[ProfessorLongArms]

Sounds like you did all the right things.

Almost every time I dive the harbor, I find a hoop or run into someone offering to give me cash to go pull theirs.

I'm not sure on the legality, but if there's no buoy it's definitely abandoned. At the harbor I dive, There are these deep cracks where the pot will fall in like a coin and then flatten out at the bottom making it impossible to pull out with the rope.

I've found them in various states of disrepair.... In one case it was brand new, less than a day old, and still had bait in the cage. I've also pulled viable corroded ones where the net was completely toast, but ultimately not worth it for the time you'd put in to make a net for it and repair what you could have spent 35 bucks on.