No Digging in the Mud Without a Fishing License

August 6, 2009

Question:I can’t purchase a fishing license this year due to a citation I received last year while helping my friend take his abalone. The penalty was a one-year fishing prohibition, which I deeply regret.

I have now been invited to join some friends who will be clamming next weekend and I would like to know where my limit is. This may sound like I am pushing my limitation, but I would like to know before I get into more trouble. Obviously, I am not planning to take any clams that my friends catch, but I would like to join them while they are digging for clams.

Is digging mud considered fishing while only my friends who have licenses take clams that they find? I personally love nature, so I hope you can help me. As I mentioned, my goal is not taking clams, but joining with my friends in this fun event. (Jerry)

Answer: Sorry, Jerry. California Fish and Game law prohibits taking clams without a valid fishing license in your possession. Fish and Game laws also define taking clams to include any activity that can be considered to hunt, pursue, catch, capture or kill or attempt to hunt, pursue, catch, capture or kill any clam.

According to retired DFG Captain Phil Nelms, these laws mean that if you are digging in mud and you do not have a valid license, you may be arrested. You may also be arrested if you are in the mud and are with people who are taking clams even if you are not digging. It would be best to just watch your friends from a distance as they enjoy their clamming experience.

August 6, 2009

 You may also be arrested if you are in the mud and are with people who are taking clams even if you are not digging. It would be best to just watch your friends from a distance as they enjoy their clamming experience.

this is ridicules
lets take this to its logical conclusion
this means if im driving next to a drunk driver i can be aressted for drunk driving too

August 6, 2009

 You may also be arrested if you are in the mud and are with people who are taking clams even if you are not digging. It would be best to just watch your friends from a distance as they enjoy their clamming experience.

this is ridicules
lets take this to its logical conclusion
this means if im driving next to a drunk driver i can be aressted for drunk driving too

No it doesn't, and your logical conclusion is anything but logical. Carrie got this one right.

If I'm out with the group clamming I am actively participating in the hunt. I'm spotting shows. I'm noticing the best mud and soil composition for the species We are looking for. And I already have been cited for violations in the very recent past so there is no reason to give the benefit of the doubt.

This is a reminder for me.

Ever since my first trip outside the house and especially to the seashore when I was wee one, I have been fascinated with what lives under rocks, fallen logs, in tidepools, beach sand and even bay mud.

And when I have kids with me it's even worse, because I like to infect others with my fascination,

In recent years I've become much more respectful, usually leaving rocks unturned, and fallen logs where they lay, but still, tidepools and beach sand hold so many fascinating things.

One of these days I'm probably gonna get stung (by a reg), whether I have a license or not.  In the extreme sense allot of that type of stuff probably violates a reg of some sort.

I ticket for overturning a rock in a MPA seems about right. I wonder if that was an intended outcome of the law, writing tickets to kids looking for shells and sand crabs?

Get a small kids bucket and plastic shovel and leave "sand castles" everyone they go  

The original question itself is ridiculous in that he's clearly trying to push the limits of the law. The guy just got busted for "helping" a friend take an abalone and he's now asking how close he can come to the actual act of clamming while "helping" his friends take clams. And the rate of recidivism among DFW violators is what again ? 

 Someone actually had a license that was poaching abs?

August 6  It would be best to just watch your friends from a distance as they enjoy their clamming experience.

what is the appropiate distance,  10 ft, 100 ft     or is that up to the warden and how he feels ?
so its not about law. its about the guy with the ticket book and what he wants.

August 6  It would be best to just watch your friends from a distance as they enjoy their clamming experience.

what is the appropiate distance,  10 ft, 100 ft     or is that up to the warden and how he feels ?
so its not about law. its about the guy with the ticket book and what he wants.

The appropriate distance would be to stay where there are no clams.

August 6  It would be best to just watch your friends from a distance as they enjoy their clamming experience.

what is the appropiate distance,  10 ft, 100 ft     or is that up to the warden and how he feels ?
so its not about law. its about the guy with the ticket book and what he wants.

Just stay off the clam bed and he should be fine.

Someone actually had a license that was poaching abs?

Not necessarily "poaching" in the standard sense. He may have had a license, filled his tags for the day, and then assisted a diving partner in some way with the take of their abalone.

August 6  It would be best to just watch your friends from a distance as they enjoy their clamming experience.

what is the appropiate distance,  10 ft, 100 ft     or is that up to the warden and how he feels ?
so its not about law. its about the guy with the ticket book and what he wants.

I get where you're headed, but if you've just lost your license for a serious infraction, why are you even trying to push your luck ? Grab a lounge chair and a cold one an chill on shore while your buddies traipse around in the mud and you're in the clear.

August 6  It would be best to just watch your friends from a distance as they enjoy their clamming experience.

what is the appropiate distance,  10 ft, 100 ft     or is that up to the warden and how he feels ?
so its not about law. its about the guy with the ticket book and what he wants.

Just stay off the clam bed and he should be fine.

all serousnes     i ask    is it leagle to have a person without a fish license to operate a boat while i fish?

what is the appropiate distance,  10 ft, 100 ft     or is that up to the warden and how he feels ?
so its not about law. its about the guy with the ticket book and what he wants.

It is about the law.  But the law has to be interpreted and enforced by ppl/officers.  Game officer applies law on case by case, largely fact dependent.  Facts matter a great deal, and vary from one citation to the next. 

Jerry's q is sort of lame.  reminds me of a kid annoying you in minuscule but ever increasing doses to ascertain your saturation point

what is the appropiate distance,  10 ft, 100 ft     or is that up to the warden and how he feels ?
so its not about law. its about the guy with the ticket book and what he wants.

It is about the law.  But the law has to be interpreted and enforced by ppl/officers.  Game officer applies law on case by case, largely fact dependent.  Facts matter a great deal, and vary from one citation to the next. 

Jerry's q is sort of lame.  reminds me of a kid annoying you in minuscule but ever increasing doses to ascertain your saturation point

"Am I bugging you now ?"

"Am I bugging you NOW ?"

"Am I bugging you NNOOWWW ?"