Photo by Don Hershonam
Scallop harvesting along the Big Bend area of the West Coast of Florida has become quite popular as it can be a fun family vacation during the hot Florida summers. The best spots for hunting scallops can be found in the grass flats off Homosassa, Crystal River, Stienhatchee, and Port St. Joe in 4 to 8 feet of water. The unique up swelling of fresh water springs mixed with the Gulf of Mexico salt water makes for ideal conditions for scalloping.
Keystone Dive Products (KDP) is introducing a new catch bag product, called the “Shellfish Inn”, for hunting scallops, stone crab and clams. The Shellfish Inn shown in the inserted photos, is designed to allow the hunter to capture the prey and safely retain their catch in a mesh bag without the fear of losing their precious catch everytime the bag is opened. Once the prey is inserted through the one-way flap in the 4-inch diameter mouth/throat, the catch cannot escape until you are ready to remove it. The mouth attaches to an 18 by 12 inch, black mesh bag with a heavy-duty, plastic bottomzipper for easy catch removal. The shellfish Inn also has a convient D-ring attachment so it can be simply clipped to the diver to allow for hands free swimming. The strong handle allows the hunter to easily manuever the bag to capture the prey and lift the full catch bag into the boat.