Scallops

[Jdobbertien]

Scallop season starts next weekend anyone seen any?

[Ted in Tallahassee]

It looks like there's a lot, seen good numbers of them last few months fishing out of St. Marks. At least when you can actually see the bottom between all the sharks that is ...

Seriously it looks like this ought to be a good year. Unless all this rain messes them up. Not sure if that would affect them.

[Jdobbertien]

has anyone been around the Homosassa area and seen any?

[Ted in Tallahassee]

Went out from the fort yesterday early morning with the boys (earlier than necessary to avoid the crush and drama at the ramp), headed east to my previously reconned GPS'd scallop hotspot, anchored & hung out for a while eating some breakfast and letting the tide get lower & the sun get higher, and finally we all went over the side. It was absolutely infested with the critters. I'm talking reaching down & getting 4 & 5 on one breath. They were everywhere. We got our 6 gallons in no time, and then headed out to one of my fishing "holes" I'd been wanting to explore underwater, a little reefy rocky spot in the middle of grass flats in about 5 feet of water. Poking around I noticed some familiar looking rocks on the bottom ... as a longtime artifact diver and flint knapper I knew I was looking at spalls & flakes from percussion reducing. Spear-point making in other words. I realized this rock outcropping was a small group of large chert (flint) boulders and paleo Indians were using them to get raw material for making spear points & such back in the day, when it was dry tundra- like savannah & mammoths trod the Tallahassee area. Pretty freaky to think how long ago that was and that this stuff is still just laying there. I'll try to post some pics later.

[bman]

Poking around I noticed some familiar looking rocks on the bottom ... as a longtime artifact diver and flint knapper I knew I was looking at spalls & flakes from percussion reducing. Spear-point making in other words. I realized this rock outcropping was a small group of large chert (flint) boulders and paleo Indians were using them to get raw material for making spear points & such back in the day, when it was dry tundra- like savannah & mammoths trod the Tallahassee area. Pretty freaky to think how long ago that was and that this stuff is still just laying there. I'll try to post some pics later.

Please do- that is very cool.... I love that stuff.
Picked up a lot of points as a kid.
The reports of local springs having the oldest archaeological site in the American got me interested again!
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science ... chaeology/

[Salty Gator]

Went out from the fort yesterday early morning with the boys (earlier than necessary to avoid the crush and drama at the ramp), headed east to my previously reconned GPS'd scallop hotspot, anchored & hung out for a while eating some breakfast and letting the tide get lower & the sun get higher, and finally we all went over the side. It was absolutely infested with the critters. I'm talking reaching down & getting 4 & 5 on one breath. They were everywhere. We got our 6 gallons in no time, and then headed out to one of my fishing "holes" I'd been wanting to explore underwater, a little reefy rocky spot in the middle of grass flats in about 5 feet of water. Poking around I noticed some familiar looking rocks on the bottom ... as a longtime artifact diver and flint knapper I knew I was looking at spalls & flakes from percussion reducing. Spear-point making in other words. I realized this rock outcropping was a small group of large chert (flint) boulders and paleo Indians were using them to get raw material for making spear points & such back in the day, when it was dry tundra- like savannah & mammoths trod the Tallahassee area. Pretty freaky to think how long ago that was and that this stuff is still just laying there. I'll try to post some pics later.

Those nicks aren't from Indians. They are from skeg guards

[MudDucker]

Those nicks aren't from Indians. They are from skeg guards

And from some motors just before they got skeg guards.

[Ted in Tallahassee]

I've known of the Paige-Ladson site since the 90's, very cool site. The deeper parts of the Aucilla is well known for Paleo stuff generally. Lots of fossils in both the Aucilla & St. Marks. Many a mastodon & mammoth bone has been found in the St. Marks, more than a few with cut marks where tendons attach. There's a lot of stuff in the shallower areas too. I found a mastodon tooth and plenty of other fossils and Archaic period points & tools in the shallower areas of the St. Marks. There's all manner of modern stuff too--even drink cans from the 50's & 60's. Stuff doesn't get "washed away" like one would think. The current is slow and when it floods it basically just gets high and the velocity doesn't increase much at all. Things like cans will move some and gather in areas, silt and sand will shift too, but heavy things like rocks basically stay right where they were dropped. Neat stuff, the fossils and artifacts and the sensation of being the first one to touch some tool that hadn't been touched by a human hand for many thousands of years.

[lonesouth]

Best I've done is find a pull tab at the upper bridge on the wakulla. That and I found a 1938 dime at the wakulla springs beach about 25 years ago.

[THOMAS CITY CURVE]

Like Silverking said once. These aren't the droids your looking for Move along Move along

[Ted in Tallahassee]

Went again this morning, same thing. The four of us got our 8 gallons in less than an hour. Beautiful day.

[whiteshoe7]

Ted you using kayaks or jon boat?

[Ted in Tallahassee]

Same ol' 15' Lowe aluminum jonboat with Yami 25 smoker. Banshee face painted on front as in pic to the left.

One thing I like about using it for scalloping is being able to pull it along as I swim, by holding the anchor and moving along. When I see a lot of scallops I just drop the anchor and do a radius around the area of the boat. Not that I've had to do that much the last two weekend--we got almost the full limits just in the area around the boat. I also like that my little jonboat is basically a big open container, so I can put coolers & gear wherever I want. While it's pretty slow I guess, it sure doesn't burn much gas either. And, at the fort I can use that little narrow ramp on the end if there's a line of boats all clogged up at the main ramp. And I can fly along in water that reads "1" on my Humminbird depth display. Now for the bad: it does NOT ride comfortably in rough seas! Especially for anyone riding in the front!

Planning to hit it again this Saturday morning, & be back in before the mid-afternoon breeze stiffens up.

[rebel10]

A buddy and I are wanting to carry the gheenoe scalloping at Spring Warrior tomorrow. Do you have to run all the way to Keaton or are they out in front of SW or Dekle? Thanks