Homosassa Scallop Report 2011

The majority of the scallops in the Hernando/Citrus County area appear to be off Chassahowtizka Point and south. Reports from Ozello and Crystal River are grim, and only scattered scallops around the Bird Rack and out of the mouth of the Homosassa. This reflects the FWC’s reports of fewer clams in this area with higher numbers down towards Hernando. They are usually pretty accurate about such things.

Opening weekend we hit five gallons – so half the limit for the number of folks on board. We started off in deeper water off Chazz, but decided to head towards the Bird Rack so the ladies could swim. The scalloping was decent, just nothing to write home about. If you aren’t finding 2 or 3 in a group, something is amiss.

And that’s how it was that Saturday. Pick up a few here and there. Stop and check a half-dozen spots. Just couldn’t find the homerun holes.

Last Saturday of Fourth of July Weekend was different. THP and I immediately went amidst the crowds off Chazz Point in 5-6 foot of water.

We smoked them. With just two of us, we could only legally fill 4 gallons. We had three in about 40 minutes. I worked one sandy patch and just cleaned up. Then the tide started coming in and we took a break in the boat.

Had we stayed in the water, we probably would have limited out. Unfortunately, that incoming tide silted the water and the increased depth made finding the clams rather difficult.

And that has been that. My experiences have been pretty common, best I can tell. It’s not a complete skunk year. If you poke around and ask people, you’ll probably get pointed in a positive direction.

If you ask me, head off Chazz on an outgoing tide. If anyone else has any suggestions, feel free to leave them.

Best of Luck.

Scallop Knowledge 2011

I’ve said and written it before, but scalloping is about the most fun you can have in saltwater. When they’re thick you absolutely zone out of any other cares or thoughts in the world as you pick through the seagrass beds in crystal clear waters off Florida’s Nature Coast. With friends and a couple cold drinks at the dock, cleaning the buggers is no big deal, and cooking them up fresh is fine feasting.

And it’s so simple that it is not incumbent upon the recreation to employ any grand schemes or planning. Find a boat, motor out amid the other boats and hop in. Pay attention to your limits and stay safe running the channels, and you have a fine day in the bag.

However, not everyone is as accustomed to the sport as I am. So, I thought I would do a little primer of needs and wants for a successful scallop outing.

What Gear - Mask, Snorkel, Fins, Catch Bag. No need to be certified SCUBA; a snorkeling set from Wal-Mart will serve the purpose. I would spend a couple more bucks on de-fogger for your mask. And you want a mesh bag to place them in – you can find these bags at most local gas stations and bait stores. Oh, and sunscreen and a well-stocked cooler.

Where to Start – Easy, also. Look for the other boats. Armadas of divers gather every year – at least off the Homosassa/Crystal River area. Allow other boaters their room and anchor up. If you aren’t finding scallops right away, pick up and move a few hundred yards.

If you’re in a location where the crowds are more subdued, scallops live on the grass flats in clear water of varying depths. If you’re near a river mouth, you’d do well to move away from the fresh water’s influence on the salinity – in other words, get away from the river mouth and seek saltier seas.

Where to Look – There’s a grave misconception that scallops migrate from the deep as summer advances. This is incorrect. Scallops grow, live and die within a limited area. I think this whole migration belief started because it’s hard to believe that with so many boats on the water, there would be any scallops left after the first month – but there are, and the bivalves are typically bigger.

Two things. Even with all the boats, that’s still a lot of sea floor to cover and not every diver is as keen-eyed as myself. Next, as said above, they grow and die in the same general area – and they grow fast. Scallops don’t live longer than about a year. So it’s easy to believe that bigger scallops travel in from the deep.

That’s a lot of credit for a barely-sentient creature. They do move courtesy a form of water propulsion. They use that delicious white muscle inside their shells to squeeze water in and then out of their bodies. The result is a clam hopping up from the sea bed, being carried by current, then dropping back in the same fashion as a quarter would fall if thrown in a swimming pool. Scallops do this on changing tides so they can optimize their position to filter-feed.

As such, scallops that are bedded in deep grasses and passed over by divers often compromise their safety when they find themselves in the open or rested on the broad leaves of turtle grass. This activity creates the sense of a migration.

Finally, scallop numbers have a bad year every three years or so. If you are clamming in a good year, you’ll find them all the way until the end of season, bigger and covered in algae. Locating them in sandy spots and sections of sparse grass is the easiest way. Others prefer looking deeper in the turtle grass. Still others like to be slowly pulled behind the boat to cover more ground.

Best Times to Hunt – I prefer calm, clear days on the start of an outgoing tide. This keeps the jellyfish away and lowers the water column. Scalloping in water over six feet gets to be work. Some folks prefer to wade in water under four feet. I prefer snorkeling in water 5-6ft; you are high enough on the surface to canvas more area below – like a raptor surveying a rice field for helpless mice. Water clarity is also important. Too much silt and the clams are easy to miss.

Do keep an eye out for late afternoon thunderstorms. They pop up quick, move fast, and are infested with lightning and waterspouts.

How to Clean – Keep the scallops alive in a livewell until the ride back in when you should transfer them into a cooler of ice. Best to keep the ice bagged and place the scallops on top. This makes the scallops open.

Take a spoon and match the curvature of the spoon with the curvature of the shell and cut one side of the meat away from that side of the shell. Then, take a Mini Shop-Vac and suck out the scallop goop. When deprived of its innards cut away the remaining snow-white meat into icy water. Make sure you rinse out the Shop-Vac when done. Trust me.

Or, you can open them with spoons and use the spoon to lightly scrape away the guts – it’s messy and time-consuming but not too difficult. Or, you can drop them off to the nearest kid on a dock offering to clean them for five bucks a gallon.

How to Cook – Fresh scallops are the best you can get. You can fry them or make ceviche – I prefer to sauté them in a little bit of olive oil, lemon juice and garlic salt or Everglades Seasoning. Just a couple minutes and you’re done. Don’t overcook them. If you’re feeling rugged, you can pop a few down the gullet raw. They are sweet as candy.

The 2011 Scallop Season starts this weekend and runs until September 25th. Enjoy your time on the water and bring back a bunch!

CLICK HERE FOR FWC'S GUIDELINES FOR 2011 SCALLOP SEASON.

August Scallops

“Something is amiss,” I gently pondered...actually, my thoughts were much more profane and desperate as I gazed down and noticed the depth had quickly given way to the shallows.

“Stay on that throttle!”

I’d been paying too much attention to skating the edge of a rainstorm, but as I observed the fleet of scallop boats, I realized the divers were wading knee deep water, slogging sticky-feet about the flats. Everyone was stuck in this trap. Luckily, I chugged the Bayrider to happier waters without destroying the lower unit or seagrass beds. Just a month ago this was 6 feet of drink, run dry now by powerful outgoing tides.

The scalloping was worth it. Man, oh man, this has been one heck of a clam season. Once again, we found ourselves off Ozello, and after two months of Open Season, the scallops are still thick.

And they are HUUUUUGGGGGGEEEEE. The shells resemble something from the fossil records; all covered in barnacles, some ¾ the size of my palm. The meat is comparable in size to sea scallops you see in restaurants. It’s amazing how fast they grow in just a month.

This has been one of the busiest years I can recall in Homosassa. The Shop Vacs are lined up and down the River siphoning Scallop Goop. The Springs are LOADED with partygoers and other revelers. I dare say the economy in this area is doing right well, considering.

The one down side is the heat. Oppressive. But that should not be enough to keep you in port. Scallop season lasts until September 10th.

From the FWC:

Recreational harvesters are limited to two gallons of whole bay scallops in the shell, or one pint of bay scallop meat, per day during the open season. In addition, recreational scallopers may possess no more than 10 gallons of whole bay scallops in the shell, or ½ gallon of bay scallop meat, aboard any vessel at any time. Bay scallops may be harvested only by hand or with a landing or dip net. They may not be harvested for commercial purposes. Recreational harvesters need a Florida saltwater fishing license to harvest bay scallops, even when scalloping from shore.

This Summer's Scallops

Sure, they are barely-sentient creatures that probably possess as much awareness of danger as a tall pine does in a wicked lightning storm, but I nevertheless contemplate if they can grasp the peril that is about to strike when I hover above them. With those dozens of blue eyes and that last one frantic swish to safety, you can’t help but believe they know something terrible is amiss.

Scallops. I love scalloping. Over the last two weekends I’ve been to Homosassa in snorkeled pursuit of these bivalves, and I have experienced the ying and yang of this sport.


Let’s begin two weekends ago. A strong incoming tide silted the water compromising visibility. The scallops were there, but you couldn’t see them. So we picked our way through the water column fighting the tide – it was exhausting. We still collected several gallons, but it was work.

Last weekend was the lunar opposite. The tide slowly trickled out, leaving the water clear as gin. In five feet of water, we hammered them, limiting out in about an hour.


Both weekends we hunted in the same spot. Just goes to show that certain variables dictate success. Sure, we could have hit our quota that first weekend, but that tide was too much and Publix too accessible if we really felt like making up the difference.

I did notice a large armada of boats settled off Chazzahowitzka, farther south than I typically run. The mouth of the Homosassa was largely vacant. We ran North to Ozello, and there we rejoined the fleet. The closer to Crystal River we got, the larger the clams seemed to be. I’ve not spoken to anyone who has dove off Chazz, but I’d be curious to see what their bag has been up that way.

And now some random thoughts.

- If you don’t know how to navigate your vessel on the correct side of the channel, you probably need to be beaten severely - nothing more frustrating in these narrow waterways than some clown clogging up the works by cruising down the middle at several knots slower than everyone crowded behind him. I see it every trip, and it is infuriating. The rocks and oyster bars of Homosassa are challenging enough without this interference.

- The first weekend we kept our catch in a five-gallon bucket then iced them down at the house. Well, the water in the bucket heated up and killed them before icing. This made the meat loosen from the shells, and we lost quite a few gorgeous white nuggets to the Shop-Vac before finally resorting to the tedious spoon treatment. The following weekend we kept them in a cooler with salt water that, well, kept them cooler. We transferred them to ice and lost very few. Moral of the story, bring an extra cooler on board to store your scallops.


- Whoever came up with the Shop-Vac method of cleaning scallops need some kind of Nobel prize. Makes the work so much easier. For the first-timers, purchase a small Shop-Vac. Cut the muscle away from one side of the shell and place the hose over the white meat. The goop is sucked away leaving the sweet meat ready to be scooped into ice water - that is if you followed my tip above.

- Speaking of working easier, when you’re back on the dock contemplating a libation as you clean the clams, consider a rum such as Mount Gay. Bourbon is too much in the heat.

Scallop season will run through September. This is a silver medal year off the Nature Coast, in my opinion. I’m hearing Steinhatchee doesn’t have the numbers it did last year, but surely some are there. Get on out and enjoy yourself.

Charlie's Scallop Season

The scallops were thick last weekend. The boats were out in droves, also. Based on the Homosassa area, I’d say Governor Crist’s Early Scallop Season was a success.

With the oil panic and its effect on Florida’s tourism, Crist opened scallop season June 19th to encourage folks to visit the coasts where scalloping is permitted. The people responded. And it worked for me, too. I was gonna miss the opener while away on my honeymoon.

As for the scallops, depending who the captain is, you’ll look for different environments on which to focus your clamming efforts. Some seek white sandy patches. Others love searching the thicker turtle grass. Deep water, shallow water…really, if the scallops are there, it doesn’t matter.


Our first stop, ¾ mile north of Marker 10 at the mouth of the Homosassa River, was productive. I was pulling up three and four at a time - quick action compared to the dregs of last year. We lifted anchor and ran farther north to dodge a rain shower. This was the honey hole.

The swift outgoing tide had attracted the scallops to the top of the seagrass to filter feed. I had a confirmed 7 Grabber on one dive. Other times, I couldn’t put them in my catch bag fast enough. My bag was weighing straight down despite the current.

None of the scallops were big. It seems that extra month helps them put on the size. I tucked a few of the very small ones back under cover lest some derelict add it to their bag. As always, it’s such a pleasure to snorkel these crystal clear waters. Swam up on a striped burrfish and the usual selection of porgy and grunts.

After we sufficiently vacuumed up this honey hole, we made one more stop and did well. The total stats – 1 hour, five people, 8 gallons. We probably could have secured our last two gallons, but with the current pulling like it was and the inevitable rush back into the river, we decided to bail early.

Despite the small size of the scallops’ shells, the meat inside was plump for bay scallops. Cleaning them, as usual, was a messy deal of shop-vacs and bourbon, but cooked that night in a skillet with olive oil, lemon juice, and Everglades Seasoning, it was all worth it.

The Florida Scallop season September 10th. The scallops are plentiful, the Nature Coast economy would appreciate your patronage, and you’ll enjoy this simple outdoors pleasure.

Scallop Rules.