We took the family and another family of four to Steinhatchee to have a fun day on the water and to participate in the Gainesville Offshore Fishing Club’s (GOFC) annual Scallop Outing. Before we left we realized that the scalloping prospects were low and that held true. Running to the north we stopped at numerous places to the west and south of Big Grassy Key. In previous years this has been a great place to find scallops. We had decent vis and great looking sea grass bottom but very few scallops were found. Since it was breezy we let the boat drift along covering a large area. The boat was moving with all the canopy and we covered some ground. We managed three scallops (3!) and had a great time searching for them. Before heading back we switched gears and towed the kids on in.
Steinhatchee tubin’
Andrew & Casey
Kaitlyn and friend Katherine
Along the way we ran into GOFCer Sanman and his fiancée Shannon.
Don’t ask her about the fire sponge……
Later at Sea Hag Marina we enjoyed the GOFC get together & cookout. After a nice lunch of fried fish & chicken (plus a handful of fried scallops) the kids gathered around to display their scallops for judge consideration in the annual Scallop Contest (Largest, Prettiest, Smallest, & Ugliest). Although competition was keen Kaitlyn was lucky enough to win honors in the Prettiest Scallop category-she won a nice swimming towel/backpack. It was great to see all the kids there!
After talking with a few GOFCers at the marina they pretty much had similar results (1, 3, 5, 10, and 20 scallops). Hopefully, the 2007 season will be a better year for the scallops.
It was still a great day on the water and we finished up the day swimming at home with their friends and chowing on pizza and St Johns River shrimp.
Brian
