Once a butter clam’s show is located, dig around it 6 to 12 inches deep until the clam is found. Using your fingers, find the clam and carefully remove it. Quickly pull out two or three shovels of sand, creating a hole to slide your hand in. Pull the shovel handle toward the ocean until the sand between the shovel and show cracks open. Insert the blade perpendicular to the clam’s position and about 6 inches deep. Once a show-a hole in the sand that indicates the presence of a clam-is located, insert your shovel 4 to 6 inches from it on the ocean side. As a precaution, never turn your back to the sea. Start digging two hours prior to the peak of the low tide. When it comes to razor clams, the lower the tide the better, with minus tides on calm days being best. When you’re done digging, fill in the holes, as piles of mud can suffocate clams. A limit of softshell clams can often be dug in one spot. However, not all clams live low in the tidal zone. When it comes to digging clams, a low tide yields the best results as it exposes more habitat where clams live. A tide that is running very hard, however, can slow the crabbing down for a while, as they take a break from feeding to anchor themselves to the bottom. Some tidal movement is good, as it carries scent from your bait along the bottom in one direction, making it easy for crabs to detect it. However, because slack tides are brief, crabbing is done during incoming and outgoing tides, too. This is because water flow is at a minimum, allowing crabs to feed on the bottom. The most productive crabbing, be it from a boat or dock, is during a slack high or low tide. It’s the kind of excursion you can take, and repeat, from now through the end of autumn. Though we were shy of our crab limits, we had plenty to feast on, making for a memorable day on the coast. Then we pulled the crab pots in the afternoon. While our crab pots soaked, we cleaned clams and ate lunch. ![]() It was early in the morning, so once we were done clamming, we wasted no time launching the boat and setting crab pots. ![]() Chasing a falling tide, my family and I had limits of softshell clams in short order.
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