Did anyone else get out for the final glorious morning of clam digging? Had to pass on an invitation to fish springers on the Big C (on call for the local hospital emergency room), so I decided to do a little local clam digging instead.
Drug three of my girls out of bed at 0700 (Augh, Dad, no cartoons?), packed up the van and headed West. First stop, the golden arches in Aberdeen.... uh oh, half the county had the same idea.... cars wrapped all the way around the drive-thru, and the lobby inside was packed with people waiting to order.
Plan B... Safeway for bagels, doughnuts, and coffee. The drive to the beach passes quickly as we all munch away, singing to country radio between bites. Yeah... they like Toby, Martina, Alan Jackson, Faith, Tim, and Brooks & Dunn.
With all the cars on the highway, I'm thinking it is gonna be a zoo out there. Pull up to the beach, and lo and behold, there's hardly anyone digging at one of our favorite North Beach haunts. The big bonus was the excellent weather, very light winds, and almost no swell.... perfect conditions!
We had quite the team strategy going. My oldest would help me spot the clams, I would start the holes with the shovel, and we all took turns grabbing for the clams . (Would that qualify as fishing for the grab, Bruce?)
In an hour and a half we're walking back to the van with 60 clams. Lots of clams showing, but most were dinks that we didn't even bother digging over. With a little pickiness, about a third of what we took were jumbos with shells over 6 inches long. The rest were mediums in the 4.5 to 5 inch range.
On the way back to the van, the girls dug up some nice sand shrimp with the clam gun. Stayed for another hour and a half trying for surf perch, but never got a bump.... unusual for this time of year.
All in all a great day spending quality time with my daughters. Even got to bring home something for the table on this trip.... which is more than I can say for my last two all-day trips for Columbia River springers!
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