clam digging

just saw in the daily liar that there is going to be clam digging this saturday and monday mocrocks

What I didn't see was a system for reserving your own square yard of clam beach.

yes every guy and his dog plus their sister will be out there digging..

5/142021


Well, with the prices of everything heading up and spreading out the days, there could be less people than normal.

It is a start, WDFW monitors this resource much better than other resources and tries to have digging as often as possible.............too many people, too many motorhomes, some on here can remember the "old days", you could buy a commercial clam license and dig all the clams you wanted, I missed out on this but in the late 60's you could dig "LOTS" in a year.

Even in the 60's-70's, traffic getting to the beach, was a bitch....East Aberdeen traffic lights will make people temperatures rise.

all of that traffic puts a lot of money in the local economy

Other than the beach food joints , some motels , and the usual tourist stuff not much other than sales tax as to economics and not much in employment. Now a days most folks drive right down and right back and do not stay when clamming. Westport does a lot of tourist stuff and RV's but that is mostly about fish.

I am not sure of its actual impact but one factor may be the shellfish possession limit which is one daily limit in fresh form.

8/22/2021


1. How was the digging????

2. Lots of people?????

3. Was the traffic bad?????

Arrived at the beach at about 6:15 am.... well ahead of the low tide.

Zero traffic at that hour.... and purposefully so.

There were a few folks that camped overnight... vehicles scattered on the beach about one every 100-150 yds. Steady stream of cars/trucks started pouring in after about 6:45 am.

First clam came to hand at 6:52 am on the photo time stamp. Took over an hour to top off 6 limits for our immediate crew. Extended group of 10 more buds joined us on the chosen patch of sand.

Took a few minutes to shed boots/waders, get cleaned up, crack a Corona, and get a GLORY pic of the crew. Exited the beach and on the highway at about 8:25 am... about an hour and a half BEFORE low water.

Steady traffic still pouring into the beach approach as we departed.

Pics soon.

This is about 1.5 hours before low water...


LIMITS for the crew!


Still pouring in as we left...


Sunday Brunch...


More here...

https://www.ifish.net/threads/official-clam-report-2021.1634287/post-16639618

5/17/2021

Doc:

Thanks, excellent job of answering questions.

Dang Doc - now I'm hungry again! Nicely done on the harvesting and the cooking!

How was the plane traffic?

Never made it that far south.

That's some good lookin' FP crab bait.