Last spring, I headed to the coast with my foraging friend Naomi and her pup. While the drive out had been sunny, once we got to the beach (appropriately-named Grayland), we had ourselves a misty morning for our razor clam expedition.
It was a busy morning, with a lot of people out in their rainboots, carrying their PVC guns and clam buckets. (Photo by Naomi Bishop http://www.thegastrognome.com/)
The process is relatively simple. You look for a tell in the sand - a small divot that indicates likelihood of a clam - then you shove your gun into the wet sand, driving straight down to trap the clam in the column of sand. You put your thumb over a hole on the gun to create suction, pull up and then let your thumb go to release the contents of the gun on the beach. Quickly, before the clam has a chance to burrow back in, you grab the critter from the pile of sand.(Photo by Naomi Bishop http://www.thegastrognome.com/)
Naomi gave me lots of helpful tips: make sure your gun goes in straight down in order to make it easier to get it all the way down. If you don't get the clam out with the column of sand, you might be able to reach down and grab it in the hole, but they tend to race downwards and you might find yourself battling to tug it back out. (Photo by Naomi Bishop http://www.thegastrognome.com/)
This woman not only had a great sweatshirt, she also was a generous soul, and let me and Naomi use her swankier and much more ergonomic clam gun since she'd already reached her limit.
While we wound up with a few little guys, and some that got a little mangled from being hit by the gun (you have to keep those, too, though, and they count against your limit), overall it was a successful day.
Home to clean and cook!
I made clam chowder. I used a modified version of this recipe, subbing some roasted vegetable stock for the clam juice and skipping the bacon: http://bit.ly/YHRQwP. I have to be honest: this chowder was *delicious* but it was already delicious before the clams went in. I might just keep this as a tasty potato chowder recipe and stick with more clam-showcasing dishes for my next foray. After all that work, you don't want to lose the clam in a show someone else is starring in.
And based on Naomi's recommendation, I fried up the razor clam "feet" to eat with a little homemade tartar sauce (not cuz I'm fancy but because I didn't have any tartar sauce). You can check out Naomi's article for even more details on the day and some additional great tips on catching, cleaning and cooking! http://eatyourworld.com/blog/from_shore_to_table_digging_cleaning_and_cooking_razor_clams_in_washington And here's where you can find current razor clam information on the WDFW website: http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/razorclams/current.html