Scallop Report - St. Marks 07-01-2008

[Tom Keels]

Monday, Sonny dropped the boat off at Porter Marine for a new waterpump, thermostat and plugs. Waivel said he might be able to get to it by Friday. This kind of cramped our opening day scallop plans with the kids, but what are you going to do. Well, he called Monday afternoon and said it was ready. Less than 1 day turnaround time. That's service.

We loaded up the truck and picked the boat up from Waivel Tuesday morning around 9. Made it to the flats about 10. The lighthouse parking lot was pretty full, so were the flats just west of the rock garden.



We ran a little further east to where we found them last year and were not disappointed.





My three kids had a blast. My oldest followed me using my long hose regulator.





Even my youngest (4) dove down to get her first scallop with her poppy.





The boy even got plenty as well.



We had a good day. We didn't take our limit but easily could have. Water was a cooling 79° and felt great. It was slick calm until the seabreeze kicked in about 3 pm. Never got too hot. There are plenty of scallops but they seem a tad smaller than this time last year.

BTW, the pictures are courtesy of my new Olympus Stylus 850 SW camera. It is waterproof to 10 feet and is shock resistant. It's nice picking up a camera with wet hands and not having to worry about water getting in it or dropping it.

[Reel Country]

good deal. We're heading down tomorrow after lunch.

[whitebc]

Good report, gotta love the youngens having fun!!!

[snatch-n-reel]

Good day with the kids

[dolphinatic]

Sounds like you guys did alright too, Tom. We headed out there yesterday too and got our limit of 6 gallons in about an hour. We went a little further east than the rigatta out there yesterday. We found all of ours in 7-9 ft. You couldn't see them from the surface, but once we got down on the bottom they were everywhere!!! I picked up 30 in one spot about 12 ft. in diameter. We left the spot with them still everywhere. They were a bit smaller than this time last year, but we did find a few really nice ones.....they'll all eat the same
Headed back up the Wakulla for a little fresh water diving and scallop cleaning. Back at the house at 4:30pm and off to work on Rocket's SUV at 5:30pm. What a day!!!!!!

[CrispyFishin]

I, too, noticed that they were on the small side; however, there were some mixed in that were HUGE. Maybe left over from last year?

[Tom Keels]

I, too, noticed that they were on the small side; however, there were some mixed in that were HUGE. Maybe left over from last year?

We picked up quite a few "leftovers".

[BAD BEHAVIOR]

I really hope none of you guys get bit by a shark.

[Tom Keels]

I really hope none of you guys get bit by a shark.

If you're skeerd, say you're skeerd.

[2true]

Kewl was it as good as last year?

[Tom Keels]

Just as many as last year, but they are a little smaller.

[Hit-n-Miss]

I'll give a report from Keaton after friday.

[reel therapy]

Wow! Cool pics. My wife, kids and I made it out yesterday. Right smack in the middle of the crowd, in about 5' of water. Plenty of scallops available.

[WaltDawg]

Looks like ya'll had a great time. I'll be out Saturday with the masses.

[FUTCHCAIRO]

YA BETTER GET THERE EARLY, WHEN WE CAME OUT TODAY THERE WERE 49 TRAILERS IN THE LOT AND DOWN THE ROAD.
PA