# Crystal River scallop/fishing trip



## Bullshark

This was a great 3 days! It was really a kids trip with a few big boy outdoor outings. The plan was to also hog hunt but the place was really set up for kids or new hunters to kill hogs and Zach man is a little to small to kill his first hog so the older boys went and shot 4. We hit up the scallops and Reds. I only caught one Red BUT it was off topwater (super spook). That was a first for me and it was very cool to watch it explode on the bait. The scallops were spread out but there were many once found. I figured out a new trick! I took a towel and wrapped the anchor so it would not hurt the sea grass and let the boat drag it through the thick grass were it was hard to see the scallops. All I did was follow behind it and the scallops would just swim to me. awesome! We ended up getting our limit ever day and ate well. We did find a mating pair of king snakes in the fire pit and let the kids keep them for a few hours. We put them in a cooler for an hour to let them rest and they mated! that was cool to see a native snake procreate. It's a rare sight with all these exotics around now. Lots of pics!


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## Bullshark

more


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## Aquahollic

I'm glad you knew the difference between the Scarlet King snake (non-venomous) and the Coral snake (venomous). For those of you that don't know, the easiest way to remember is "if red touches black it's a friend of jack. If red touches yellow it can kill a fellow".


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## Flounder Hounder

Sound like a great weekend, good to see families out together.


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## sealark

Great job teaching the young ones about snakes. Unlike a lot on the forum that say kill any snake they see. Then they will complain about being overrun by rodents. Great report...


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## Bullshark

Aquahollic said:


> I'm glad you knew the difference between the Scarlet King snake (non-venomous) and the Coral snake (venomous). For those of you that don't know, the easiest way to remember is "if red touches black it's a friend of jack. If red touches yellow it can kill a fellow".


That's the first time seeing a actual king snake. I did notice some other differences. The color on the 2 king snakes was dull compared to the coral snake. Also they seemed to be a little fatter. It was very cool. It's been a while since I've seen a few types of snakes. I will crap a brick is I ever see another indigo snake. They are gone! I used to see them 4 or 5 times a week. I made it a point to ask homeowners in the Redlands when the last time they saw one and nobody has seen them in years. Stupid non-native species.


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## Bullshark

Zach did get bit by that snake..... I did get to see how good he can throw though.


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## SHunter

X2 on teaching kids about snakes as well as fishing. I completely agree with Sealark's comments that snakes are good and keep the rodents down. Those who love the outdoors need to understand how it works and be good stewards. We used to see the Indigo in the Everglades. My understanding is that they are rare there too. Great photos of some really cute kids. Glad that you had a good time in Crystal River.


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## Bullshark

SHunter said:


> X2 on teaching kids about snakes as well as fishing. I completely agree with Sealark's comments that snakes are good and keep the rodents down. Those who love the outdoors need to understand how it works and be good stewards. We used to see the Indigo in the Everglades. My understanding is that they are rare there too. Great photos of some really cute kids. Glad that you had a good time in Crystal River.


I just saw this. The indigo snakes are gone. The last time I saw one was 1997. I had to do a ton of inspections in the Redlands last year and made sure I asked the farmers. None of them has seen one in 10 years. They have all seen pythons.


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## osborne311

Wanted to chime in. Great pictures and that looked like a blast! 

As for the snakes. I find it hard to kill any snake but we are moving to that area soon. Do you have that big of a problem with non native species? If so, are they on the kill list or ??


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## Lineman

Looks like you folks had a great trip. Scallops, hogs, fish, snakes, the kids got alot more out of that than a trip to mickey HELL!


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