BigBendFishing.Net

Don't know how deep or where. But deeper than I can snorkel.


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Informative article....
http://www.starfl.com/news/local-news/s ... 7587?tc=cr

something I didn't know...not that I would have the energy at the end of the day anyway...

Bag limits are daily limits; it is illegal to take a limit of scallops in the morning and return later in the day and collect another limit of scallops.

lonesouth wrote:so 6-15 ft instead of 3-6 ft? Is that sandy bottom or deep grass?

I guess I'm asking if they aren't found in the flats at the typical place, where should we go to look? Would SCUBA be required at that point?

Lonesouth, guessing it's less of a north/south "deeper water" question during the summer season than it is a "east/west" movement of the scallops to find increased salinity away from the realtively high number of concentrated rivers that dump/temporarily pool in the upper most portion of our inverted Big Bend bowl. During drought years we've had decent luck finding them in various depths out of Econfina. This past year we jumped in at both shallow AND deeper spots out of Econfina and found a SINGLE tiny scallop mid-season. You may have seen the other scallop related post that discussed lack of pinfish in the flats out of Aucilla/Econfina. Similar to the scallops, FAR less pinfish activity than we've seen in past years and it's not just in the 3' shallows, but at least until this past month was evident as far out to depths approaching 15'.

Love it if anyone with more scientific knowledge can confirm the movement east/west to areas of water with lower concentration of freshwater. Not 100% sure if the populations are able to move in time to reach greater salinity areas, or if those unfortunate enough to be in the low salt areas in the spring just die off? Love to know so I can be more educated myself!

Anyone wanting some seriously scientific answers to questions about scallops should come to the Scallop Seminar in Steinhatchee tomorrow night. http://www.bigbendfishing.net/phpBB3/vi ... =5&t=36402
Dr. Geiger from the FWC Fish & Wildlife Institute will be there giving a talk and taking questions from the attendees. I don't know that you can find a more knowledgeable person on the subject.

Sincerely wish I could Red Yakker but between working 7 to 7 office hours, trying to share all the attention I can with my 5 year old daughter whenever possible, and caring for 100+ acres outside the office hours, not a way in the world I can.

Hope y'all have a decent sized crowd show up. Don't mind sharing some scoop on the information shared after the meeting, love to learn everything possible.

I would like for someone to ask him why the FWC didn't put out the normal scallop report showing the concentration at different places from St Joe to Cedar key. I would like to hear more of what is discussed at meeting too, but I can't make it either.

FWC was doing Scallop count in St. Joe bay last Tuesday, for what it's worth.

They had roped off sections/areas with divers counting.

I didn't see any around Black's Island while fishing though.

Ok guys, just got home from the meeting.
They just completed the last counts last week. I didn't get the stats for every location, but he did say that the average count per station in Steinhatchee this year was around 20. That's only a smidge less than last year's 23.
He said that currently their is no data to indicate that scallops travel in and out or east and west looking for the right salinity. He did however say that the data does seem to suggest that scallops do migrate to deeper water later in the season and into the Fall.
As far as rainfall affecting their abundance goes, too much or too little can be a bad thing. The runoff from rain puts nutrients in the water that scallops require to grow and reproduce. Too little rain can starve the scallops, causing them to not grow to full size or even die. Too much runoff can make the water murky. The scallop larvae (which are microscopic) generally will not set down in an area where the water is too murky. So, in other words, the timing of the rain has a lot to do with whether or not it affects the abundance in a particular location.
He also noted that on a particularly hot day, especially on a low tide, a severe rainstorm (one that drops 3-4 inches of rain) can cause a large kill in a localized area in a short amount of time. That's why sometimes you can find a good population one day, but go back to that same spot the next day and hardly find any. But he said that normal afternoon thunderstorms generally do no harm. He also said that contrary to popular belief, tannins in the water have no effect on their numbers.
One more thing he said, that I thought was very interesting. There is no data that shows larvae from the St. Joe area or from the Homossasa area travel to the Big Bend area to mature, but there is plenty of evidence that larvae from the Big Bend area make their way to the St. Joe and Homossasa areas. He made note of this to emphasize the importance of a healthy scallop population in our area.
He said plenty more that was very interesting, but it's past my bedtime.
Goodnight.