Good night of claming

[Mikej]

1969!! Holy cow, that is a long time ago. That's pretty close to the first time I ever went clamming. Lived in Utah and trailering with the fam in the NW and staying in Port Angeles. Dad befriended a guy in the restaurant who took dad and I clamming. The joke was, taking your date at night to the clam beds. With her in a skirt, when she screamed you knew where to dig! That's the first time I ever had fresh steamers. Now, eating bay clams, they seem a little strong to me though. For some reason you can't find a good bunch of steamer size clams in Garabaldi anymore though. And razor clams, IMO, are a waste in clam chowder, too mild.

Clam fritters.....
Ground clams, I grind the necks twice. Some flower, egg, dill, worcestershire. Drop the thick batter in spoonfuls into a hot oil/butter mix and cook turning 'till golden. Drain a bit and eat with lemon/tarter, what ever YOU like.

 

[Mikej]

Though two of us got 20 razor clams in 20 minutes, the mission last weekend had some learning curve. I assumed that all of those "vees" I noticed in the runoff were just black and brown pebbles. All identical size. Wonder how many clams I walked past...

Little pebbles and other flotsam will make the V, but once you get up close you can tell. There's also something we call a "Volcano" that will usually be up a little higher but still in sand just barely shimmering with water. Then there's various kinds of "Doughnuts", or more like the round hole in a doughnut. I like to look out a ways, with the light just right and you'll see the very slightest depression in the sand, maybe have a bit of darker sand in it. It would be hard to see when your standing right over it. Basically you have perfectly smooth sand, so any variation in that smoothness that is perfectly round can, and most likely is a clam.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I had to have the wife & kids watch me when the surf was going out (equilibrium problems) because I'd follow it out instead of walking parallel to the beach... strange stuff when yer body don't listen to yer brain!!!

 

[teflon6string]

GF asked me yesterday when we're going clamming again. Are they still "running?" Is there really a season?

 

[Mikej]

GF asked me yesterday when we're going clamming again. Are they still "running?" Is there really a season?

The beaches north of Tillamook Head (just south of Seaside) close July 15th to September 30th. There are some razors south of Tillamook head, few and far between though. Bay clamming is open in various bays along the coast year round, unless we get the closure because of toxins like last year.

Oh yeah, tell the GF clams don't run....They "Dig", ya' dig?

 

[mjbskwim]

I don't get jealous of much but this thread is getting me there.
We would go to Ocean City and get razor clams. There was 6 of us. Figured out later in life that we were just slave labor for mom,lol. We loved it but every limit was a meal.
We lived in Shelton on Totten inlet so clams and orsters we normal meals.

 

[Mikej]

We lived in Shelton on Totten inlet so clams and orsters we normal meals.

I don't imagine there's a local purveyer of oysters anywhere near you now.

I've only been into oysters for about ten years, clams many more, even before I moved to the NW in '83. Fresh local seafood used to be decent priced and readily available for the buying or picking yourself. NOW it seems the lions share of our local treasures get sent far away from the Northwest to people that will pay huge amounts for it! Pizzes me WAY off! In Astoria local oysters go for more than a buck a piece. I'm not a GD tourist, don't be screwin' me! Crab, used to go down to Garabaldi Dec 1st/seson opener and pick up 30 or so crab/dozens of oysters, what ever neighbors and friends wanted. Watch them cook em', help clean em' bring em' home and pass them out. Then the people in Garabaldi decided it was more important to ship the stuff out of area.

Crab prices should have stayed, or dropped due to diesel being 35%-40% less than a couple of years ago....F'em!

 

[mjbskwim]

I've been eating raw oysters for around 50 years
But I chew them,not just swallow them whole.
My dad would work for a local oyster farm every once in a while and bring home a bucket.
When I moved to Sequim I would drive down Hood canal and pick them off the state beaches.
You have to shuck them there and leave the shells but that's OK. I'd end up eating a limit before I left
Yeah all the seafood around here is frozen. But most frozen seafood you buy is flash frozen on the water.
My buddy is coming over to hunt deer this season and I'll send him some cash for salmon to smoke
It's just about done.......
The smoke house

 

[2A2Dend]

I eat raw oysters like when I'm at the strawberry farms picking berries. I eat half a flat of berries at least.
Then hurl.


The oysters
Must have beer.
I can eat a MESS of oysters fried though!!