Digging for clams..........
The "digging" term is not really the method that I use to "catch" them. Actually it involves more "scraping" than digging. I take a good quality six foot long steel headed garden rake, the ones that are around 14" to 16" wide with tines up to 4" long. I modify the rake into a clam harvester with the use of an electric grinder by cutting the tines into thin knife like "Freddy Kruger" blades.
Clams of at least a dozen species abound on all of the shores of Bahia Adair to include Bahia La Choya. Each of those clam species has it's own preference for bottom composition (substrate), intertidal water depth and intertidal exposure to the desert heat and cold. The mud and sand flats exposed during the daily extreme low tides in front of JJ's Cantina and eastward around the bay are the preferred habitat of two species of delicious clams that number in the millions. They are the Chiones or Hard Shelled Cockles. The larger Chione californiensis prefers deeper water sand flats while the smaller Chione cortezi prefers the uppermost beach loose gravel flats. The larger one is easy to identify by its chalky white shell halves with heavy concentric ribs and the smaller one with glossy smooth shell halves and dark blue to black edges. The smaller C. cortezi has the sweetest meat of any clam that I have ever collected.
So, what you will need to do is "test" scrapes. As I walk out following the receding tide I do two foot long scrapes with the tines of the rake digging in maybe an inch deep. As I pull the rake towards me I will get "hits" most will be old dead shells and rocks but every so often it will be a more solid "thud". When I get the thud I back up the rake and dig deeper just in front of where I felt the thud. Nine times out of ten it will be a nice fresh clam. Their numbers vary depending on how heavily the area has been exploited or ignored. Sometimes I'll get two or three with each scrape other times only one in four or five scrapes. You will want to do a little exploring in order to find some good "clam beds".
When I'm just gathering enough for dinner I'll usually target the sweet C. cortezi closer to the beach. If I'm going to do a "meat run" I'll follow the receding tide out a half mile or more for C. californiensis.
Using the rake is not the only method for finding them. As the tide recedes the currents will expose live clams that you can just pick up. When the water is just a few inches deep you can dig around with your toes or fingers and locate quite a few. Or you can do it "sting ray style" and just pick a shallow spot, sit down and start scraping out a hole maybe six inches deep and as wide as you can reach with your hands or a small hand held four pronged garden cultivator, using this method you will unearth many larger clams that the rake would have missed. Also, be prepared for the foot long Sand Eels that might end up inside your shorts between your legs.
So, besides your rake you should have some sort of mesh net collecting bags and a bucket or two. On a meat run I'll usually gather several hundred clams that might weigh in at fifty or more pounds. We will sling the bag in the middle of the rake then shoulder the rake between us for the long walk back. As you collect your clams you should let them settle down in the sea water in a bucket or the bag, this will allow them to expel sand and poop that would otherwise end up in your steamer and mouth.
Back at the barn I use three methods to prepare them for chow. If it's a small load for immediate consumption I use a small pot with a veggie steamer sitting in a half inch of water, I keep an eye on them till they just start to open up then turn off the heat they will continue to cook and cool and eventually all will open up and be ready to pick out and dip in some lemon butter. If I have a good load of the larger C. californiensis I'll fire up my steel barbie pit with Mesquite or Ironwood and once the flames die down I'll put the grill on top and just place the clams over the heat. In a few minutes they will open up after being steamed in their own delicious juices. A drip of fresh lime or some salsa casera will top off the scrumptious little critters as you slurp them out of their shells.
Meat run prep is a more organized operation, especially if you have a hundred or more. I use a two bigger pots and steam them until the shells are wide open then dump them into the sink, after they are cool enough to handle I'll pick them out and bag them into Food Saver bags the vac pack them to freeze and haul back home to Yuma where I jazz up canned clam chowder with them.
So there!
Good hunting.
JJ
