Taste of Summer

An 11:30 a.m. low tide and 50-degree air temp helped form my decision. The plan was to rake local quahogs for a Sunday feast of stuffed clams and clams casino. After having success at this particular spot in September, confidence was high that I would find hard shells where I left them. That morning I layered up like it was a winter steelhead trip and waded into the 41-degree Long Island Sound. 

The tool for this is a long-handled rake with steel tines protruding from a wire basket on its business end. When the tines come in contact a clam, there is a distinct feel and sound that helps differentiate between a quahog and say a rock or empty shell. Let me cut to the chase and admit that I didn't hear any good sounds while raking that morning. I tried out deep, in shallow, and even on an exposed flat at dead low tide. For more than an hour, I moved all over the place and used muscles I didn't know I had, yet never zeroed in on where the bivalves were burrowed. 

One thing I learned is that I still have a lot to learn when it comes to clamming. Perhaps they were in water deeper than I could wade. Or maybe the clams were buried deeper in the sand and mud than the rake could reach. This is not a heavily pressured area, so I know it hasn't been picked over. Wherever they were, it wasn't where they were just a few months ago.

On to plan B. 

There was just enough time to call an audible. My wife and daughters were coming to meet me and friends at the beach for lunch. I reached them before they left the house and requested another tool for a different kind of clamming. Soft shells, affectionately known by many as "steamers", are also found in this general vicinity, but in a precise area buried under a specific substrate. 

While the quahogs here live in soft sand and mud in open water, the steamers prefer life under a rocky bar that extends perpendicular to the beach. Getting at them requires a short-handled tool, like a garden claw or trowel. Instead of wading and raking in water, this method consists of kneeling and digging on dry land during the low tide window. My tactic is to throw a heavy rock on the bar to see where the soft shells spit sea water from their siphons. In the summer, one toss of a softball-sized rock could unleash several clues on where to pinpoint digging efforts. On this day, nothing. Zip. Nada. 

Instead of calling it quits, I dug a trench where they'd normally be and, sure enough, I found one about six inches down. It was a slow slog, but I kept at it and they came in small bunches of two or three every couple minutes. It was hard work for an appetizer, but I was pot committed (pun intended). The take home count was around 50 steamers, which is a perfect quantity for our family of four. Everyone was happy for a taste of summer; broth, butter and all. 

While I didn't come home empty handed, I did strike out on my original plan. Winter clamming for quahogs is something I'd really like to focus on. It goes to show, no matter how much time we spend on the water, there will always be so much more to learn. 

Summer Daze

Time is flying by at mach speed. Back in May our family was blessed with another baby girl. She's growing like a weed and doing new things everyday. She also makes it three girls vs. one guy in our household. While heavily outnumbered, I'm holding my own and still getting on the water when I can. It's been a fun summer so far and we're about to kick it up a notch with a trip to Cape Cod tomorrow--it's become a great tradition and one we hope to continue for many years. Enjoy your families and fish when you can.

Steamers

A seafood lover I have always been and shellfish are near the top of my list. With last weekend being the unofficial start to summer, I set out to harvest some of my favorite treats from Long Island Sound. My first experience digging clams last year yielded a decent appetizer, but nothing like what friends and I uncovered during two recent low tides. The amount of soft-shell clams for the taking was quite impressive and kept our time on the rocks and mud to a minimum, which was a good thing as the digging and bending over can take a toll on your back. The most productive method for us was using a pitch fork for breaking the hard surface, then a smaller claw for picking through the mud and rock piles. We took home 60 on the first trip and broke triple digits on day two.  Needless to say, both sides of my family ate well over the weekend. Steamers always taste great, but they seem that much better when you dig them yourself.

Photo credit: Alex Moe

A Shore Thing

Long Island Sound has sparked quite a few hobbies of mine over the years, one of which is beach combing for sea glass. I love walking the shoreline on a dropping tide and picking up decades-old shards of frosted glass worn down by the elements. While glass is the most common thing I pick up at the beach, on occasion I'll hit the jackpot with something much older and more rare, Native American artifacts. It is not always easy determining what is a stone tool or not after hundreds, if not thousands, of years tumbling in the surf. Glass is much easier to spot, but uncommon colors like shades of blue, red, purple, and yellow are the coveted pieces. Sea glass is cool to give as gifts to friends and I am sitting on a stockpile at home that I'd like to turn into jewelry someday and make a buck or two. My younger brother and I visited a sea glass hotspot yesterday. We filled two 30-gallon bags with trash before the karma bank coughed up this nice find below. 

Later that day I kept the shore theme going and tried something I had been meaning to for a long time, clamming! As a seafood lover, it only seems natural that I hunt and gather my own on occasion. Whether it's bluefish or blue crab, the meal always tastes better when you catch it and cook it yourself. Soft-shell clams (a.k.a. steamers) are a favorite summertime appetizer in New England and beyond. As with many types of harvesting from the Sound, successful shell-fishing requires good location. I stumbled upon a productive spot just by watching veteran clammers fill their buckets each weekend. Shellfish regulations vary from town to town, so be sure to check your municipality's website before heading out. Clean water is a must for safe human consumption and without recent heavy rains, we had a perfect window give it a shot.

Soft-shell clams from Long Island Sound

The tools for digging steamers are easily attainable; a garden or spading fork, work gloves, a pad to kneel on, and a bucket.  The tasty bivalves are sometimes called "piss clams" for good reason, as their long necks or siphons, used to filter water for food, give up their location by squirting water when pressure is applied to the ground around them. Shell-fishermen simply throw rocks or bang their tools against the mud to locate their pissing quarry. Soft-shell clams have, you guessed it, soft shells, so be careful not to break them while digging. They are usually not much deeper than six inches and are often found in bunches. We dug more than five dozen clams in one afternoon session--not bad for a couple of rookies.   

An afternoon's haul of steamer clams

The clams should be kept in a bucket of saltwater so they can filter out the sand inside their shells. A few water changes and an overnight soak is ideal, but there is at least one way to speed up the purging process.  I learned that by adding a cup of cornmeal to the bucket helps. Apparently the steamers filter the cornmeal laden water, which causes irritation and forces them to spit out any silt and sand quicker. Some seafood fans prefer the sandy grit when eating shellfish, but I gave the cornmeal a try and it worked quite well. A few water changes and some cornmeal and we had a ready-to-cook appetizer in a few hours time. The cooking process is the easiest part of the deal. Steam the clams in a pot with an inch or two of water (cup of beer optional) until the shells open wide. After that pour water from the pot into a bowl for a dipping broth. You can melt butter in another bowl for some added post-broth flavor, although these clams were so sweet they didn't need it!

There is no better appetizer for summer in New England