Drifting Easy By Sue Foster

“I want to go clamming!”

I love to go clamming, especially in the summertime when you can walk around 
in the water without waders and cool off on a hot summer day.  Your chances 
of catching clams are much increased if you have access to a boat, but there 
are some places you can reach some clams from shore.

“Where can I go from shore?”

Starting from the North, you can go to "Holt's Landing" which is a very
good clamming area. It is part of the Delaware Seashore State Park and is 
located off Rt. 26.  You go north into Delaware to Bethany and make a left 
on Rt. 26.  Follow the signs.  You make a right in Clarksville and follow 
the signs. Visit the Fenwick-Bethany Chamber of Commerce to get a map before 
finding this area as it does involve a little trip into the country.

(You can also clam around the Cape Henelopen Pier in Lewes. You have to pay 
to get into the Cape Henlopen State Park.)

 Some people clam just south of the Indian River Inlet, but you must park on 
the side of the road and walk across the marsh. Always clam at low tide.

 In Ocean City, people find clams in the bars just offshore of Convention 
Hall at 41st Street.  At low tide, you can cover quite a bit of territory. 
Vacationers say they have the best luck walking north once in the water.  Of 
course, you can walk out across the marsh at any location, but be careful. 
Green marshes usually have areas that are quite muddy. You can find yourself 
up to your knees in soft mud!

 There are three clamming areas on Assateague.  The first one is in the
State park.  One has to park on the west side of the bridge and walk or bike 
over the bridge and clam on the east side. There is no parking on the east 
side and that's where the clams are!  (What many people do is get someone to 
drive them across the bridge and drop them and the clam rakes off. Avoid 
clamming there on a west wind. Those biting flies and mosquitoes can carry 
you away on the west shore of Assateague!

 The other two clamming areas are in the National Park.  After crossing over 
the Bridge going into Assateague, take a right and go to the National Park. 
Pay $10 to get into the park, and you will see the two areas for clamming. 
You need to walk out into the water chest deep at the lowest tide and rake 
in these areas to find the clams.

 When you are walking out into the water digging for clams, you will find, 
that just like fish, clams tend to congregate in one area. When you find one 
clam there are likely to be more. Feel the bottom and rake in areas of soft 
sand or mud. You usually don’t find many clams in the grassy bottom. You 
shouldn’t dig up the grass anyway.

What I do is drag the rake behind me and let it dig into the underwater sand 
on it’s own. When I hear a “clink” I go back and dig it up to see if it’s a 
clam. After you have clammed for a while, you will be able to “hear” the 
difference of the sound of hitting a clam verses hitting a shell or other 
piece of debris!  Once you find one, dig around in earnest in that area. You 
are likely to catch more. Just like fish, where there’s one there’s more!

“I have a boat. Where can I go?”

If you have a boat and clam in Indian River Bay there is an abundance of 
clams. Clamming on and next to the sandy bar near South Shore Marina is a 
great place to go. Just offshore of Holt’s Landing State Park is another 
good area.

In the Ocean City bay, the clamming is very good on the sand bar just 
offshore of Brachia Marina at 22nd Street. Many vacationers rent a boat for 
a couple of hours and clam there.
The large sand bar just North of the Route 50 Bridge holds lots of clams as 
well. They aren’t on the north end of the island though. Most of the clams 
are on the southwest section of that bar. Stay just offshore of the bird 
sanctuary signs. Some anglers call this “Bird Island.”  If you have a larger 
boat it is best to come around to the island from the East channel. It is 4 
or 5 feet right next to the southern most end of the green island. Come 
around the west side of it and head towards the sand bar. Anchor anywhere in 
there, hop overboard, and walk towards the sandy bar. There are clams all in 
there if you want to start raking as soon as your feet hit the bottom!

There are clams on the sand bar just offshore of Hooper’s Crab House just 
North of the Route 50 Bridge. There’s not as many as on the other islands, 
but it is a quick hop, skip, jump for the boats docked at Hooper’s.

Clams are abundant in the bay behind Assateague as well. Anywhere around the 
big islands offshore and west of buoy #10 and buoy #13 are clams. There aren’t 
many clams on the bar just east of #10 however.  Anywhere south of the 
Verrazano Bridge that you can anchor up, jump out of the boat, and start 
clamming will get you some clams. Many clammers go just south and west of 
the Bridge and clam there. We tried that a couple weeks ago and found plenty 
of clams there is waist deep water.  Offshore of the Old Ferry Landing Road 
(National Park of Assateague) is good for clamming.

There are no sand bars to walk on in the bay behind Assateague, as 
everything seems to be a bird sanctuary. Just anchor up in 3 feet of water 
or so and hop out of the boat and start digging.  Some clammers actually 
feel for the clams with their feet if they are in soft sand or mud. I wouldn’t 
do it with bare feet though. I would use a pair of water shoes.

In Ocean City and Indian River bay you can actually get close to the sand 
bars at low tide and walk in the water where you can see the bottom. 
Sometimes you can clam where there is no water at all. If you can see the 
bottom you can do what people call “signing.”  To “sign” a clam, you walk 
along and look for a “keyhole” in the sand. It’s hole in the sand that 
resembles a keyhole in a doorknob. On the incoming tide the clams will 
sometimes spit up water when you walk near them. They are really easy to 
see!

On the outgoing tide, they are not as easy to see. Sometimes the keyholes 
aren’t very pronounced and look like a dent in the sand. Sometimes the clams 
can be found by digging over black spots. (They dug in on the incoming tide 
and the darker mud below came to the surface and is sitting there on top of 
the sand.)

“What can I put my clams in while I’m clamming?”

A bucket, a mesh beach bag or chum bag works fine. Some people fashion a 
bushel basket inside an innertube.  Some tackle stores sell a really neat 
thing for holding clams.  It is called a Flo-Well Live Well that is a nylon 
mesh bag with a drawstring and a Styrofoam ring sewed into it so it floats. 
It is also fashioned with a sturdy rope so you can tie it to your waist and 
tote it along behind you as you clam. I’ve had one of these for years!   I 
love it for clamming!

               “What kind of clam rake should I buy?”

There are many different kinds of clam rakes. My favorite is the Down East 
clam rake as it is made in the USA, is forged instead of pinned for a longer 
life and has sharp tongs. The sharper the tongs, the easier it is to dig! 
You can buy clam rakes with a basket for finding small clams. You can buy 
3-piece clam rakes for traveling which is quite convenient.   The wooden 
handles are more comfortable to use, but they are one piece!

               I always purge my clams for a few hours before cooking them. 
Just put them in a bucket of fresh seawater or fresh water with some salt 
added if you are home. This flushes the sand out of the meat if you caught 
them on a running incoming tide.

Good clamming….
 
 
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