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This is our second trip up to Steinhatchee Florida and our second attempt to catch some scallops. Our first trip, two years ago, resulted in a total of 30 or so scallops. We were determined this year to make up for our failed past! We headed out at 3:30 am hauling Ronnie’s 24’ pontoon boat up behind the truck. This year Ronnie, Mike, Tim, Cindy, Andrea and I made the five hour trip. We stayed at the River Haven Marina & Motel http://www.riverhavenmarinaandmotel.com in a mobile home not too far from the marina. It is a comfortable, spacious place, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Day 1 Friday July 18, 2008:
We gathered up all our gear and headed down to the marina in hopes of a successful catch. As we were heading down the Steinhatchee River and nearly getting to the edge of the river mouth, our boat motor cut out. We drifted over to the side, and Mike took the engine cover off and proceeded to check things out. After about a half hour of work Mike got the engine running and but we decided to go in and get a new fuel hose at the Sea Hag Marina http://www.seahag.com. Mike and Ronnie changed out the hose and we were off to Deadman Bay.

We scalloped for about three and a half hours and gathered nearly eight gallons. I brought my GPS and marked a few good spots that we found. It was a little after 6:00 and we decided it was time to head in. As we were on our way in the engine started cutting out on us again. The only way we could keep the engine running was to pump gas into the engine a few times a minute and Ronnie did this the entire way back to the River Haven Marina & Motel.

After getting back to the marina we had to find someone to clean our scallops. We talked to some of the other people docking at the marina and they told us about a couple that did scallop cleaning over on Riverside Drive. We drove until we saw the sign that said “Scallops Cleaned Here $5.00 LB” and dropped off the buckets. In case any one needs scallops cleaned they should visit these people (they are located right across the street from Hungry Howies Pizza). They told us it would take them about and hour and a half to clean them and that we could pay when they were ready.

We drove back by the marina and met up with the girls who had just arrived. We decided to head back to the motel and get cleaned up and get ready to go out for dinner. We went out to “Fiddler’s Restaurant” http://www.fiddlersrestaurant.com for some scallops and a few drinks. We closed down the restaurant at 10:30 and decided to go back to the motel and get some rest.

Day 2 Saturday July 19, 2008:
We new we had some work to do on the boat engine before we were going to be able to scallop so we got up early and headed down to the marina. After some investigation we found the spark plugs were bad on the engine so we replaced them. After replacing the spark plugs the boat ran perfectly and we were ready to head out. All six of us boarded the pontoon boat and we headed out for another day of scalloping.

We knew today was going to be a special day on the boat because the girls were coming along for the ride. With the girls on the boat we now would be able to get 10 gallons of scallops instead of 8. We headed back out to Deadman Bay to some of our secret spots that we had marked with the GPS from the day before. I didn’t do an official count but I guarantee you that I saw more than one hundred boats scattered around Deadman Bay and south towards Rocky Creek. We scalloped for around five hours and reached our 10 gallon limit and headed in. We also saw some conch shells, jelly fish, mullet and a strange brown cucumber fish?

We arrived at the marina and headed to the couple that cleaned scallops and dropped off our two five gallon buckets and headed back to the motel. Ronnie was tired and decided to stay while the rest of us went out for dinner. We decided to try another restaurant and went to “Roy’s Restaurant” http://www.roys-restaurant.com. The food was good and the portions they served were huge. We decided after dinner to head back to the motel for a much needed rest. Check out the little bar across the street it is called Crabbie Dads Bar and Grille http://www.crabbiedads.com. Even though it is across the street our buzzer alerted us when our table at Roy’s was ready. You can’t take your drinks in there.

Day 3 Sunday July 20, 2008:
We knew this day was going to have to be a shorter day as we had a five hour drive ahead of us. We headed out of the Steinhatchee River into Deadman Bay for few hours of scalloping. I don’t believe Ronnie really was up for this third day on the water but was a good sport and went along. We scalloped for a couple of hours and gathered about four gallons of scallops and headed back to the marina.

By now we had this whole scalloping process down and were pros. I loaded up the bucket of scallops and took them down to be cleaned. While I was gone the other guys were getting the boat picked up and ready to be lifted out of the water. We all grabbed a quick shower at the marina and loaded up the boat ready for our trip back to Lake Wales.

In all, we netted about nine pounds of scallops which we all agreed to split six ways. I guess that really isn’t a huge amount of scallops per person but a good time was had by all. I hope to go back next year for another shot at scalloping and possibly we can take along some more people. Anyone interested in scalloping should know that the scallop season runs from July 1st and runs through September 10th and a current saltwater fishing license is required. Has anyone been here before?