Tomales clam report Wed. 19th

Met ChuckE out at Lawson's Landing at 10 and we suited up and headed down to the clam beds.  We had a photo shoot for the upcoming tutorial (Thanks Chuck) and started digging.  We made pretty easy limits of nice medium sized clams.  We got to see an absolute monster of a clam that a friend of mine dug.  I bet it was over 5 lbs.  Anyway, we had a little bit of wind and tide to fight on the way back to the beach.  We sat on the JZumi's deck (thanks John) and had some food and a couple beers and called it a day.  Oh, I forgot to mention the icing in the cake.  I shot a really nice Tom turkey on the way out to the beach  .  It was the Tomales Bifecta.  Chuck took all the pics so hopefully he can post a few for you guys to see.  I still don't have a digital camera.  I liked his and should invest in one soon.  We had a great day.
Dave

Dave,

Sounds like a great time.

Thanks in advance for the tutorial.  I've never dug for clams and really looking forward to it.


Randy

Looking forward to the tutorial and pictures.

BTW, how do they taste and what do you do to clean out all the sand in them?

Brian

They taste great and you can do many things with them.  We usually eat them ground up in clam cakes, linguine and clams, clam ceviche, or clam chowder.  I will post some recipes in that section when I have a little more time.  They are easy to clean.  You open the shell with a sharp knife and the entire clam is edible except the green intestine part that sort of winds through the body and some really squishy lung looking parts on the outside of the body.  I will have to defer to our local biologists for the technical terms of the clam parts.  Anyway, I just slice the neck lengthwise and rinse all the sand out of it.  There are two syphons  so make sure you open them both.  I soak the necks overnight to remove the skin, which should just peel off.  If you freeze them with the skin on it also peels off very easily when you thaw them.  I think that is about it.  Like digging them it is much easier to see it than to explain it.  There are just a couple subtle things that are hard to explain.  Ask ChuckE.  I think Mooch is a lover of the clam  .  I remember something about raw clam neck sushi or something like that after I went with SCWAFISH.  Anyway, I hope that helps. 
Dave

Chuck, Pics please.

Maybe the giant clam is a geoduck?

I believe they are Gaper clams.  They also have Washingtons and cockles out there, but we didn't dig any of those.  They have some Geoduck clams out there but they are very deep.  This one was a gaper.  Nate says he does get geoducks sometimes but he didn't get any Wednesday.  Chuck took home some nice ghost shrimp to use for sturgeon bait.  Maybe that is why he hasn't posted yet.  He is sturgeon fishing?
Dave

Met ChuckE out at Lawson's Landing at 10 and we suited up and headed down to the clam beds. We had a photo shoot for the upcoming tutorial (Thanks Chuck) and started digging. We made pretty easy limits of nice medium sized clams. We got to see an absolute monster of a clam that a friend of mine dug. I bet it was over 5 lbs. Anyway, we had a little bit of wind and tide to fight on the way back to the beach. We sat on the JZumi's deck (thanks John) and had some food and a couple beers and called it a day. Oh, I forgot to mention the icing in the cake. I shot a really nice Tom turkey on the way out to the beach . It was the Tomales Bifecta. Chuck took all the pics so hopefully he can post a few for you guys to see. I still don't have a digital camera. I liked his and should invest in one soon. We had a great day.
Dave

Guys... sorry for the late report.

First of all, I want to thank BigEye Dave for a great time at Tomales.  I learned a lot from a new friend and true master of the shovel (and the gun). 

Here's some of the pics you've been waiting for....
(I'll post the complete set of nice photos as a tutorial in our General Fishing Tips section)

Chuck - nice pics! I'm surprised you did not have some kikoman soy and some wasabi paste with you. Fresh Mirugai sashimi 

Looking forward to the tutorial and pictures.

BTW, how do they taste and what do you do to clean out all the sand in them?

Brian

Brian, here's a link I found with a clamming tutorial including cleaning instructions.
http://www.quiknet.com/kpearson/camp.html

They're a little work to clean especially with all of the sand in them, but they taste great.  Wednesday night, I made chowder.  Last night, I made ceviche... and for lunch today, I had it sashimi style, dipping it in wasabi soy sauce.  All absolutely delicious!!!!

Now you guys know why it took me so long to post the pics -- I was busy cleaning and eating clams. 

We are having linguine and clams tonight  .   Turkey on Sunday night    I just want to thank Chuck again for posting the pics and for the good beers he brought out.  We had a great time.  There are a few good tides coming up.  I know the 27th-30th of Aprill has good tides, but I will be family camping with SQWAFISH and his clan up at Stillwater cove that weekend.  If any of you guys want to come up ab diving/spearfishing let us know.  I'll post something on the hookups board also.  
Dave

Dave- you are truly an outdoorsman  It's really cool to "live off the land" (and water ) I think I'll try my hand with claming here in HMB. The clams here are small but enough to make some chowder 

Okay, Guys... Here's the link to the tutorial and photos!!!
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/bb/index.php?topic=3482.0