Water clarity around Keaton

[milto]

Just wondering how the water clarity is around the Keaton area. Was thinking about taking Friday off to take my daughter down to scallop. If its as dark as it was this past Saturday in St. Marks, then its not worth going.

[zload]

Not sure but there was a pretty good storm down around the general area last night so more freshwater drainage...

[Redfin]

Friend said it was bad there Saturday. Econfina was horrible Sunday, less than 1 foot visibility.

[Apalachee Inshore]

it’s as dark as I’ve seen it in a while.

[relicshunter]

Went out on sunday and it was dark. Got into some 3-4' water and the bottom really took some work to see clearly. I also noticed the water in the last 1 foot of water was really cold. Refreshing but I can't imagine the scallops liked it.
Found very few.
We caught 3 keeper trout and a spanish and called it a day. There were groups out there scattered around in the deeper water, don't know if they were finding many.
You would think FWC would have the common sense to close early to preserve what little is left so maybe the numbers will be not crash any more then they have been. So sad, I love scalloping and hate to see it so poorly managed.

[Apalachee Inshore]

Went out on sunday and it was dark. Got into some 3-4' water and the bottom really took some work to see clearly. I also noticed the water in the last 1 foot of water was really cold. Refreshing but I can't imagine the scallops liked it.
Found very few.
We caught 3 keeper trout and a spanish and called it a day. There were groups out there scattered around in the deeper water, don't know if they were finding many.
You would think FWC would have the common sense to close early to preserve what little is left so maybe the numbers will be not crash any more then they have been. So sad, I love scalloping and hate to see it so poorly managed.

Scallop numbers were good this year and human pressure is not what has hurt it, it was all the rain.

[relicshunter]

Try talking to the biologists about the population. The counts are just barely holding on in a lot of areas. It's right there in back and white. An example would be that Taylor was 60 in 2016 and 19 this year, Dixie was 66 in 2016 and 20 this year. The graph shows both waffling around the yellow line after being much higher. Another example is 2015-2016 was great in Steinhatchee and the graph shows that. Too many of these areas barely climb up to the yellow line then back down again. I guess we will all see next year how they are. I just hope a lot of them were able to hide in the dark water and reproduce.

[wishin2bfishin]

Maybe someone will be out around Keaton today to give us an updated water clarity report for fishing.


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[Apalachee Inshore]

Try talking to the biologists about the population. The counts are just barely holding on in a lot of areas. It's right there in back and white. An example would be that Taylor was 60 in 2016 and 19 this year, Dixie was 66 in 2016 and 20 this year. The graph shows both waffling around the yellow line after being much higher. Another example is 2015-2016 was great in Steinhatchee and the graph shows that. Too many of these areas barely climb up to the yellow line then back down again. I guess we will all see next year how they are. I just hope a lot of them were able to hide in the dark water and reproduce.

I do talk to biologists, or should I say biologist because Dr Stephen Geiger is the only scallop biologist I am aware of in the state of Florida. I also talk to Victor Blanco who is the Sea Grant agent with UF/IFAS for Taylor county who I see every weekend and the boat landing taking scallop surveys. I also am also on the water 4-5 times a week during peak season looking at scallop populations with my own eyes. I’m aware of the the numbers you are referring to and if you talk to the people who actually put it together, they will tell you that 2015 and especially 2016 were just truly amazing years for scallop counts and the current numbers are more like the norm. Human pressure is just a small factor in all that goes into scallop numbers.

Two weeks ago before all the rain their were scallops everywhere in a shallow area I had been working, a week later after it had rained all week they were all but gone. No one was one the water that week so it wasn’t people picking them up.

[tabb]

We looked for a couple of hours and only found four scallops in PSJ this past weekend. We should have gone closer to Blacks island and deeper water but still not the population from years past. We did better in St Andrews with about about 30 in 2-3 hours but we worked harder at finding them.
Hope the scallop restoration program helps.

[Salty Gator]

We looked for a couple of hours and only found four scallops in PSJ this past weekend. We should have gone closer to Blacks island and deeper water but still not the population from years past. We did better in St Andrews with about about 30 in 2-3 hours but we worked harder at finding them.
Hope the scallop restoration program helps.

Thanks for the heads up

[Angler719]

According to FWC it is not legal.

[tabb]

What is not legal?

[Angler719]

Taking scallops from St Andrews bay. And the PSJ season doesn't open until 8-17.

[tabb]

Google scallop restoration and scallop rodeo.