The upcoming dig is approved on the following beaches, dates and evening low tides:
Dec. 30, Friday, 7:22 p.m.; -0.4 feet; Copalis, Mocrocks
Dec. 31, Saturday; 7:57 p.m.; -0.4 feet; Copalis, Mocrocks

fp

fp:

You beat me to the posting....I'm glad WDFW allowed these last 2 digs of 2017...... will be a good way to end the year!!!!!

I think Doc gets some credit for pushing to get this opening.....

Weather gonna put a damper on NYE.... this is the nearshore coastal forecast on NOAA...

http://marine.weather.gov/MapClick.php?m...=1#.WGXKZTKZOJQ

Sat
S wind 5 to 15 kt...becoming W 25 to 35 kt in the afternoon. Combined seas 6 to 7 ft with a dominant period of 13 seconds... Building to 7 to 10 ft with a dominant period of 12 seconds.

Sat Night
NW wind 25 to 35 kt...becoming N 20 to 30 kt after midnight. Combined seas 12 to 15 ft with a dominant period of 10 seconds.

Could be a cold wet one.

The towns are filling up. I'll sit this one out.

Chompin at the bit waiting on my niece running more than a bit late driving down from Pugetropolis.

Tonight should be way nicer than tomorrow night.

Finally left the house just a bit before 5:30 pm... fully ONE hour after our appointed departure time. Caught up on her life while driving to the ocean.

Got to the beach, suited up for the chill, and fired up the lantern. Folks packin' up their gear that we talked to had already thrown in the towel.... "NOT SHOWING" was the consensus.

Miranda motioned toward another group walking back to their rig, "Uncle, those guys only have ONE clam in their bag!" she remarked with a bit of distress in her voice.

"Well, we're here.... what else are we gonna do? Gotta give it a go... nothing ventured, nothing gained," I replied.

Undeterred, we marched onto the clam beds a little after 6:30 pm. Not a breath of wind, calm surf, and a clear black sky through which to gaze upon the BIG-ness of the galaxy.... awesome and humbling.

I gave the young lady a quick tutorial on digging (or should I say sucking?) with the now infamous fp tube. Three minutes later, she was driving her tube over the first show of the evening... a dandy MOSSER! It was all downhill from there.

Pretty much a steady cadence to two limits... never more than 10 poundings from one show to the next. I set my tube aside and concentrated on holding the lantern and marking shows for my apprentice as she proceeded to extract 2/3 of our combined limits from the sand before relinquishing the tube from fatigue.... "UNCLE!"

We traded jobs and soon had our bags topped off to HEAVY limits.

She was pretty proud of herself... 3 dinks, 3 mediums, and 24 jumbos... and only 3 cracked clams in the bunch (the dinks)... one of which was mine! They were laying pretty deep tonight as virtually every calm would be found at the very bottom of each core, most waving HELLO with their diggers just as the mouth of the tube cleared the surface sand.

Hiked back to the car, cleaned/rinsed our gear and clams, stripped off our jackets (sweating from being overdressed) and popped open some liquid refreshment. Time stamp on the first glory pic below was 7:38 pm. Subtracting the time spent walking each way and the rinsing of gear, we got it done in about 35 minutes using only one tube.

Great evening spending QUALITY time with my lovely niece.

It was a nice night to be on the beach. I scratched out a limit but it wasn't quick or easy. Everyone else in our group of 6 had a tough time.

fat ones

Outstanding Doc. Nice work and awesome story!

Today
Light wind...becoming SW 15 to 25 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves less than 1 ft...building to 3 to 5 ft in the afternoon. W swell 7 ft at 12 seconds. A slight chance of rain in the morning...then a chance of rain in the afternoon.

Tonight
NW wind 20 to 30 kt. Wind waves 5 to 7 ft. W swell 10 ft at 11 seconds. Rain likely in the evening...then a chance of rain after midnight.

...

Brother's comin' down later tonight to give it a go and close out 2016 in grand PNW style. In other words miserably cold and wet, EARNING every stinkin' clam we might be lucky enough to get.... and I'm fool enough to take him!

Hell, with the northern blast headed our way, it could well be snowing before we make it home.

December 31, 2016 4:40 p.m.

Just got home from my "afternoon drive to the river", to check how boaters were doing on 1 of my local rivers....

Can tell you this, rain and more rain, and both lanes from Central Park to the West End of Montesano were "jammed" with bumper to bumper traffic, heading West. Now I'm not sure all the traffic was going clam digging BUT I'm thinking many of them were.

Hope the clams were showing for those braving the elements...

Happy New Year, may 2017 be the best year of your life, so far......

Still waiting to see the whites of my brothers eyes. If he doesn't get here by 6 PM it's a no go!

Thanks for the LIVE report, DW.... and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you, too!

One more LIVE report from the Ocean Shores Hwy just minutes ago... not much wind, but HARD rain.

Miracle of miracles!

HE ACTUALLY SHOWED! An hour and 10 late but we went out to brave the nastiness and got the dirty deed done!

Limits by the time it was low water.

Snow on the drive home along Ocean Shores Hwy



The final harvest of 2016 for my household.... Happy New Year to all!