Clammin in a snow storm

[Palawanbound]

Had a great time with the family in Scituate,Ma.,got to see some of the ol guys I know from another time & got to speak with Capt.Sears,hopefully we can get together when I get back for the boat show.It was about 3:30 Thu. morning,I came clear of the bed & something told me to get my ass home,actually it was my wife telling me we had 8 inches of snow & git home to plow!I had just made it on to Maine soil when I heard a funny noise & the truck started to sway back & forth,not one of those times turning up the radio was going to make it go away.I finally got the truck jacked up but I couldn't get the damn tire off,the only thing I had of any use was my clam hoe,I never leave home without one,my wife thinks I have issues but at least I don't wear my hip boots when we go out.I finally got the tire on & proceeded to head for home,during my aultication with the damn tire I messed my back up so it was going to be a hard 3 hour ride.At the Portland exit for 295 the toll booth guy accused me of bringing the snow with me,oh yah I forgot to mention the damn white out snow storm after the tire incident,back pain can make you forget stuff,I tried to plead my case but he had already found me guilty so I paid my toll & headed for Deer Isle.I called my clam buddy when I got home & was glad to find that clams had gone to $1.10,could hardly wait to hit the flats,unfortunately my back is saying NO WAY,lucky for me it was to cold.I borrowed my cousins dvd on tuna fishing,I think I am going to take it easy this weekend watch the dvd & start the week fresh on Monday.I may never get rich monetarily but being able to go fishing when I want or clammin in a snow storm,does it get any better!

[Palawanbound]

DAMN IT!My cousin gave me the dvd box but left the dvd in his dvd player,I've watched it before but I get a kick out of the guy trying to shuck scallops,at least he catches a tuna even if he needs his helper to reel it in.Been thinkin tonight maybe I'll do a video of my buddy & I clammin who knows I might get enough money at $19.95(plus shippin) to pay Ken Flowers cash for the new 33 ft.,maybe we could do a series on clammers from the East coast & get that Mike Rowe to do the commentary,I think we may be on to sumthin!

[blacktide]

NE 20-25 no tide today! I see at 1.10$ your talking about steamers. Down here I'm talkin about hard clams,quohogs, Mercineria mercineria !!! I love the idea of using a clam fork to work on the truck!

[Palawanbound]

We have quahogs in my area but mainly they drag the mahogany quahogs further downeast.I use hen clams for my bait,really tough & the cod love'em.Sometimes I will dig some razor clams,strip them & they seem to catch their share of cod & haddock.I was some glad I had the clam hoe with me or I would have been in a mess,damn tire just didn't want to come off.I have used my clam hoe more times for other than clammin purposes,it's quite the tool!Sometimes I feel like a golfer,I have a hoe for sand,one for mud & one for diggin the rock piles,my buddy laughs because I bring them with me everywhere I go but at least I am ready to go no matter the bottom.I am going to take it easy this weekend but them clams better be ready for an ars woopin next week!

[Storm]

You clam diggers have to do everything the hard way - just because you can. If it were me, I'd take that plow truck of yours down onto the beach, crack a beer, drop the plow, and have at it. Plow a good trough of clams, pick up the clams, crack another beer or two, and drive home. I don't remember seeing any state regs that make it illegal to dig clams with a snow plow.

That's what I'm talking about!

[Bruce H]

Great thread,

I used to dig during the summer when I was a kid. It was great, usually had a pocket full of cash before most of my freinds even got out of bed. Ive only dug once during the winter...it sucked, I had no one to say keep diggin, you guys are animals!

Tried the occupation of commercial digger in Ipswich during the summer...gave it two summers and it truly was THE HARDEST job I have ever tried to excel at. Between broken back, fingers cut raw, greenhead bites, mosquitoes or midgies/no see'ums, legs rubbed raw and bloodied from PVC hip boots,...my whole hearted utmost respect to those who do it each and every day WOW! To this day when visiting my parents house I cringe when I hear the bump of 14-16ft skiffs on trailers hitting the bumps outside the window on their way to the ramp...

and the two years I did it the red tide was almost absent for the whole summer.

[WAHOONBOX]

FANTASTIC SUNDAY MORNING ENTERTAINMENT HERE! THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR WORLD WITH ME!

[Palawanbound]

Here's something I probably shouldn't share but what the hell,last summer I bought me a pair of 3/4 boots instead of the hip I THOUGHT it would make me a little more agile in the mud,so I could at least attempt to keep up with the young guys hand pickin versus me with my hoe,I was WRONG!I stood up to quick & fell over backwards in the soupiest mud you could imagine the only words I could come up with is "OH SHIT"my friend heard me & asked if I was O.K. I was but really stuck,mud was even filling my new boots,I looked around to make sure no one saw me,at least I didn't see anyone.When my friend tried to get me up I was stuck harder than he thought so he dug in with his feet & I prepared to push off with my mud hoe,this was not a good idea,when my friend started to pull I pushed off ,when he tried to step back he couldn't his feet were
planted solid in the mud,because he was falling bakwards he wouldn't let go of my hand & I had the mud hoe in my other hand so I wasn't able to put my hands in front of me & landed face first in the mud.My friend finally got himself free but I was stuck big time,he finally got me to the nearby ledge & all I could do is lay there,it was if I had dug hard the whole tide,I was beat.Do to poor eye site(mud in the eyes) I didn't notice the summer people that had been watchin us do our little mud dance,Apparantly they called the cops,they thought we were fightin & you better send an ambulance cause one of them isn't moving,the not moving was me I was just trying to catch my breath laying on the ledge amazing how comfortable rock weed can be especially when you don't care.Because it takes so long for the cops to come down to the island my friend had got me to the truck & we were gone before they or the ambulance got there.I was covered from head to toe with mud so I stripped down to my underwear & proceeded to get in the truck to drive to the clam buyer.My buddy thought I was nuts but I wasn't going to mud up the truck & have the wife give me hell over it considering it is actually her truck.When I didn't get out of the truck at the clam buyer he knew something was up & he couldn't leave it alone,when he come up to the truck window & looked in he knew right away what happened,yup done that before myself & started laughing.On the way home I needed gas or we were going to be walking so I pulled into the gas station for gas my friend thought I really was nuts but I told him better to get gas now or look stupid walking down the road with a guy in his underwear.I had to run the garden hose right into my new boots to wash them out,you never really get all the mud out but it is a reminder of what happened & I am real careful now when I dig in the mud,no more trying to keep up with the young guys I go at my own pace & that is that!

[aloop]

When I was in high school I use to dig quahogs out of Town Cove in Orleans using a bump rake scratching through the mud. Everyday after school until dark, I be out there. Sometimes my bother would work one side of the cove as I scratched the other. The days we worked together we would fight a lot. We would dig up until till the water got to warm then started digging steamers out in Nauset Harbor. Lots of Little Necks and Cherries. The Ronnie Rib bump rakes were used by a few others, my dad one of them, I used his rake. The rakes worked too well, in Town Cove any depth up to 5 feet was seemed barren after a few years, some other Cape towns prohibited the use of bump rakes claiming they were to efficient. With not hardly enough clams and scallops I gave it up and went land scraping instead. We usually sold locally but the big loads went to ARC.

[gottaflylee]

Palawanbound, this has been a great read, thanks for sharing you world, but the last story was priceless... Brought back the time we filled my boat till it sunk, 1 clam to many... I too know of this kind of mud in NC...