Clam Digging

[blynch]

Well at this point i feel pretty comfortable about catching every type of bait i need to use except one... Clams.  I understand they can be dug from mud flats, but that's where my knowledge of the matter ends.  What do you use to dig them with? What types of places should i be looking to dig, and what time of the year is best??

Thank you in advance
blynch

[Pfishingruven]

In NJ you have to have a recreational shellfishing license now which is $10.  You also need to check the map and schedule to see what areas are open to taken clams.  The clams you catch in the bay, are not the same ones you use for fishing bait.  The bait clams are usually 100% surf clams.  However, the ones you get in the Bays/Rivers are the eating kind, quahogs.  You will need a clam rake and they come in several types.  Tong rakes for off of a boat or dock/platform, scratch rakes and shinicock rakes(the ones with "built in baskets") for wading and raking them out.  You can also wade and do it by foot in bare feet .  It is best to do it on low tide or somewhere shallow, although in the mud/muck is probably the easiest. 

I have raked some surf clams at low tide while raking for calico crabs a few times and it is hard work.  You are constantly getting pounded by waves and have to wade out and walk parallel to the beach.  It is possible though.  I usually wait for a good storm to do the digging and go collect surf clams for salting or freezing.

Olclamman is a member here and he can help out a lot better than I can.  He goes multiple times a year for clams that he eats.  If you don't find him on this list, he seems to frequent the NJ Forum of BlueCrab.info which concentrates more on crabs and clams, etc...

Good Luck!

 

[IrishAyes]

Just remember, even if you are walking the beach and see a bunch of clams washed up, you need a clam license. 

[Luna Sea 5]

  unless nobody is watching

[Fishin Dude]

Is clamming like **** diving?  <'((((><

(edit) Hotrod Sez...

[CapBob]

I'm an old Bayshore boy and grew up using my feet   to be more productive you can use a small sratch rake.....


And don't forget you $10 permit

[seanr8w]

I can remember the toe diggin thing from when I was a youngin with my Gramps. I recall long grass with tiny snails all over it? (really really tiny snails). He would dig the clams up with his toes and when He found one he would send us kids under to grab it from under his toes. We didn't come up until we had the clam, with the help of him holding us down. I also remember crabbin baskets and Burlap Bags stuck in innertubes floatin around us to hold all of the clams. Here's to Pop  The reason I have fishin in the blood!

[Luna Sea 5]

i had almost the same memory from my Gramps in the Manahawkin Bay.

[wb]

i dug for clams with my feet til I found a broken bottle shard some doomas couldn't carry out

ouch 

i dun learned the hard way how to bleed and find the hopsital for stichin

[blynch]

This is a very informative thread, thank you everyone   

[Pfishingruven]

I'm glad I am not the only one here with clam digger in their blood !  I used to go out every weekend with my grandfather in the summer and do the same thing.  I always hated the mud in between my feet...it was always gross and slimy.  I still hate that feeling...sand is a completely different story.  That and I had to go eel fishing for him and then go home and clean it.  Nothing like nailing an eel through the head to a piece of wood and skinning it .

    

[nukeman]

Many fond memories of digging clams with your feet right off of the pier at the rumson beach.
Getting nipped by the blueclaw crabs was normal those days.
Got my new clamming boat

[Pfishingruven]

Got my new clamming boat

Need something for shade on that !

 

[seanr8w]

Many fond memories of digging clams with your feet right off of the pier at the rumson beach.
Getting nipped by the blueclaw crabs was normal those days.
Got my new clamming boat

[KMLIG]

i had almost the same memory from my Gramps in the Manahawkin Bay.

Me too but Barnegat Bay! Good memories!