Scallop Season 2017
Great news the Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC) has approved no changes for the 2017 Scallop Season in Citrus County. This year’s season will begin on Saturday, July 1st and end on Sunday, September 24th. Florida’s scallop fishery has been open only to recreational harvest since commercial harvest and sale was prohibited in 1994. The daily bag limit for scallops throughout the allowable harvest zone has been 2 gallons of whole scallops (in the shell) or 1 pint of scallop meat (shucked) per person since 1995. In addition, no more than 10 gallons of whole scallops, or 1/2 gallon of scallop meat may be possessed on any vessel, regardless of the number of harvesters aboard.
Enjoy a scenic ride out the Homosassa River to the BEST scalloping grounds in the state. Snorkel in crystal clear water usually waist or chest deep over pristine grass flats and bag your limit of these tasty shellfish. Scalloping is part snorkeling experience, part treasure dive and part saltwater fishing experience that can be enjoyed by family members of all ages. Some clients will book an entire day and spend the morning scalloping and the afternoon swimming in the pristine clear spring water at the beginning of the Homosassa River. Spend quality time with your family and create memories that will last a lifetime!
The cost for this popular family activity is $350.00, for one to four people for a half day adventure and $75.00 for each additional person up to six people. We do two scallop charters per day, the morning charter is from 7 to 11 AM, and the afternoon charter is from Noon until 4 PM. We highly recommend the morning charters for a few reasons, fewer boats so it’s not as crowded and much safer, (especially weekends), it’s not as hot and less chance of summertime thunderstorms. We have perfected the technique of catching scallops in the ‘Sassa, and over the last few seasons, we usually catch our limit of scallops within two hours! We have many clients that return year after year and actually book a year in advance, to enjoy what is best described as an “Underwater Easter Egg Hunt”!!
This is our busiest season of the year, so book your scallop charters early! Most of the hotels located on the Homosassa River are already sold out for the entire season! Multiple boats are available for large parties or groups. We will again this season have our VIP Vessel available for scalloping in luxury! Captain Sean will be running the VIP Vessel a 25 foot luxury Bennington R series deck boat. Top of the line in comfort! Captain Sean will be doing two 6 hour trips per day this season from 7 to 1 PM and from 1 PM until 7 PM. The cost for the VIP experience is $89.00 per person. All of the VIP trips can be catered by Wild Sassa Food Trailer (ask for menu options), menu changes with market conditions. Check the “Scallops Charter Page” on our website for more details and also for pictures of our fleet of boats and Captains available for charter.
We also recommend watching the Scalloping 101 video on that page especially for folks that have not scalloped before. There are also three great scalloping videos recorded last season on the Video Gallery Page on our site. One titled Florida Travel which was recorded for VisitFlorida.com and the second and third recorded by Getting Stamped that includes some great drone footage! Actually all the videos on that page are pretty cool! Call now to reserve your charter as dates will book fast! We had our best season ever and booked 125 charters in the 92 day season last year!!
A tackle box is better than an Xbox any day!
Fishing is a real experience that create memories that will last forever!
“For Real & Forever”
Let’s go SCALLOPING!!!
Captain “Red ED” Brennan
“The Undisputed Scallop King of Citrus County”
Work: (352) 382-3939
Cell: (352) 476-1998