Octopussy

You know there is more to life than just riding your motorcycle across Eastern Europe and drinking beer in beautiful sunny weather. When you get tired of endless rides down curvy roads overlooking beautiful seasides and cutting through historical towns there are other things you can do...

Like fishing for octopus. Now I'm an avid fisherman but nothing in my experience could have prepared me for this kind of fishing. Octopus fishing is unlike anything I have ever done.

(author's note: the person taking the pictures will not allow me to post pictures of her on my blog.)

One of the first things you need to do when octopus fishing is relax. Patience is truly a virtue. One of the best and most tried and true way to relax when fishing is to drink beer. This technique has been used many times all over the world and I swear by it.

Now as for catching octopus, let me explain the way this is done. For bait you take a fresh crab and poke two holes through it. You string your fishing line through those holes and you wrap ten or twenty times. After your line is wrapped it's not a bad idea to use zap straps to secure the crap even more. You can't fish for octopus where we are so we have to travel to one of the close by uninhabited islands near Sibenik and Jadrtovac.

Once you reach the fishing grounds you turn off the motor. This is a two person operation as one person must navigate close to the rocky shoreline using the oars and the other person drags the crab along the bottom of the ocean. The water is pretty shallow so it's not too hard to do. Now the person fishing must feel for the pull of the octopus when it grabs onto the crap. As the eight legged monster from the bottom of the sea is trying to crush the crab and suck out its brains you have to gently pull it to the top of the water. At the same time the person manning the oars has to put down the oars and grab a net. When the octopus nears the surface you have to quickly and smoothly scoop up the creature. Once it's captured in the net you need to quickly transfer it into a container.

Sounds simple enough but it took me a couple of tries to catch the little bugger with the net. The thing is smarter than it looks. Also the damn thing has strong and sharp teeth that are well suited for crushing crab shells but double easily for eating fingers. And then if that's not enough, you have to deal with the shock of it shooting ink at you. Who thought up this creature?

If you ever get the opportunity you have to do this. It is so much fun and requires very little energy. Plus, there is always time to take a break and have a drink. Needless to say, it was a great day and it didn't even involve motorcycles!

After a few hours of this we made our way back to port. We tried to get out again but weather and timing just never worked out for us again this summer. Maybe next year?

Here's a picture of the booty.