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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Chow / Wilderness It's Time for Razor Clams

Posted by on Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 1:04 PM

Good old Daniel Ayres of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife—he's the Cliff Mass of shellfish-hunting—has declared this weekend safe for clamming. (Populations are healthy, toxins are absent or tiny.)

razorclaming.jpg
  • Reena Kawal

The low tides this season are perfect for dinnertime:

Wednesday, Dec. 2 (6:32 p.m. -1.2 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors

Thursday, Dec. 3 (7:18 p.m. -1.4 ft.) Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks

Friday, Dec. 4 (8:04 p.m. -1.3 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks, Kalaloch

Saturday, Dec. 5 (8:51 p.m. -0.9 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks, Kalaloch

Last time I went, we were up before dawn with an army of other flashlight-carrying clammers staggering around like a pack of zombies. Snow fell on the beach (in April) but galoshing back to the beachside hotel room and frying up the clams in butter and garlic and having them with a small glass of wine was the best breakfast in recent memory—anyone's recent memory.

Razor clamming has also inspired one of my favorite parentheticals in Bar Exam:

Those out digging in the cold sand—mothers with toddlers in small-scale galoshes, old men of the sea with crabby expressions, out-of-towners carrying oversize buckets, one tweaker whose feet were bare but whose mind wore a protective coating of meth—took little notice of the snow.

You can walk to clamming beaches from the battered, but well-loved Iron Springs cabins.

 

Comments (11) RSS

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Will in Seattle 1
remember, only one geoduck per person ... and you need a permit
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on December 1, 2009 at 1:13 PM
sketchyalibi 2
Razor Clam was the name of my favorite waxing salon back home in Kansas.
Posted by sketchyalibi on December 1, 2009 at 1:14 PM
gloomy gus 3
Iron Springs, hooray! Beloved, if (figuratively) clammier every year.
Posted by gloomy gus on December 1, 2009 at 1:25 PM
4
Toxin free, if you don't count the deadly algal foam that killed thousands and thousands of seabirds off our coast...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/lo…
Posted by Peter F on December 1, 2009 at 1:34 PM
rob! 5
Hmmm... So my (usually) bare feet would get me labeled as a tweaker. Add a few twitches and mumbling, and I'd suddenly have a lot more personal space. More clams for me!
Posted by rob! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZBdUceCL5U on December 1, 2009 at 1:58 PM
laterite 6
I've been razor clamming before. It's usually bitter cold, windy, and raining or snowing. If someone is out there in bare feet, they're either completely insane or stoned to the gills.
Posted by laterite on December 1, 2009 at 2:17 PM
Will in Seattle 7
@6 or both.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on December 1, 2009 at 2:29 PM
Max Solomon 8
i thought Iron Springs closed. maybe that was the pool...
Posted by Max Solomon on December 1, 2009 at 3:09 PM
Will in Seattle 9
not sure, Max.
Posted by Will in Seattle http://www.facebook.com/WillSeattle on December 1, 2009 at 3:30 PM
Geni 10
I used to catch my limit as a little kid by going around and digging through the discard piles other people left behind, particularly the people using clam guns. They dig so fast sometimes that they miss the clam. ;-)
Posted by Geni on December 1, 2009 at 5:30 PM
razorclammer 11
:)
Posted by razorclammer on December 1, 2009 at 10:20 PM

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