Razor Clams are In!

[CW]

My wife, daughter and I went razor clam digging on Washington's Long Beach yesterday. Even though thousands of other clammers were out there, it was a great day with light breeze, beautiful sunset, and plenty of time to get clams before a lantern was needed. Some people stomp around, hoping they'll squirt like steamers do. I don't, I walk around, looking for the telltale dimple in the sand or the two holed tip of the siphon. We use the PVC clam "guns" to dig them out with, the limit is 15 per person. My daughter's job is to pick the clam out of the cylinder of sand I lift out and drop it into the bucket. People of all ages succeed at it and have fun and they taste great! A shellfish license is required. I highly recommend those Brats in the PNW give it a try if you haven't yet. Let the clams spit out the sand in a saltwater filled bucket overnight, blanch quickly in boiling water to get them to pop open, clean butterfly fashion, vacuum seal up some and the rest, dredge in flour, fry in hot canola oil, drain, salt with sea salt and dip in ketchup or cocktail sauce while still hot. MMMMMMMMM. C.W.

[Knotty C]

Don and I took my mom and dad to the Beach and we pulled four limits in less than 30 minutes. It was a beautiful day, unbelievable for late November. Getting ready to fix a feast of razor clams right now.

[dem]

can u take pictures of how to exactly clean these clams? Thanks.

[Jeff and Julie]

Can anyone give us any ideas on where we can go clamming around puget sound? We are specifically looking for the small white clams, little neck?? I think they call them steamers in the restaurants.

Thanks,
Julie

[sportner]

Good directions for cleaning, with pictures, can be found here http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/shelfish/razorclm/razor9.htm . Also some recipes and background.