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Well I'll Be Damned, Thar Be Quahogs!!

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Roccus7

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Only took a decade, but I finally found a place to dig hard shell clams (Mercinaria mercinaria) in "da hood", right were I had seen one in the mud on my anchor as I hauled up in September. I took advantage of the King Tide yesterday and went to that spot to dig up 1 1/2 dozen chowders and 2 dozen mixed necks and cherry stones in 45 min, using a plain forked hoe. As a bonus it seems that the blood worms like the same bottom as the clams!!

 

Clams on the half-shell tonight and either Chowdah or White Clam sauce tonight...

 

 

low res clams.jpg

Shall I go to heaven or a-fishing? - H. D. Thoreau

 

Veni.  Vidi.  Cepi. - with apologies to Gaius Julius Caesar

 

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23 mins ago, klaney said:

Nice find Roccus. I didn't think their range extended that far north. Can you describe the area in general terms? I'd love to find a place like this in NH, if one exists. 

It was muck mixed w/coarse grain sand.  When walking on it it no sinking in, but it was "loose" enough that you could run a rake through with little to moderate effort.  The area I dug had a significant amount of empty shells, but of small size.  Not that I can say if this was important or not, but the current runs through that spot like a demon; it's one of my go-to striper spots...

Shall I go to heaven or a-fishing? - H. D. Thoreau

 

Veni.  Vidi.  Cepi. - with apologies to Gaius Julius Caesar

 

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20 hours ago, jimbighead said:

Yum!

Yum doesn't even begin to describe the deliciousness.  It's been close to 40 years that I had clams fresh out of the marsh.  The little ones were just ethereal in their taste.  Made some white clam sauce with the cherry stones that was fantastic and shucked the chowders, cut them up and froze them in the reserved clam juice for winter chowders.  Might try to get out Friday AM if the rain is finished.

 

What a pleasant and tasty surprise!!  When it comes to fried clams, the softshells (steamers) are the best, but for everything else I'd rather have hard shells.  IMO hen clams (skimmers) are good for bait, but inferior for chowder, razors are good for sauce, and I'm not a fan at all of mahoganies.  

Shall I go to heaven or a-fishing? - H. D. Thoreau

 

Veni.  Vidi.  Cepi. - with apologies to Gaius Julius Caesar

 

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Looking forward to a trip down to LI for a late south shore bite thanksgiving weekend   Several family friends are great South Bay clammers(still). As always the big family dinner will include the obligatory array of

clams casino

fried clams

baked clams

raw clams 

linguini with clam sauce

and several chowders 

 

I cherish this weekend every fall

for many reasons

 

so cool you found these locally 

 

jim 

 

 

[/sIGPIC]"Never let the truth spoil a good story"
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22 mins ago, SacoStriperFisha said:

How far from OOB do you live? And how do you know when they are safe? I just wanted to get surf clams recently, but can never get a person on the phone to get an answer. 

Oh, I'm a good 1:45 hrs from OOB.

 

The water quality and closure map is here: https://www.maine.gov/dmr/shellfish-sanitation-management/maps/index.html  It looks like OOB is closed when you zoom in on it.  If it makes you feel any better almost the entire coast is closed in terms of trying to dig hen clams.  I think there's still a red tide thing going on.

 

I had a question and called the Augusta Main Office (207-624-6550) and the lady there put me through to someone who knew.

Shall I go to heaven or a-fishing? - H. D. Thoreau

 

Veni.  Vidi.  Cepi. - with apologies to Gaius Julius Caesar

 

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1 hour ago, Derick Jahnke said:

How do you all deal with the big ones? We have a ton of largw varieties, but very few of the small steamer types.

I was targeting the hard shell clam or quahog, Mercinaria mercinaria.   Midcoast Maine is really on the northern edge of their range, which goes as far south as FL!!  Quahogs are classified by size with different names in increasing size from Little Necks, Top Necks, Cherrystones and Chowders.  Little Necks and Top Necks are the raw bar clams, Cherrystones can be eaten raw or cooked, and Chowders are opened and used for cooking in baked clams, spaghetti sauces and chowders.  I dug up clams of every size during this dig and enjoyed them raw and in white clam sauce.  Additionally I shucked the big ones and froze them for use in chowder during the winter.

 

Most clams harvested in Maine are soft shell clams or steamers, Mya arenaria.  They were not my target, I just wanted hard shells, something I used to dig on Long Island to help pay for my tuition, many, many moons ago...

Shall I go to heaven or a-fishing? - H. D. Thoreau

 

Veni.  Vidi.  Cepi. - with apologies to Gaius Julius Caesar

 

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16 mins ago, Derick Jahnke said:

We get mostly hardshells. They are just all big ones. Big butter clams big Cockles and gapers. Tried making Thai Seafood Salad, but they are as tough as inner tubes.

Oh, you live on the same side of the country as the "Other Portland".  How about digging some geoducks too?  I've always called them "steamers on steroids" although it seems that gapers are "smaller geoducks."

Edited by Roccus7

Shall I go to heaven or a-fishing? - H. D. Thoreau

 

Veni.  Vidi.  Cepi. - with apologies to Gaius Julius Caesar

 

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3 hours ago, Roccus7 said:

Oh, I'm a good 1:45 hrs from OOB.

 

The water quality and closure map is here: https://www.maine.gov/dmr/shellfish-sanitation-management/maps/index.html  It looks like OOB is closed when you zoom in on it.  If it makes you feel any better almost the entire coast is closed in terms of trying to dig hen clams.  I think there's still a red tide thing going on.

 

I had a question and called the Augusta Main Office (207-624-6550) and the lady there put me through to someone who knew.

Thank you!

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