Scalloping Equipment

[DavidInNH]

Anybody have an opinion on what size catch bag and what type of reel I should be looking at for scalloping? I've never done it before and plan on buying a 100# liftbag from my LDS but want to know what to get for the other pieces of equipment before I walk in.

Thanks.

 

[reefseal]

D,

You need your normal size catch bag for catchin' bugs. Most use something called a Pelican float (http://www.leisurepro.com/prod/PLN100.html) which is a float with a 100 foot line. You remove weight. Clip or tie to your bag and let float go all way up to surface. For all the time's I've gone lobstering, never needed a lift bag. Even if you hit the mother load and fill both your bags, I tie my pelican float to first bag. Continue on and when second bag is full, I tie my dive flag and go up line surfacing to where flag is. Once picked up by boat, then haul up both catches. I have seen some divers make mistake of not letting out enough line on flag only to find the flag is underwater.

I put the pelican float and 2nd bag in my first bag. As 1st bag full, take out 2nd bag and float.

The only adv. to lift bag is not dragging your full bag of scallops around. even with an almost full bag, it's not that difficult to move around carrying the bag. I doubt you'll hit the mother load and have this problem.

 

[Arduous]

You don't need a 100lb liftbag, a 50lb is fine. It's smaller, more compact and easier to use. I've done quite a bit of scalloping and have never needed more than a 50lb bag. As for a dive reel, use what ever you want. It's used for navigation, so you can find your way back to the boat anchor.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

I went scalloping last year....most of the stuff was done in two feet of water.

 

[Arduous]

I"ve never seen them shallower than 70 or 80-fsw in my area !

 

[Packhorse]

I have never used a liftbag or line for scallops. I was out on Wednesday at dusk and got 60 scallops in 7meters of water. Deepest I have ever scallop dived is about 20m. All went into my catch bag which was clipped to a waist D ring and this was fine.

Whats the limits where you are from?

Here it is 20 per diver per day plus another 20 per boat crew up to 2 boat crew.
Scallops must be 100mm wide at least and the season runs from 14 July -14 Feb

 

[LobstaMan]

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

 

[Arduous]

Forget the pecks and such. If I’m not mistaken, you can fill a one gallon bag with scallops. That’s just the scallop, not the shell. You can get the one gallon plastic zip-lock bags at any grocery store. This is what I’ve been doing for years. I believe it’s a one gallon per person / diver limit. Where I go it’s deep, and we always fill the bag.

 

[Packhorse]

All this talk of meters screws me up!!!

What kind of scallops are you hunting for down in NZ?

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

 

[pgdive]

Just FYI, here is an excellent article M Silvia wrote for us about scallops.

http://www.pgdive.com/pgdnewsscallops.htm

Paul