Damn, what a day this morning! Got up to be out before low tide and there were a LOT of people out. After 45 minutes and a little hard work I had my limit of razor clams, and the two folks with me had their as well. Only muched 3 of them, so not bad for a beginner.

Long Beach wasn't as crowded as was expected, but the success was excellent. Saw many more blow holes than we needed. Still can't figure out why those folks with the shovels would pass them without digging, just because they didn't squirt when they hit their shovel nearby. Hitting all the spots that looked either like mini volcanos or small concave spots I only came up empty five times. Biggest was about five-and-a-half inches long (the shell). I've got them cleaned and vaccuum packed. Next is chowder!

Nice day on the beach, that's for sure.

dave, ive got the clam business figured out. i went fishing up north, and sent the wife and her friend to the beach to get the clams. they went three days in a row, and limited every day in no time. sounds like there are a lot of clams out there.

It's the same on the north Oregon beaches - for the first time in many years. The vehicle access about three miles north of Seaside, toward Gearhart, puts you on a long stretch of beach for an easy limit of great tasting razors! 3 of us limited 45 razors in about an hour last Tuesday. It was hard to pass over the little clam holes on the way to my Bronco. Really easy and fun.

But Dave, freezing razors for chowder? Aaaarrrggg. Several ways to fry or broil them breifly for one of the best fresh seafood meals one can experience. Actually, my son fried up 11 of my clams and minced up 4 of them and made some clam and lean bacon chowder that was excellent too.

Get after the bounty while you can.

45 minutes?? man dave you must be getting slower in your age, i got mine in 15( they where big ones too)

Might have seen ya there Dave. I was at Long Beach yesterday too, but was a bit later than I should have been in getting there. Clams were down deeper (heard they were really shallow earlier in the morning) and the low tide was just about turning by the time I got there. Oh well, still got pretty close to my limit before I decided to go. One thing I noticed was that the holes got progressively smaller (basically yielding smaller clams) as the tide turned and the day went on. About 50-60% of the clams I gunned, I crunched though. I did everything right too. Centered over the hole and slightly angled. Then I'd push down and heard that "crunch" sound. Sure hated to pull them up with the shells all busted. Fortunately didn't do much damage on the meat. All in all, it was a fun day. Clam virgin no longer!

BTW, did you see those two fat goons that were riding around on those red mopeds they rent out in Long Beach? They rode up and down the beach several times yelling gibberish at all the clammers. Then they went to the roads and were trying to peel-out at the stoplights. Obviously didn't work. I bet the cops pulled them over eventually.

We were done before the tide even bottomed out. That magic 5 mile marker was the ticket, and it was amazing how much of that area hadn't even been touched yet. The bio's estimated roughly 4 million clams in the area. We went up there as a combination "visit the relatives/dig the clams" kind of thing, otherwise I would have hit a closer destination.

Krome:

If you saw (heard) a loud rattlecan-green Chevy 350 going down the beach, then that was us. We were using aluminum guns so I could actually feel the crunch more than I could hear it. Of course my son was chattering too so that might have been the reason why I didn't hear it.

We also stopped by the Oysterville Sea Farm to pick up oysters for my sis ($4 a dozen is a great price) and I also picked up some of their roasted garlic butter *drool* and teriyaki smoked oysters. Great place.

Also got some whole sand dollars while out and kept some of the better clam shells for Tommy's school. Gotta love that show-and-tell action.

Oh, and I now have my 2002 Washington fresh water license. Fear that!

Well I think I did see you then. Remember seeing an older green chevy driving fast and ocassionally slowin' down to whip sh*thooks in the looser sand. Musta been you.

But anyway...does anybody have any tips for me so I can reduce the number of clams I smash? Any help's appreciated! Then next year I can come back with a mess of 'whole' clams.

Other than the normal "slight angle towards the ocean, center the gun over the hole" suggestions the only thing that my relatives could tell me was that they used to break a bunch too and it was all merely practice.

Dinner last night was clams in garlic butter microwaved for 5 minutes in a covered casserole dish. DAMN that was good. Now I need to go to Costco and get some of that Bear Valley instant potato soup mix for a good chowder base. I may have to go get a real, honest-to-goodness, heavy duty clam gun. Does that mean I can participate in the "packin'" thread when I get one?

Damn DJ, I was hoping this was going to be a springer post, from the header. :p
happy clammin, and those single shot clam guns are ok, but hard to conceal.

Boiled clams? Sounds gross. I only heard one other person say they boiled clams and that was a greenhorn. Here is a few tips from the experts around these parts, one being my mom.

First shell and clean your clams in cold water. Remove all guts and slime. Split open the digger w/ a pearing knife to remove the guts. Drain good then cover completely with flower, then dip in beaten egg, then cover w/ craker meal. Cook hot and fast. Works best in an electric frying pan. Pour in at least half inch of oil. Heat until it is poping at you. If it aint poping it's not hot enough. If you want tender claims clean in cold water and cook hot and fast. Lay clams in pan then sprinkle w/ black pepper and a little Johny's. Cook about 2 minutes till light, golden brown then flip and season and cook the other side.

The best fried clams I ever had the lady scalded the clams to open them which helped the slim to come off. She cooked them the same way described above and they were so tender you could cut through the necks w/ a fork. She is the only one I ever new of that could do that to a clam and not have it come out like shoe leather. Tried it once. Shoe leather!

It's hard messy cooking. Best if you have one person breading, one person cooking and maybe a kid to refill the flour, craker meal or whip up some more eggs, get the production line going. My neighbor always fried hers in the garage to keep the oil splatter mess and smell out of her kitchen.

Dave, the microwave thing sounds interesting. Think I'd like to give it a try. Just do it like you described? Sounds too easy and good.

Dave, that's exactly what I did. Centered over the hole and slightly angled. Guess it will just take some more practice then, like you say.

Maguana, that description sounds about the same as the way my mom fixed 'em last night. They were goood! mmm...

Here's a better breakdown of how we handled it:

• Place about a dozen clams in your sink and pour boiling water on them, just enough to open the shells. I actually saw a clam throw his shell open and flop right out of the shell. Cartoonish to the point that I expected it to hold up a wooden sign that said "OUCH!"
• Clean clam as normal, although we did not keep the digger and instead kept the neck and outer flesh. Cleaned clam looked similar to curly-tailed pork-based frog lure that banjo-pluckers use in the South to catch naaahse feeesh.

I think my wife put about two sticks of butter and some reconstituted garlic bits in with the clams into the covered bowl. Face it folks, if it doesn't have fat in it then it's gonna taste like crap.
After cooking for five minutes on high I was doing like you said...cutting those babies with a fork. Very filling.