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Score Scallops This Summer on Florida’s Sports Coast

By: TLP's Partners

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From mid-July to mid-August each year, Florida’s Sports Coast turns into one giant underwater scavenger hunt! Locals and visitors head into the shallow Gulf waters for scallop season—a tradition that mixes boating, snorkeling, seafood, and a little friendly competition. This year’s official dates? July 10 through August 18!

The Gulf’s Favorite Summer Game

The goal is simple: spot the glint of a bay scallop shell hiding among the seagrass, swim down, scoop it up, and drop it into your mesh bag before diving back down for another. Think of it as an underwater Easter egg hunt with dinner waiting at the finish line.

Since the waters off Florida’s Sports Coast are shallow enough for beginners, scalloping is especially popular with families. Most scallop beds sit in water about 4 to 8 feet deep, so all you need to bring is a mask, snorkel, fins, and a mesh bag.

Go with a Local Captain

If you’ve never scalloped before, hiring a charter is the move. Local captains know where to find scallops quickly, keep track of harvesting regulations, and often provide snorkeling gear and the fishing license needed for everyone on board.

After a morning on the water, your crew will likely head back with a cooler full of scallops ready for cleaning. Florida bay scallops are smaller and sweeter than sea scallops, and many locals keep the preparation simple—a quick sear in butter, a light fry, or tossed straight onto the grill.

And if cooking your scallops after a day in the sun sounds like too much work, places like Frankie’s Raw Bar will cook your cleaned catch for you.

Keep the Seafood Tour Going

Scallops may steal the spotlight during the summer months, but Florida’s Sports Coast has plenty of other Gulf seafood options you’ll want to sample while you’re in town.

In New Port Richey, Get Hooked Grill gives you a front-row seat to the Cotee River, where you can enjoy a Gulf Coast signature: grouper sandwiches. Or, if your crew worked up a serious appetite out on the water, the Captain’s Feast piles on clams, shrimp, calamari, and grouper all at once.

Seven minutes down the road, The Fish Guy doubles as both a seafood market and café. Order a fried seafood platter at the café counter, then grab Gulf shrimp, flounder, or grouper from the market side and head home with a cooler full of seafood.

Closer to Wesley Chapel and Zephyrhills, The Great Catch serves both Southern and Northeastern seafood favorites under one roof. You’ll find lobster rolls and Atlantic haddock alongside mahi mahi, scallops, and other Gulf Coast staples.

Scallop season may last only a few weeks, but seafood is part of the everyday playbook on Florida’s Sports Coast. Spend a day out on the Gulf, pull up a chair beside the river, or pack a cooler to take home. Around here, incredible seafood tends to find its way into the game plan!