Northwest Fishing Reports

I'm going clamming for the first time. I'm going to be going after littlenecks or butter clams (most likely). Once I get the clams, I've heard that they need to be soaked in something to get them to spit out all of the sand that they've ingested.

What should I soak them in and for how long?

Thanks in advance.

clams do not ingest sand but they often have sand inside them next to the neck. clams do ingest plankton and this is what makes up the green in their stomach. soak them in salt water that has cornmeal in it in over night. this way they eat the cornmeal and get rid of there stomach matter. I'vew found the smaller butter clams are the best.

I usually soak them in their own salt water. I've tried to make my own but they die pretty quickly. Hope this helps

big fish lite line wrote:clams do not ingest sand but they often have sand inside them next to the neck. clams do ingest plankton and this is what makes up the green in their stomach. soak them in salt water that has cornmeal in it in over night. this way they eat the cornmeal and get rid of there stomach matter. I'vew found the smaller butter clams are the best.

I did this overnight but some still had quite a bit of sand in them. They were small clams but I am not sure of what kind, Roundish shape and not geoducks. Why might there have been sand still in them?

I think the corn meal method only works for cleaning their stomach contents. but for some reason clams have sand that comes in next to their neck. last time I had clams I just rinsed the sand off after they had cooked and opened up.

If you dig the clams in a sandy area, they will have sand and theres nothing you can do about it. Well for that matter any of them will to a certain extent. If they are taken from a gravel beach with no sand you can get them pretty clean. Corn meal works but it's so boring. Who wants clams full of corn meal???? I've found that if you keep them in fresh (clean) cool sea water they'll last a few days and spit most of anything they have in their guts........ now for the fun! Use garlic powder and or onion powder instead of corn meal( 2 of the small bottles per 2.5 gals of clams). Let them sit for a couple days in a very cool spot, now you're talk'in! Next take a large pot and melt a few sticks of butter and a couple cups of white wine (any box will do) when the butters melted and the wine comes to a boil put the drained clams in and let them go till they open. Fish them out of the pot and reduce the liquid for dipping clams and bread. Get out a bib and have at them! This is not a low cal meal but a good one.

Two thumbs up on that advice...throwing my own in now too....I found that putting them in the Garage instead of the fridge helped too..not sure if it was just to cold for them or the light going on and off freaked em out...LOL..but 24hrs Plus in there worked better then fridge.

Bodofish wrote:I've found that if you keep them in fresh (clean) cool sea water they'll last a few days and spit most of anything they have in their guts

I agree with Bodofish. I have also let them be in fresh salt water from the Sound for a couple days. You can change out the water after 12 or so hours to insure that the water remains oxygenated enough to allow the clams to survive. In a few days most of, if not all of the sand should be gone. This is why I love muscles and oysters so much more than clams. The sand in clams is always a hassle so harvesting muscles or oysters or just buying them fresh at the market makes for some good eating without the sandy grit that is often associated with eating clams. I also don't like using the corn meal because that taste just doesn't please my taste buds at all. Good topic. Thanks.

I add cornmeal to the water and use an aerator stone in the buckets.Change water when you can.I got these pumps that plug into my lighter.

Here's what I do. I bring a 5 gl bucket of sea water home with me. I first scrub the clams in running fresh water, not submerging them or else they'll die. You'll be surprised how much sand comes off the clams. I then put the clams in an onion sack and hang he onion bag of clams in the bucket of sea water. I just have a board with a bent over nail that I hang the bag from and the board straddles the bucket. Tie the bag up so its at least 2" above the bottom of the bucket. Leave the bucket in a cool shady spot for a couple of days. The clams purge their guts gradually and they'll extend their necks out a bit so they flush out more sand. If the weathers warm I'll change the water out once. Since I live only a couple minutes from the Mukilteo boat launch its easy for me to get the sea water. Clams taste so much better when you don't have to crunch sand. Unsalted butter, dry white wine, chopped garlic, and a little parsley or cilantro make for great steaming. If the clams are gaggers (too big to for easy eating) I just rinse them in fresh water, put them on a cookie sheet and roast them in the oven until they open. Then its shuck, split, rinse the innards and sand out, trim off the necks, and either chop for chowder or grind for fritters.

Rinse em out real good after you pull em outta the tidelands. I bring em back in a 5 gal bucket with fresh saltwater. I stick that bucket in a quiet/dark place, and cover it with a towel. Give em fresh water once or twice a day, and if its real hot out, throw a few ice cubs in that bucket...

Overnight is a great period of time to let them sit. 12+ hours = better, but if you dig em first thing in the morning, they may be decent enough by dinner time.

Corn meal isn't necessary. Time works best to get that sand out.

The little soft shelled guy's were probably little horse clams or if you got them on a real minus tide baby ducks. Corn meal is so boring and ineffective, use garlic powder and for a kick use some powdered mustard along with it. I'm sure the cockle was chewy and if they get much bigger than about 2" across, the flavor gets pretty strong, OK for chowder if you clean them but as straight up eaters....... You're right on about different types having more sand than others and their environment has even more to do with it. I will only dig clams on a fine gravel beach as they have the least amout of sand. I love clams but one piece of sand between the teeth just gives me the willies and ruins the whole experience. There are a number of places around the sound where large numbers of Manila clams were introduced in the early fifties, they're quite prolific. They produced a lot of clam digg'in for those that planted them for many years. In the early seventies many of the tribes pushed the "we own all the beaches" card and dug up many to all of the clams (OK raped the beaches) that had the Manilas planted. They weren't native but I guess that didn't matter. After they raped the beaches and havested the clams with a tractor and plow without restoring the beach. There were no clams for years. It took almost twenty years for the clams to increase their populations to the point where one can dig them again. So if you are able to find a beach with Manilas and even better living in gravel, jack pot!!!!!