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Anyone have any input as to what this influx of fresh water is going to do for the scallops? Just wondering,, we were headed to St Joe bay next weekend, but with all this rain I was wondering how it may affect the salinity of the water and effect on the scallops?

Last time this happened it flushed the scallops out to deep water.
A biologist said it can even kill them.

Good news on StJoe is there is very littel freshwater running into that bay.
St marks is another story

I dont think we will know for a few weeks.

haven't looked yet but I hear the FWC survey #s are way down....

According to the FWC sampling just completed last week, the SJB area scallop abundance was going to be way down anyway.

http://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/mol ... ps/season/

I imagine Debby is wreaking havoc on habitat and salinity.

Wondered the same thing, APheroes, though I would guess that it's more critical how much water we get earlier in the year when they have time to move... sure they can move a bit before season opens, but guessing (emphasis on the "guessing") not that much.

Secondary, if not primary concern, I would have if going next week is how much the water clarity will be affected. Much of the Econfina area was as clear as a bell earlier this year. Guessing that's going to change for at least a while now. Not that huge of an issue to me, as I actually prefer holding off on my scalloping adventures until the insanity calms down just a bit after season has been open a month or so and the scallops are a bit bigger.

Thanks for the replies. I guess all that matters is the kids have a good time trying to find them. Spending time with the family is the important part.

I wouldn't be worried about what Affect the Freash water will have on the scallops my self its all the shit thats going to be flowing outta the septic tank that i would worry about...
Now yall have a great day guys

What do the numbers stand for? If I'm reading correctly, the Steinhatchee area will have far less than half of what they had last year?

Redbelly, The number in the test area they counted I.e 600square meters. Read the top paragraph

Dupe

Say bye bye to 2012 scallop season

on the flip side, St. Marks will have 3x more than last year

My past experience tells me they are gone... Since it is early they may come back towards the end of the season, but I'm going looking on Sunday.

As I start to plan a few scalloping trips for the kids I was curious to see how the scallop population is looking for this year. For over 10 years the FWC has been doing Bay Scallop population surveys and for the last few years they’ve been posting the data on line.

Looking at the FWC website that notes annual abundance surveys it appears it’s gonna be a challenging year to scallop in Steinhatchee, Crystal River looks like it’ll be similar to last year’s abundance, St Marks area looks like it has an improvement in numbers, and St Joseph Bay populations are markedly low.

Below is a link to the annual FWC Bay Scallop population surveys:
http://myfwc.com/research/saltwater/mol ... ps/season/

Where I like to scallop (Steinhatchee) it looks like it we’re gonna have to hunt hard to find em. Nevertheless, we’ll still scallop this year-we’ll just have to hunt harder. We’ll see you out there.
Hoo Yah!!
Brian

I fished St. Joe yesterday and it was nasty. Alot of brown dirty water. Unfortunately all of Port St. Joe and Cape San Blas drain into the bay so there is alot of fresh storm water in the bay especially on the St. Joe/Presnells side of the bay. The water around Eagle Harbor was somewhat cleaner but still kinda dirty. It will be interesting to see what the scallop reports are from Sunday. Winston Chester had an interesting show on the scallop count in St. Joe bay and it shows where every 4th year the scallop count goes way down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbAmOm8V ... ature=plcp