Upcoming Scallop Season

[Ron Wilson]

Is it too soon to ask if there are any reports on scallops in the Keaton Beach, St. Mark's area? Trying to coordinate a trip with my kids/granddaughter and wondering if anyone has/is spotting any scallops in the BB area?

Thanks in advance.

[2true]

Last year with all the rain it seemed that Lanark was one of the only places that had them. I have not heard a word this year.

[Steve Stinson]

I camped at St. Joe Bay this past weekend and did some scouting. We did not see any in the spots where we have found them in the past. The grass beds to the South of Black's Island and over toward the fire tower seem to be more sparse this year than in the past. We checked both of those areas and then worked our way Northward along the West side of the Bay back to the tip.

No scallops found, but plenty of trout caught.

- Steve Stinson

[2true]

Hmm 10 days out and no scallop reports......

[big bend gyrene]

Anybody jumps in / takes a closer scouting trip, please also share observations on any pinfish you see! Dadgum critters sure been harder to dependably catch with tipped sabiki the past two years than in the preceding years.

[Salty Gator]

Anybody jumps in / takes a closer scouting trip, please also share observations on any pinfish you see! Dadgum critters sure been harder to dependably catch with tipped sabiki the past two years than in the preceding years.

The pinfish are getting pretty thick again, much easier to catch than a few weeks ago

[big bend gyrene]

GREAT to know, Salty Gator... haven't been in a couple of weeks, so the news is very welcomed!

[2true]

Anybody jumps in / takes a closer scouting trip, please also share observations on any pinfish you see! Dadgum critters sure been harder to dependably catch with tipped sabiki the past two years than in the preceding years.

I went to fishing on the Aucilla Tuesday. Super stained water. Although I managed 3 trout, there were no bait fish. It was weird! I was spoiled with the drought we had for those years, it was on fire back then. You could catch black sea bass all day long. 2 years ago you could see the bottom in 10 foot deep water. I remember seeing the bottom covered in scallops in the Aucilla Flats and now this rainy season again has pushed them away........

[micci_man]

Anybody jumps in / takes a closer scouting trip, please also share observations on any pinfish you see! Dadgum critters sure been harder to dependably catch with tipped sabiki the past two years than in the preceding years.

We caught all we wanted 2 weeks ago just W of lanark in 3-5' of water with a gold hook tipped with gulp.

[big bend gyrene]

Apologies to Ron Wilson for shifting the subject a bit from scallops to pins, though bet there's a good deal of correlation in where the numbers are lower / higher.

Micci_man, I fish between St. Marks and Econfina, and to 2True's point before the spring/summer flood years, in previous years we could fill up our live well fishing tipped sabikis in 15 to 30 minutes catching pins on every drop in waters between 3 to 10 feet while over grass. Past two years, we've struggled to put ANY in the boat, instead often going out to 20' waters before finding bait.

Salty Gator, if you see this what general area did you notice the pins finally showing up? St. Marks, Aucilla, Econ, or to the west? Just curious.

Back to the scallop correlation with the missing pins, this past year tried scalloping at spots we had luck in previous years out of Econfina and found ONE single solitary baby scallop.

[Salty Gator]

Ron, I also apologize for the derail. BBG, I've been west of where u usually put in. We've done well in lanark, on dog island reef, and ochlockonee shoals. The furthest east I know of pins is the long bar in st marks ( a buddy found then there last week)

[Ron Wilson]

No issues. Good discussion. Went out a couple weeks ago and laid out the trap for the first time. Disappointed in results - maybe it wasn't my poor positioning of the trap like I thought.