Nature Coast fishing at its best

Last weekend marked the start of the 2011 scallop season and the the season is off to a great start. The scallops seem to be off Hernando Beach in good numbers and are big for this early in the season. We had a lot of much needed rain and clouds last week which seemed to really wake up the backcountry bite. Good fishing combined with lots of scallops is another reason I love fishing this area of the Nature Coast. Look for the scallops in 3 - 7 ft of water from Hernando Beach to Chassahowitzka. Look for grassy bottom but you will also find great numbers of these tasty bivalves of sandy bottom with light grass. You will often see a fleet of boats in the distance scalloping. You can harvest 2 gallons of scallops per angler( max. of 10 gal. per boat) which was not difficult to get last week. Once scallopers get their limit, the real work begins. Cleaning scallops is time consuming but worth the effort. A butter knife and a shop vac are my preferred cleaning tools. Take your scallops and place them in a ice/water slurry. the cold slurry allows the scallop muscle to relax causing the scallop to open. Scrape the scallop meat from the top of the shell and remove the top portion of the shell. This will reveal the white meat surrounded by the slimy insides. Hold the shell up to the shop vac and the insides will be sucked away leaving the tasty whit meat. If you don't have a vac then carefully use the knife and you thumb to grab the insides and pull them free. Gently scrape the meat from the shell and drop it in some ice water. The red fish were really on the move and feeding with this cloudy and rainy weather. The cooler water and cloudy conditions made for some happy red fish. Live pin fish and white bait are great baits. Pitch these bait along mangrove shore lines on a high tide and hold on. This is a great time to get on the water and enjoy some good fishing and scalloping. We still have open days and look forward to getting your group out there for your own fresh fish on a bed of scallops! Good luck out there and tight lines! Capt. Keith Tomlinson Bulldog fishin Charters www.bulldogfishin.com (352)238-3581