If you have paid any attention at all to the weather this past week, you will have thought of the similarity between the present conditions here in Bermuda and that television programme The Most Dangerous Catch. To be sure, the waves were of the same sort of magnitude but one must harbour the sneaking suspicion that it might actually have been colder here!

So, for fairly obvious reasons, fishing effort has been close to zero for 2010 so far – certainly as far as finfish (as opposed to shellfish) is concerned. With the majority of the lobster traps on the inner bottom in the reef areas, it has been possible for commercial operators to get to their gear and to work it even when it is blowing and high seas are running. The good news, for them at least, is the waves in between the coral reef heads really can't pack the punch that an offshore deep roller can. The bathymetry (a big word that means the pattern or topography of depth) is such that the water depths between the reefs are merely a few fathoms and the placement of the reefs themselves makes it hard for a wave to develop any real momentum.

Despite the effort put in, most of the lobster fishermen were reporting rather poor catches and were planning on letting their gear sit for a while longer in the hope that the blow would entice the lobsters to start moving around in search of food. It is this premise that is the basis for most lobster fishing: the hungry lobsters are drawn to the traps by the bait and when they find a way in they stay and attract other lobsters. Nice, except for one thing: the scuttles.

The "scuttle" is a local term for the common octopus. Despite this moniker and its abundance most octopus get by with little observation from divers, fishermen or anyone else who spends time in or around the water. Part of this is because they have the ability to blend in with their surroundings often matching colouration near enough perfectly. Their amorphous shape also lends itself to camouflage as a rock, coral head or just plain "stuff". It comes as a bit of a surprise that even with this cloak of invisibility, the life span of an octopus is generally only about a year or so.

The problem with octopus stems from the fact that, as for many people, lobsters are high on the octopus' choice of dining delicacies. Therefore when a few lobsters have wound up in a trap, the scuttle scuttles in with them.

Now imagine this. A really large octopus may have a body length of about a foot with the tentacles maybe three times as long. The suction cup system is incredibly powerful although that should not come as a complete surprise.

Think away a moment and remember those hooks on bathroom and kitchen implements that involve a single suction cup. Most of them can hold a surprising amount of weight, so now consider the many multiple numbers of suction cups that an octopus boasts. Not surprising how strong they can be and how they can really grab hold of something.

That something could well be a lobster and even with those spiny protuberances, the lobster is no match for the octopus and its strength.

What you probably didn't know is that the octopus mouth consists of a beak that is the only hard part of this invertebrate's body. The beak serves the same purpose as a parrot's and is well capable to cracking the lobster's shell. So, while the tentacles ("whips", locally) hold the lobster the beak cracks it open and the insides are sucked out into the octopus. The shell is now released by the octopus who has no further use for it.

In the normal scheme of things, most fishermen would not deny the scuttle the odd lobster but there is one really infuriating aspect to all this. Just about without doubt, in a pot containing an assortment of lobsters, almost invariably the one that gets eaten first is the largest one. Just how frustrating that can be, especially when the one that got eaten was the only legal sized lobster in the trap or the really hefty one that would have fetched a nice price.

Why this is almost invariably the case, there is no established reason why. One plausible suggestion is that the largest lobster tries to be a hero and defend the smaller ones. It might also be selection on the part of the octopus which is blessed with an exceedingly good ocular system and whose eyes are in a class with a mammal's. It may simply be a matter of thinking, if they do think, that bigger is better. Either way, just about the only revenge a fisherman can extract is to kill the octopus. There are then two options: octopus enjoys a small, specialised market because they are valued as food by some cultures and gastronomic.

But often the better choice is to freeze the octopus until the next offshore fishing trip where, cut up, they make just about the best bottom bait ever. The flesh is tough and almost impossible for a fish to nibble off the hook. So much so, that several hinds or coneys can easily be caught on the same piece of bait. Talk about a lazy man's dream. Put the bait on once and then go up and down, catching fish without changing the bait. A nice payback for thieving a spiny lobster!

Should the weather eventually moderate and the inclination is still there, it should be possible to time a sortie afloat in between the seemingly endless procession of cold fronts and Atlantic depressions. It is the latter that brings the wind and the former account for the drop in temperature. All too often they are associated with each other and that is why we end up spending so much time ashore, wrapped up in warm clothes and dreaming of the summer to come.

If able to take advantage of one of the flat calm, sunny days that provide a spark of reason in an otherwise insane sub-tropical clime, there should be a few wahoo around that will take trolled offerings. Southwest Edge has a particularly good record for this time of the year and the fish often have a bit of quality about them. Having said that, it is close to home making it both safer and a realistic option if only a few hours can be spared. After all, what sense is there to a sportsman staying out if he is quickly blest with Tight lines!!!