This weekend we had plans to camp near Ft Stevens in Hammond, Oregon. There was a good clam-tide, so we hit the beach early on Saturday... along with the crowds.The weather broke and was beautiful. Recognize the beach?
Shhh... its a secret spot.
We didn't take a clam gun, and dug by hand.As we approached the beach, truck after truck was leaving. Several other groups reported easy limits as we hit the sand.
The beach was pretty picked over, but we found one right off. Not a very impressive start...
We hit paydirt right after the first tiny one. One good clam is great motivation.
The cool water and hot sun were very nice. No boots or waders, just feet in the sand.
We had good success in the water, and out of the water.We would follow big groups, and find the dimples they had missed - and there were always clams missed. Especially when the stretch of beach had sat for a while without shovel-prodding.
Here's a good one... lets get it!
Go boy, go! Faster... he's getting away!Most of the clams were about 18" to 24" deep.
It is the first foot that is the hardest by hand.
Got him!
A pretty good crowd out for the nice weather and the good tide.Everyone was pretty friendly.
Here's a really nice one.
As the tide started coming back in, alot of other critters, including worms were tricking us.Or maybe we were just trigger happy and eager to keep digging.
After an hour-n-a-half, we had a good sack full. Good thing - our hands were getting TIRED!Next time we'll take a clam gun - we could have easily limited out for both of us.
We got plenty, and had fun.
Here's the catch between us - not bad for goofing off. We actually did better than many of the clammers with guns.As you can see, some of these are really nice and big. We kept the smaller ones that were busted up - they probably wouldn't survive and they will cook up nice, too.
Great morning on the beach.
