Clamming

There is small town called Clam Gulch just a few miles of Soldotna, which is where our latest adventure took place. The beaches at Clam Gulch are famous for the hundreds of thousands of razor clams that are harvested there every year. Neither Brandon or I particularly like to eat clams, but our good friends Amy and Bryan do-so we decided to join them in trying our hand at clamming. Here is what we learned:

Step 1: Consult tide book. Clams can only be dug out of the sand at low tide. 

Step 2: Buy clam gun. When I heard this, imagined some shotgun looking-thing that you shoot into the sand in order to blow a hole deep enough to access the clams. This is wrong. Here is what a clam gun actually looks like:

Clam gun = a hollow aluminum cylinder used to pull up sand. No shooting involved.

Step 3: Wander the beach in search of small round holes in the sand. These holes/dimples are called "clam shows" - basically where the clams bury themselves in the sand.

Step 4: Drive clam gun straight down over the center of the hole, then pull up the column of sand. 

Step 4 is not for the faint of heart. Big muscles required. 

Step 5: Search through the sand you pulled out and collect your prize. 

We had an awesome time clamming. Not only was it exciting to stumble upon those little clam holes, but even more exciting when you dug out the sand and A-there was a clam there in the first place, B- you hadn't murdered the clam with your gun, and C-it was a nice big one. When all was said and done, we scored about 50 razor clams for the day. The boys stayed up till 2 a.m. cleaning them, and by then nobody felt like cooking, so we decided we would freeze them and try them another day. I see clam chowder in our near future... (: