Admittedly, I haven't gone clamming in quite a few years, but we always did it by wading. The best bet was to wear two pairs of socks, this way you could feel the clams while avoiding at least some of the pinches of the crabs every now and then. My neighbor is a retired teacher who used to do some commercial clamming in the summer, and he said he could give me a couple of rakes for next season if I wanted to go clamming, so I might take him up on it.
It's a lot of fun, but we haven't done it in a while. I guess the recreational clamming grounds are still all near IBSP, right?