Squid/Octopus/Eels Weight Angler Location Date Octopus 25.95 lbs Michael Matsunaga Wahiawa, O'ahu 08/30/2022 The morning of August 30, I headed out beyond Turtle Bay to go bottomfishing, using squid and fish for bait. I stopped about a mile out in 400-foot water. I first caught two small ¯opakapaka, then nothing for a while, until the line felt heavy. I turned on the electric reel; the line still was heavy and coming up slowly. Coming closer, I saw brown coloring and got my net ready. When it came to the surface, I saw it was a huge tako! I finally got it in the net. The tako was heavy and wanted to get out. I put him in the cooler, but he really wanted to get out, legs sucking everything and trying to get free. It was a battleput one leg in the cooler, two coming out. He was all muscle. I sat on the cooler and shoved the legs in and tied up the cooler with rope. I kept watching to see if he would try to get out. I guess he settled down. Once I got home, I called Dean Hanazawa and Randy Won and asked: You like see one big tako? They came over and we took pictures with my grandson Ryden and my daughter Loni and we weighed it. It was 26 lbs! I called Hawaii Fishing News about a potential new state record, and Hanapaa Fishing Supply to say I wanted to weigh a tako. The next day, when I got there, everyone came out to see the tako. We weighed it and took pictures, and they made a video. The tako weighed 25.95 lbs on their scales and measured 5 feet 10 inches in length. I thank Hanapaa for shooting the video and sharing it on social media.