Salt Water Fishing

[rich]

I don't own a boat, but I fish off the shore a lot. I also have friends and relatives with boats who invite me to fish. The way I see it, being boat-less ain't so bad. It's cheaper, and I know a lot of boaters who spend more time repairing their boats than they do fishing.

I don't catch as many fish per outing as the boaters do, but I do catch a lot of fish: stripers, blues, fluke, weaks.




...and, please, don't nobody invite me on the water during rough weather--all I can do then is provide extra chum.

[rich]

Clamming: not exactly fishing but fun to do. During the summer months, about three times a year, I go clamming. Long Island is the premier place for this, and, commercially our clams are sold throughout the country. Little Neck clams were named after that Long Island town. I’m talking hard-shell clams—also called quahogs, which is their Indian name. And hey, if you want to get really technical you can call them by their Latin name: Venus mercenaria, but only behind their backs.

I got a great place to clam. It’s on Jones Beach Island in Nassau County; and listen to this: if you’re a New York State resident, you don’t need a clamming license to clam on New York State public lands. As the NYSDEC says in big letters, “No permit is required for recreational shellfish harvesting from state lands.”

I’m now going to direct you to the exact spot. If you take the Meadowbrook Parkway south, go to the west side of Long Beach Island. If you time your trip before 8 AM you don’t even have to pay the eight bucks parking fee. (But--there’s always a “but”—you also need to remember to check the tide tables in you’re local paper. Remember? Low tide? ) Look for a sign that says Coast Guard station. Turn right on that road then another right into a parking lot a few hundred feet off the main road. Don’t pass it or else you’ll be at the main gate of the Coast Guard station--and in this day and age who knows what’ll happen?

Go to the end of the parking lot. Park near this lone building that contains restrooms—very convenient, no? Your destination is Short Island which really isn’t an island because, at low tide, you can walk right onto it without even getting your tootsies wet. Figure maybe a quarter mile to walk to where you’ll clam. Wear beat up sneakers. During the summer months you CAN’T clam inside the cove to your left. Clam the part of the island that’s exposed to the main channel. During the colder months you can clam inside the cove.

I’ll go over a lot of good stuff, including ‘certified waters,’ and especially how to rake those suckers up. But right now my two dogs and the one I’m puppy sitting for my daughter want to eat.

Be back.

[rich]

Sorry for the delay, but it couldn't be helped. The dogs were fed in no time. However, my time was taken up by the name of the two acre island I clam on. For some reason it gave me pause. I looked up the name in my "Geographia Nassau County Street Atlas" and found that they call it "Shore Beach Island" and not "Short Beach Island." This may not be important to you folks, but I'm a wordsmith and things like that stick in my craw. (hmm, crawfish harvesting...but that's another story.)

Anyway, I then went to a Jones Beach website and they say "Short Beach Island."--what's a clammer to do? Without contacting any reliable Long Island map makers, I figured I'd just be logical.

Point: Any of you folks ever been to a beach that didn't have a shore? That's what I figured. So what idiot would name this island "Shore Beach?" The only thing I could think of is some 18th century explorer who first sailed into Jones Beach inlet, and his name happened to be "Christopher Shore." I don't think so. Hey, it's a beach, it's short. Sue me.

I'll have to continue with the clamming aspect of this story tomorrow. The dogs are famished. Just consider this piece, as journalists would say, a sidebar.

[rich]

Okay, you’re in your bathing suit, have on your beat up sneakers. You’re toting a five gallon plastic pail and your clam rake. Incidentally, you can pick up a five gallon plastic pail at Home Depot for maybe three bucks. It also comes with a secure, tight cover so once you fill it up and put it in your car you won’t have clams bouncing around your newly shampooed car interior on your way home.

It’s best to have at least one other person with you. Clamming, if you use common sense, is not a dangerous pastime, but it’s always good to have somebody with you. So, you’re there at low tide. It doesn’t need to be dead low. It’s fine to show up a half hour or so before or after dead low.

I tie a short rope around my waste then tie the other end to the pail handle. Start raking in low water, maybe ten feet off the beach. Avoid an area where the sand looks roughed up, that means another clammer has been there recently (ON MY BEACH!) and that means there will be less clams to be had in that spot. Use two hands on the rake handle; you need to dig in those tines a bit. Move the rake like you would use a lawn rake. When you bring the basket toward you, bring it to your side--many an inexperienced clammer has stabbed himself in the foot with the tines. You can gradually go deeper. I recommend you go out until the water is slightly higher than waist high. Don’t forget you already have half a bucket of heavy clams plus the rake. You don’t want to be stupid. There are also tides moving the water in and out of the channel. I’d hate to see a guy floundering his way through Jones Inlet.


When you feel something hard chances are it’s a clam, or maybe two. Most times it won’t be in the basket on the first pass. You need to go over the same spot with a little more oomph. If, voila!—it’s a clam(s), put it in your pail and go over the same spot again. Odds are there is more than one in that same spot. Try to know where you’ve already raked, that way you won’t be trying to harvest where you’ve already reaped.

There are some rules and regulations to clamming. For instance, size. The smallest—which would be the Little Necks—must be at least one inch thick across the hinge, which means that if you lay a clam down you would measure from the bottom to the top. For your convenience the clam rake manufacturers deliberately space the basket holes slightly above one inch so that the little guys fall out. For recreational clamming you can’t use any mechanical means to harvest. That makes sense because you just know that some wise guy with a five hundred horsepower boat will attach a plow to his bow.

Okay, more on clamming tomorrow. Gotta feed my puppies.

[rich]

While clamming you’ll pick up all sizes. Generally, they come in four classes: from the smallest to the largest would be: Littlenecks, Cherrystones, Chowder, and the Is—this-a-clam-or-a-chunk-of-the-continental-shelf? I prefer Cherrystones. They run about two inches, and are the best for Clams Oreganata, (hey, look it up.) Clamming is good exercise as well, and you can work up an appetite just raking. Many a time while clamming I’d crack two together, put a dash of Tabasco sauce on them and eat them while I’m still in the water. Now, you can’t eat a fresher clam than that!

Okay, what do you think the catch limit is on clams? Surprise! You can keep one hundred of those babies—enough to fill that five gallon pail of yours. If two of you are there you can keep two hundred clams. Hell, the more folks the merrier. You can even invite your mother-in-law. Isn’t she worth a hundred clams? Don’t laugh, she’s probably a good cook—somebody you’re going to need when you take your catch home. Hell, I’ll bet the only thing most of you folks know about preparing food is opening up a ketchup packet and spreading it on a take-out order from Mickey Dees.

For good information on clamming, check out this site:

http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/marine/shellfish/index.html (http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/marine/shellfish/index.html)

This is the website of The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Now, with all those words in its title you know they’ll have a whole lot of information, especially in all its easy to get to links. They’ll tell you where you can and can’t clam. There are seasonal spots and spots that you can clam in any season. They provide maps and hotlines for up to the minute information, which includes not only clams, but oysters, mussels and scallops as well. What’d you think; Long Island waters would just have clams?

There’s also a good book on clamming; in fact, one of the few books I could find on clamming. It’s titled “The Compleat Clammer,” by Christopher R. Reaske. It not only teaches you how to clam, but gives you a history of shellfish to boot. How else would I know that a hard-shell clam’s Latin name is Venus mercenaria? If you get the book, just don’t get uppity and tell your friends that you’re going Venus mercenaria-ing soon.

More tomorrow.

© Rich

[rich]

Okay, you and a friend, and maybe your mother-in-law are home with your catch of, say, two pails of clams. They’ll vary in size. The Littlenecks are best eaten raw. You know: clams on the half shell. Since they’re the smallest in size, (and to most folks, the best eating) you wouldn’t want to shuck them for either baked clams or clam chowder. That’d be a lot of work for just a little meat. Keep them on ice a while, or refrigerate, to make them easier to open. They also taste better when icy cold.

To make seafood Cocktail, I’ll give you a list of ingredients. Use them in the combination and proportions you deem savory.

Onion, garlic (chopped), parsley, grated horseradish, lemon juice, soy sauce, and ketchup.

Just open your Littlenecks, leave them on the half a shell, and sprinkle your concoction accordingly. You can also do this with small Cherrystones, especially you guys with big mouths.

There are so many recipes for Quahogs, that you can write a cookbook on them. I’m merely skimming the surface of Quahog cuisine here. Now for my favorite: Clams Oraganato: I won’t give you a blow by blow recipe, but you’ll get the idea. This is where you can put your mother-in-law to work, especially you folks who live on frozen dinners. First pry her away from her grandkids, and pile the necessary ingredients on the kitchen counter. And that pile should consist of 4 dozen clams, clam broth, about a cup and a half of Italian seasoned bread crumbs, minced or powdered garlic at your discretion, one half teaspoon of oregano or more, and 4 strips of bacon.

Wash off the clams. If they’ve been sitting in the hot sun for too long, you may need a scrub brush. And for God’s sake, don’t use soap.

Preheat the oven, (that’ll be that boxy thing in the kitchen with a large door and grills on top) to 400 degrees. Open the clams by placing a dozen or so at a time into a large covered pot and place it on top of the stove at about medium heat. The clams will open in no time. Chop the clams by using a food processor. Not too much; you don’t want wind up with thick clam juice.

You mix the clams with the bread crumbs, and add about a half a cup of clam broth. (Hmmm, forgot to mention this: the juices left over in the stove top pot is your clam broth. I pour some of it into a small bowl or even large cup, using a piece of cheesecloth or a handkerchief—a CLEAN handkerchief.) Add enough broth to make the breadcrumbs moist. Stuff this concoction into one half of each clam shell. Smooth off the top of each shell, and try to be neat, please. Cut up your bacon and lay the strips on top of the filled shells, then bake those suckers at 400 degrees until you have nice, crispy bacon. This should give you about one dozen stuffed clams. If you want more, cook more.


There, now I told you all about hard-shell clams: where to find them, how to catch them, and how to eat them. So, why are you still here? Round up your spouse and kids and head for Jones Beach Island.

Mother-in-law optional.

[hrtlessbabe]

Clamming? See you in jail or prepare to pay some fines:clap:

where do you fish in Northshore?

[rich]

Nah, you don't need a permit to clam on Jones Beach if you're a New York State resident. I do have a clamming permit for Hempstead Township--five bucks--but I've yet to clam there.
(Point Lookout)

I seldom fish the Sound, but only because I'm on the South shore. Once a year I go black fishing on a charter boat out of City Island.


Clamming? See you in jail or prepare to pay some fines:clap:

where do you fish in Northshore?

[hrtlessbabe]

Nice! I am originally from Ma and NH, So not sure about the law about clamming and fishing.

[rich]

See? Now you, at least, know about the clamming aspect.