Open harvest season for the bay scallops runs from June 27 to September 24 in 2015. During scallop season you can harvest scallops from Hernando county north to Mexico Beach in the panhandle. If you have scallops on a boat in Pasco, even if you harvested them in Hernando County, you can be fined.
If this is your first time scallop harvesting, you may want to go with someone who knows where the scallops are located. There are a number of guides you can hire to help you find the scallops. We hired Captain Jeff Beeler out of MacRae’s of Homosassa. He took us on a slow ride out of the Homosassa into the Gulf of Mexico.
Captain Jeff had many stories to make the trip more entertaining. He told us that he does not go out on the Fourth of July, because there are too many boats on the water. There are traffic jams on the rivers. He said there were over three thousand recreational boats out harvesting scallops in Hernando and Citrus on that weekend.
The scallops are located on the grass flats where the freshwater and seawater mix usually a few miles offshore from where a river runs into the gulf. The scallops live in the grass that is a foot or two tall. Their is a science to knowing where to find them. They move further in towards the river when there has been less rain, and out into the gulf with more precipitation seeking their preferred salinity. The scallops can move around by opening and closing their shell.
To find them you have to snorkel above the grass and try to see the scallops that are hiding in the grass. This is made more difficult by the tides which bend the grass which makes it more difficult to see the scallops. The slack tide which is when the tide changes direction, allows the grass to stand straight up and is a great time to find scallops. Other options are to look for scallops that are in the open or move the grass out of the way with your hand to see below it.
To avoid getting pinched, you pick up the scallop from the back where the scalloped is hinged. Many people also wear gloves to protect their hands while searching for scallops. You can also purchase a net to allow you to scoop the scallops. You may also want a mesh dive bag to put the scallops in that you capture.
You can either clean your own scallops or there are a number of places where you can have your scallops cleaned if you are fortunate enough to bring in a big catch. This is quite a time saver since it can take hours to clean a bucket of scallops.
We only managed to catch 18 scallops in a few hours. There were plenty of fish, sponges, and starfish to keep us interested as we snorkeled for scallops. Other boats reported harvesting several buckets of scallops an hour. Even though we mostly struck out we had a great time. Scalloping is a great excursion.
