Scalloping Equipment

[MSilvia]

http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/bestfishguide/species/scallops.asp

Kuakua are a very different animal from the sea scallops (Placopecten Magellanicus) we dive for around here.

 

[Tampico_ED]

Equipment....One wife, two or three children, a comfortable chair and TV. Let the wife and co. loose...sit down and relax !!!

Ed

 

[jdelprete]

All this talk of meters screws me up!!!

What kind of scallops are you hunting for down in NZ? Here in the NE USA, we have two types -- bay scallop and the sea scallop. The later is the kind most frequently harvested by divers. You almost never find them in less than 50fsw and most often a little deeper--75+fsw. I know we have a limit, too, but it involves buschels or pecks or some other bizarre form of measurement. I've only gone a few times and never even filled the catch bag, so I've never used a spool and lift bag scalloping. However, I have used the reel to locate the anchor chain and good thing, too, viz was about 5 feet w/o stirring things up.

I've also seen people use an old milk crate. Fill it up, attach line, send up lift bag, retreive once on boat. That might get a bit heavy.

I'm planning on going first trip in April '07 and see how my luck goes.........

LobstaMan

let me know when you go, I'd love to try this. Been diving for sea clams and lobsetsr but never yet scallops....

 

[DavidInNH]

Thanks to all for the information. Especially the link to Matt Silvia's article. (And of course Reefseal's guidance - see you on-board!)

 

[LobstaMan]

Usually, when the seasonal charters(like BHDC and DayBreaker) open up for the spring in April, one of their first charters is to a scallop bed they've had luck with before. Keep your eyes peeled for those charters in April--I'm already planning on it. Easier to catch, but harder to find than lobsters. And boy, are they tasty!!

Maybe the year-round charters would run a scalloping trip in the winter and you could give that a try. But, I'm too much of a wimp to dive in the middle of winter.

LobstaMan

 

[reefseal]

I thought I heard Fran Marceaux (Cape Ann Charters) was holding off doing Scallop charters until the beds have a chance to build themselves up. IMHO, says a lot about the guy. He's got a great operation and top on my list for Charter operators.

 

[decapoddiver]

Some things I have learned about sea scalloping:

1. Scallops can be harvested year-round provided that everyone in in drysuits, is competent/familiar with scalloping, the weather is good and my boat runs

2. Scallops can be found in water less than 45'

3. Spring-hinge lobster bags will be ruined by repeated filling with scallops. I like the large mouth mesh bags with big handles. A scallop bag with a small hole isn't an issue. A bug bag with a small hole is a big problem

4. As others have suggested, I also like to send up a pelican float when a bag fills up and then move on to the other 2 bags. Usually bringing three bags works out to be about the air in a HP 120.

5. NEVER try to surface with a full scallop bag in your hands. EVER. I saw it happen. It was terrifying and it didn't work. Pelican floats are wonderful.

6. Scalloping is work. I lobster dive for fun. I scallop dive for meat

 

[MSilvia]

4. As others have suggested, I also like to send up a pelican float when a bag fills up and then move on to the other 2 bags. Usually bringing three bags works out to be about the air in a HP 120.

I didn't mention this technique in the article I wrote for PG Dive, but I've since seen it used, and it works great. One of these days, I'll have to give it a try.

5. NEVER try to surface with a full scallop bag in your hands. EVER. I saw it happen. It was terrifying and it didn't work. Pelican floats are wonderful.

You CAN safely surface with a full bag IF you have it's negative buoyancy offset with a lift bag. Keep it neutral, and it's no problem. A lift bag also makes it A LOT easier to move a partially filled (but still heavy) catch bag around on the bottom.

6. Scalloping is work. I lobster dive for fun. I scallop dive for meat

Yeah, but it's fun work!

 

[decapoddiver]

You CAN safely surface with a full bag IF you have it's negative buoyancy offset with a lift bag. Keep it neutral, and it's no problem. A lift bag also makes it A LOT easier to move a partially filled (but still heavy) catch bag around on the bottom.

If you notice, I didn't say "with a lift bag" I said "in your hands" Lift bags work well but I'd rather just pull them up once I'm in the boat. I also agree about attaching one to a partially filled bag. It cuts way down on drag.


BTW, why can't I attach a pic to this thread? Weird.

 

[Canadian.Diver]

If you want to go on the really cheap, use a plastic bucket overturned instead of a lift bag. I went scallop diving this year for the first time and this was the method used by a seasoned scallop diver for years. And if you come up without scallops you can use the bucket to cover your head in shame. Use the bucket to just make the bag of scallops neutrally bouyant and surface with them. Do not attach the bucket or any part of the setup to you.