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My family wants to go scalloping/fishing Labor Day weekend. We've never scalloped, so where would be some of the best places to go? Keaton? PSJ? Econfina? Carrabelle? All tips are appreciated.

Steinhatchee would be my choice if you want to scallop.

I went to Keaton fishing last weekend. First trip there in a while after putting in and fishing elsewhere over the past couple of years.

No plans to go back.Most folks were awesome, but were just enough inconsiderate, self focused inbreds looking to get their boats out for me not to screw with that again (the put in was smooth - the take out wasn't much fun with folks lined up down the canal).

Imagine it'll be a lot worse on a holiday weekend.

I agree that place won't see me again during scallop season. Steinhatchee is where it's at.

I've never been to the Hatch. Fill me in on the do's and don'ts. I have an Xpress 18 ft. CC bay/flats boat.

Finding a place to stay may be difficult this late in the season. You can try sea hag, they recently renovated their cabins. Basic, but clean. Good folks. Easy going out following the channel. A few pretty good restaurants in the area. Good place if you've never been.

Steinhatchi is a great place!!!! The people there are all friendly & willing to help you anyway they can.

We'll be going to Port St. Joe. (Good scalloping reports for St. Joe Bay, everything I could find was already booked around Steinhatchee) We rented a house on Indian Pass, not far from Raw Bar. Where is the best place to put in, considering holiday crowds? Presnell's, State Park, one of the ramps in PSJ? I've never fished St. Joe Bay, any general tips? (I hope to try go after some speckled trout/redfish after scalloping)

Russ@R&R wrote:We'll be going to Port St. Joe. (Good scalloping reports for St. Joe Bay, everything I could find was already booked around Steinhatchee) We rented a house on Indian Pass, not far from Raw Bar. Where is the best place to put in, considering holiday crowds? Presnell's, State Park, one of the ramps in PSJ? I've never fished St. Joe Bay, any general tips? (I hope to try go after some speckled trout/redfish after scalloping)

If you have a bigger boat that drafts a bunch, the Presnells channel can get shallow at low tide. Plenty of water in the State park or St Joe county ramp.

Boat traffic at Presnells wasn't bad over the 4th of July, but it wasn't scallop season either.

Have a good gps with mapping and you can run all the deep channels around Blacks island just fine. When you see a seagrass marker, it means shallow, 1-2ft of water ahead.

Thanks bbb. I've got an Xpress H18B, so I can do shallow. I don't have GPS w/mapping, so I'll just take it easy getting around.

Russ@R&R wrote:Thanks bbb. I've got an Xpress H18B, so I can do shallow. I don't have GPS w/mapping, so I'll just take it easy getting around.

Then I would get the navionics app for your phone. You can be sitting in 15 ft of water and think all is good, and 10 yards away it a 2' grass flat.

Thanks, I'll check that out.

If you have Android, I'd also download marine navigator. I used it before I got my current helix 7 and its nice since it doesnt require cell service, you just download the RNC map for your area and its good to go. The free version just won't let you load preprogrammed tracks.

If you can find a place to stay, Steinhatchee is the way to go. Just follow the train of boats out for a short ride south. We had no problem finding them there.

https://youtu.be/dWDEBj_HU8s

Anyone have an update on the St. Joe Bay scallop situation? FWC web site says temporarily closed due to algae bloom but the latest report I find is dated August 4. Nothing since then that I can find.