[talkse1]

Just got back from quick run to coast in search of the wiley razoo clam. Figured with low tide (+0.6) at about 3 PM I'd have to spend plenty of time to get my limit. Arrived @ 1:20PM, slipped on waders and jacket, got me net and clam gun and liesurely walked down to the surf. Every dig I set my gun into produced nice razor clams and when I finally paused some 10 minutes later I already had 9 in the bag!! So I began to slow down to look for the bigger shows and within the next 10 minutes I had my limit. They are all in the 6-8 inch size so I'm happy as a clam (they aren't). Dunno what the other folks were looking at but I saw a lot of empty nets being carried around and a lot of diggers not producing anything. Can only guess that they really don't know what to look for but the beaches are thick with them and this wasn't a minus tide today. Home early and stokin' up for tomorrows run with my daughter! Go get 'em folks!!!

 

[bear]

Us too all done and going home at 3:00 with 3 limits.

 

[HoldtheIce]

Awesome Report. As Lori and I were on our way out to town tonight, she noticed how low the tide was. I mentioned, there were some very low tides right now and how fun it would be to take the camper down over to the ocean, stay the weekend, and dig for Razer clams.

I'd never dug for Razers before and wouldn't even know what to look for. I'm a really good sand dollar finder though.

Sounds like you are dialed in!

 

[KingFisher85]

I just got back from long beach. It was slow and tuff. The surf was pounding hard and the clams where not showing very well. Did get our limits but had to work for them.

 

[trharder]

We tried Grayland Saturday. Not so much for us. Only got half our limits. I talked to one old guy that
said he had been clamming there for 73 years... He was leaving with two. We just weren't seeing the
shows like the last time we had been there. Lots of people walking around with empty or near empty
nets. The people that said they had been there on Friday said it was better that day. I don't know if
it was numbers or nature. ? We showed up like we were clamming pros and left with our tails between
our legs. LOL

 

[CalicoKeta]

Re: Hot Clamming!!

We are new to clamming but with some of the locals help we were able to limit within minutes; prior to the help we spent over an hour with no results.
We dug around the front of the hotel zone (Shilo inn) at Ocean Shores.
A lot of people were digging and a lot of people were limiting.

 

[seahunter]

Good claiming for us on Saturday. 4 people, two of which were rookies. Clammed north of Ocean Shores 90 minutes before low tide. Got 4 limits in 30 minutes. Many clams were nicely grouped so if you found one show and then kept your eyes open, you could dig two or three more within about a two foot radius. Wish it was as good for everyone.

 

[talkse1]

After limiting within 30-40 mins. on Fri. @ Grayland Beach I decided to take it on again Sat. instead of Ocean Shores, figured there might be less people concentrated there. Got 1 limit in about 45 mins. and then worked on filling out my daughter's net but by that time all the families with dogs, kids, etc. had arrived and were mindlessly running all over the beds and stomping around without knowing what to look for so finally gave up just 4 clams short of her limit. Figured that as the tide receded I'd get further out into the surf zone onto some good looking sand bars but the clams really seemed to be concentrated closer in...right where all the stomping was going on!! Guess you can figure where the clam population headed for after that horde ran over them. BTW..some of the old timers were walking away with very little in their nets.

 

[coach]

we have been clamming for many years also and know what we are doing, normally there are five or six of us going and we end up with our limits all around, sunday, 4 of os got ten clams between us , not quite sure what is going on

 

[Slowleak]

Saturday was a zoo at Copalis it looked like the Cabela’s parking lot. We met our kids and grandkids at the beach at 2:30 and didn’t actually start digging until after 3:00. It was a typical winter’s day on the coast: windy and rainy off and on and the surf was really pounding. I had to beat the snot out of the sand to get ‘em to show but managed a limit in about an hour. Mostly smallish 4�and 5� clams with an occasional 6� thrown in just to get you excited. My oldest step daughter was the only other one to limit in our group but she really worked for it and it took her almost until dark. The rest of the group had from 5-12 clams each except my step daughter’s boyfriend who only managed one 4� clam. All in all, we ended up with a nice bunch of clams considering the tough digging. We headed back to camp at dark and had an excellent dinner; I brought some lingcod from the freezer so we had fish, clams and chips.

Sunday was a different story; it was sunny with barely enough wind to fly a kite. It is what I would describe as the perfect January day on the beach and the clamming was unbelievable. The kids had to work so it was just me and the wife. We hit the beach at 3:30 and were back to the motorhome with limits by 4:00. At one point, I counted 20 “shows� around the spot my wife was digging. I don’t think I moved 50’ to get my limit. And the clams were much larger; big meaty 5-6� clams.is rarely talked about is the cumulative impacts of multiple release of spawning males on their survival. Clearly the survival of released pass is quite high and bass on the whole are great candidates for a CnR fishery. However with increased interest in fishing those bedding fish and the vulunerability of those bedding males (especially smallmouth) many of those males are being caught on a daily bases - often more than once a day. The end result is that over the spawning season and individual fish may be catch and release a dozen or more times. One only needs to look as some of those males at the end of the spawning season to see that some of those fish have become pin cushions. We need to remember that the largest fish in the population (those 5 pounders or larger fish) are typically 8 to 12 years old and would have spawned 4 to 8 times. Even with hooking mortalities of less than 1% the cumulative mortality over 4 or 5 years with a dozen or more captures per spawning season greatly reduces the probability of those fish living to those old ages needed to produce those "trophy" size fish. One some of the waters that I regularly fish 15 or 20 years ago I would see lots of 4 to 6 males on the beds but today I rarely see 4# fish in the same areas. Attribute the decline in those larger fish in large part to cumulative impacts of bed fishing.

Whether those cumulative impacts are concern I guess depends on you interest in having those larger fish in the popualtion/f

 

[Slowleak]

They are all in the 6-8 inch size

You must be measuring the necks too? If not, you have a state record.