What a great kick off to are 2021 Scalloping Season in Homosassa and Crystal River. This is starting to look like a banner year in the Homosassa Scalloping area. The Scallops have been in the sea grass beds in 2 feet on out to 7 feet water in the deepest spot. The best diving is in the Homosassa River area. Don’t forget about the Scallop Limits which is 2 gallons of Scallops in the shell per a person with a 10-gallon boat limit with five people or more on your boat. You also have different zones for scalloping so check when it’s open in your area. If you are a new scalloper or an old pro everyone can do it. The 2021 Scalloping Season in Homosassa and Crystal River area is open to September 24.
Scallops may try to swim away when they see you, but they do not swim extremely fast or far. Most people scallop from a boat and use a mask, snorkel, and fins. They anchor their boat, put up their dive flag and snorkel over the seagrass beds, collecting scallops by hand. Other useful equipment is a mesh catch bag to put your scallops in while you are snorkeling for more scallops.
Before Cleaning
When you come back to your boat, your catch should be immediately placed in a live well or 5-gallon buckets with saltwater. If you don’t want to do that you can put them on ice in a cooler keeping the scallops cool. You just want to make sure that the coolers drain plug open so the freshwater from the melting ice water. Scallops are quite sensitive to temperature and will quickly die if not kept cool or in buckets of water.
Cleaning Scallops
When you’re getting ready to clean your bounty of scallop’s, ice makes them easier to open. There are many different tools you can use to clean scallops, I like using a paring knife and i like bending the tip to the contour of the shell, or even a teaspoon, can be used to open the shells and cut the white muscle free, then discarding the shells and unwanted soft parts in the trash.
Looking to do a Scalloping charter give us a call at (813) 917-4989 or check out the website out at Homosassa Scalloping Charters
