Scallops in the GSB

[Crabman]

I've mentioned it a few times how the GSB water is really cleaning itself up. Clams are coming back in incredible numbers and the scallops are really making quite a comeback too. I don't feel there will be an overabundance of scallops this fall but I do believe they will release enough spat to really increase the population of these delicious shellfish next year. Unfortunately, while cruising around with my underwater lights, I'm amazed how much seaweed on the flats is gone. This is bad. The seaweed on the flats is where life begins in the GSB for so many species of creatures in the bay. I've been watching the same thing happen in New Smyrna Beach, FL. Known as the the Redfish Capital of the World, the seagrass is dying and the baitfish like small crabs, baitfish and shrimp have nowhere to hide. The redfishing pretty much sucks. That's what I'm seeing on our flats. Unfortunately, it's not just the grass disappearing but it's more importantly the rhizomes or horizontal root system which has died off and it gone. How long it will take to comeback is anyone's guess. Anyone can see the effect. If you remember, in the GSB we would come up to large patches of "eel" grass floating on the surface in the summer. While it was a pain having to deal with it, it came from the eel grass carpeted bottom of the bay. Everything lived in it. The dead patches of seaweed was a natural occurance and most importantly the rhizomes did. not die with it. It was kind of like the die off of grass and weeds on land but the root system was in place for next year. That's not happening in the bay. I tread clams a lot. I'm catching more scallops than I have in twenty years when we had a couple years of scallops until they died off again. Let's keep our fingers crossed the bay keeps recovering and new grass grows on the bay bottom.

 

[Crabman]

Although I this is a thread about the scallop return, the importance is not the scallop but the health of the GSB. We need the eel grass to recover. Back in the day, the eel grass held so much baitfish. I can remember long before skimmer chum. My Dad and his good buddy would drag an eight for seine net through the eel grass. I was too small at the time to be of any help but I watched. They would empty the contents of seaweed and anything else caught in a ten to fifteen foot pull with the net on the bottom and put it in a screened box. It was actually three box which fit inside of each other and each had different size mesh. It was heavy enough to stay on the bottom and the opening was above the surface. The contents was pour in the center box with the biggest mesh. The seaweed stayed in the inner box but the shrimp and any other baitfish would work their way out of the center box through the seaweed. Eventually, they worked their way to the outer box. The center box was removed and the seaweed tossed out. The next box with a smaller mesh than the center had large baitfish and grass shrimp. They were tossed in a bucket. The outside box, with the smallest mesh, was then picked up and it was amazing how much grass shrimp it contained. My Dad used the grass shrimp as chum for bass and the rare weakfish while fishing under the Captree Draw Bridge at night. He would give the shrimp a slight pinch and toss them over. Everything liked grass shrimp. Eventually he would get the shrimp and in the State Channel east of Frank and Dick's he setup on a piling on the south side just past the mash where that big flat was. On the outgoing tide, some baitfish would wash off the flats and the fluke concentrated in that area. By chumming with grass shrimp, he had the fluke right behind the boat on the slick got established. As a kid with his favorite rod and a Mitchell 300, I was in heaven catching fluke using that technique. Those days of that many grass shrimp on the flats is for the most part over. I feel, with the die off of the seaweed and resulting loss of grass shrimp along with other flats baitfish, it's another nail in the fluke coffin. You have to ask yourself, where are the shrimp and where are the abundance of killies. The decline of the killies is another story.

 

[Crabman]

Johnny Crab. Fastest shucker of clams and scallops on Long Island.

Yours truly 42 years ago.

Strong hands.

We had 20 bushels of the finest bay scallops in the world this day. That was not uncommon for us. Interesting fact, bay scallops only live 1 to 2 years. That's why their thin shell is scalloped. The scalloped texture makes the shell stronger like a corrugated box. When they open the season in the late fall, the scallops already released their spat for the scallops next year. We shucked until 0400 and were back out and catching more at it at 0800. John and I began opening clams at 13 year old while working at his Dad's Babylon Fish and Clam by the Babylon Village Dock. We both challenged each other on every dozen we opened. We were fast and the presentation was perfect.

 

[Snapprhead27]

I wonder if that's another reason for the decline in Flounder in the bay. No where for the baby ones to hide.

 

[Snapprhead27]

Some really great stories you have. Thanks for sharing!

 

[george]

Although I this is a thread about the scallop return, the importance is not the scallop but the health of the GSB. We need the eel grass to recover. Back in the day, the eel grass held so much baitfish. I can remember long before skimmer chum. My Dad and his good buddy would drag an eight for seine net through the eel grass. I was too small at the time to be of any help but I watched. They would empty the contents of seaweed and anything else caught in a ten to fifteen foot pull with the net on the bottom and put it in a screened box. It was actually three box which fit inside of each other and each had different size mesh. It was heavy enough to stay on the bottom and the opening was above the surface. The contents was pour in the center box with the biggest mesh. The seaweed stayed in the inner box but the shrimp and any other baitfish would work their way out of the center box through the seaweed. Eventually, they worked their way to the outer box. The center box was removed and the seaweed tossed out. The next box with a smaller mesh than the center had large baitfish and grass shrimp. They were tossed in a bucket. The outside box, with the smallest mesh, was then picked up and it was amazing how much grass shrimp it contained. My Dad used the grass shrimp as chum for bass and the rare weakfish while fishing under the Captree Draw Bridge at night. He would give the shrimp a slight pinch and toss them over. Everything liked grass shrimp. Eventually he would get the shrimp and in the State Channel east of Frank and Dick's he setup on a piling on the south side just past the mash where that big flat was. On the outgoing tide, some baitfish would wash off the flats and the fluke concentrated in that area. By chumming with grass shrimp, he had the fluke right behind the boat on the slick got established. As a kid with his favorite rod and a Mitchell 300, I was in heaven catching fluke using that technique. Those days of that many grass shrimp on the flats is for the most part over. I feel, with the die off of the seaweed and resulting loss of grass shrimp along with other flats baitfish, it's another nail in the fluke coffin. You have to ask yourself, where are the shrimp and where are the abundance of killies. The decline of the killies is another story.

Well @Crabman add this loss to all the others we have seen over the years. Can you honestly name any fishery that is better today than when you were a kid, maybe with the exception of striped bass? Politics ruined our fisheries. Scientists and biologists make recommendations but they end up as bargaining chips for politicians. Fisheries management is one of the biggest government failures.

 

[Crabman]

I wonder if that's another reason for the decline in Flounder in the bay. No where for the baby ones to hide.

That's a sad story we need to fix. I think we should have a bounty on cormorants. Not that they caused the decline alone but the eat everything the bay has to offer and are really good at it. Stocked trout, eels and other baitfish are all cormorant candy.

I worked with Phil Briggs from the NYSDEC searching for some answer about the decline of winter flounders. He was one of the top scientists at the DEC. My dredge boat was used to collect shells and other debris on the bay bottom. What he was looking for was flounder eggs. Flounders would attach their eggs on old shells and other debris. I have never seen a good batch of flounder eggs while dredging but I did see the orange eggs on the inside of a clam shell. I asked if he thought the eggs washed away in the dredge but they were struck on pretty good and he didn't feel that was a reason we didn't see more. Mr. Briggs was very discouraged at our results and had no answer as to why the flounders all but disappeared.

 

[OVERBORED]

That's a sad story we need to fix. I think we should have a bounty on cormorants. Not that they caused the decline alone but the eat everything the bay has to offer and are really good at it. Stocked trout, eels and other baitfish are all cormorant candy.

I worked with Phil Briggs from the NYSDEC searching for some answer about the decline of winter flounders. He was one of the top scientists at the DEC. My dredge boat was used to collect shells and other debris on the bay bottom. What he was looking for was flounder eggs. Flounders would attach their eggs on old shells and other debris. I have never seen a good batch of flounder eggs while dredging but I did see the orange eggs on the inside of a clam shell. I asked if he thought the eggs washed away in the dredge but they were struck on pretty good and he didn't feel that was a reason we didn't see more. Mr. Briggs was very discouraged at our results and had no answer as to why the flounders all but disappeared.

Eel grass, flounder.............. fertilizer overuse/misuse!

 

[Chinacat]

Back in the 70’s as a kid in Moriches the bay was paved with scallops and the water was so clear we would get them “snorkeling” with a trout net

 

[OVERBORED]

You can rake a bushel of little necks in no time in Jbay. Some would say they're ok to eat but I'm not one of them...lol

 

[Chinacat]

You can rake a bushel of little necks in no time in Jbay. Some would say they're ok to eat but I'm not one of them...lol

I would put myself in the NO F’in way category for that as well

 

[Crabman]

I would put myself in the NO F’in way category for that as well

Ditto. J-bay, no way. I would rather work a bit harder in clean water then eat clams from the Project's waste water.

 

[Matts]

There's about 7 times as many people living on Long Island than there should be, flushing their toilets, fertilizing their lawns, paving over marshes and bogs, putting sea walls on the shoreline, etc.