

Correct! In my diving days we fed many a crab to the gpo....giant pacific octopus.

[magnanimous_j]

The octopus traps are separate.

From what I understand, what you do is get about a foot of 2-3" PVC pipe and an end cap. Put some concrete in the closed end so that when you throw it in the water, it will be more likely to land straight up, with the opening at the top. A couple holes at the top and a rope loop connect it to the float. Apparently, the octopus hide in there at night and if you can pull them up fast enough, they won't try to escape.

I've caught baby octopus while squid jigging, but I've never went after the big ones, and octopus are a very sustainable and under-harvested resource in the Sound (and one of my favorite foods).

I think they are best caught first thing after an overnight soak, so I was curious if any crabbers took an octopus trap or two along with them.

[h20hunter]

Not real likely in my experience.  Of all the octos ive interacted with and seen its not an area made for crabbing. Sure there is some crossover and eold be cool to experiment with.

[luvmystang67]

Maybe we should do an octopus-pot making party.

[magnanimous_j]

Those mesh bags are probably a godsend.

The octopus is one crafty animal. Getting it out of the water is only the first part. They will enthusiastically try to escape until they are put to sleep.

[Jake Dogfish]

Sounds like it would be fun! Does the tube opening face down or up?  Would it be legal to leave one out overnight?

[Stein]

They are about the same high intelligence as a cat, occasionally you can get one in a shrimp pot but they are way too smart for a pipe.  No skeleton and they fit through an opening a mouse would envy.

When I dove we found them cruising the bottom hunting, very cool to see them in action.  A buddy got tangled in one and it was funny trying to get 8 legs off with my two arms.  I only saw them at night, and I can count them on one hand over 300 dives.

The aquarium has videos of one unscrewing a jar lid to get some treats.

I do like to eat them though and would be happy to find one in a pot.


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[magnanimous_j]

Sounds like it would be fun! Does the tube opening face down or up?  Would it be legal to leave one out overnight?

Up, I think. And yes, you can soak it overnight. In fact, I think that's the traditional method.

Like squid, they are are short lived, have tons of young and are about as sustainable as seafood gets. The Puget Sound is one of the best places for them, and the regs say you can take 1 per day all year long, but for some reason, nobody goes for them.

When I used to squid jig on Les Davis Pier, Asian ladies would walk up and down the dock trying to buy them off the fishermen.

[Brushcrawler]

It seems a little ambiguous in the shellfish regs as to whether you can use traps/pots. From page 134:
“Must be caught with hands or instrument which does not penetrate the octopus, except that octopus taken while angling with hook and line may be retained.”

Has anyone actually confirmed allowable methods with WDFW?

[jstone]

The wife and I are going to try crabbing for the first time this Sunday for her birthday. We are going out of the Tacoma area. Any info would be great. The best bait, hint on a spot? How deep to put the pots? We are borrowing a couple pots from her coworker.

Thank you for any info And ideas if I forgot something

[jstone]

Great day on the water.
Lots of rock crabs but sunny and warm. Lots of salmon fishing going on.!!

[CP]

That's probably my last pot for the summer season.  2 hour soak and they sucked almost all the bait out of the baskets. 

[throwingsticks]

That's probably my last pot for the summer season.  2 hour soak and they sucked almost all the bait out of the baskets.

nice I normally fish 7S so we will get out a few more times this season, plus the winter if we get one. I think the boat count is around 130 crab this year, but we almost always take out friends and share tons of crab.

[JohnVH]

7N has sucked, they let the commericals go right before us, then they let them go again this week, hardly worth crabbing this year.  We usually limit out in one hour, I tried for 4 hours friday and only got 6. Dissapointing.