Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Clammin' for nothin'

 A Pismo clam from the Silver Strand
A Pismo clam from the Silver Strand

I couldn't help but think of a line from the crabbing show Deadliest Catch when it was a slow day: "We're crabbin' for nothing!" The difference was that I was looking for chocolate clams on the low tide on a beach in Mexico instead of braving the rough and frigid seas off the Alaskan coast.

Clams are a big part of the diet here around Santa Maria Bay, with over ten miles of pristine beach usually loaded with pismos and chocolates. A couple weeks ago, there was a guy here at Cielito Lindo camping in an RV spot and traveling by bicycle. He was headed from Buffalo, New York, to Panama. On a bike. He was paying his way by playing cards on the internet, mostly, but here at the compound the internet was too slow for him to stay in a game. So he decided to try his hand at clamming.

I do a lot of surf fishing and, while walking in the shallows at low tide, I find quite a few clams with my feet. The going rate here is 100 pesos (about $6.60 with the exchange rate right now) per 24 clams the size of a man's fist or larger. I figured that, with the ease I was finding them with my feet, he would do well.

So, off goes that guy to the beach at low tide with bucket and pitchfork. Long story short, he spent a couple hours and only came back with six clams — 25 pesos — enough for a Dos Equis beer at regular price at the bar. So, he had his beer and decided to pedal on south to a better IT connection.

Sponsored
Sponsored

I thought I could do better, so at the next low tide phase I got a cubeta (five-gallon bucket) and my tenador por trabajo (pitchfork), and headed to the clam beds. This was the first time I had been clamming since I was a child, when clamming was still popular at Imperial Beach. Back then you could still drive out on the sand, and the sloughs were full of life. I seemed to have forgotten how to clam in the four-plus decades since.

I timed it well enough to have four hours of productive time, two hours before the low and the two hours after. I watched the other folks — there were many — and their clamming techniques. I could see piles and cages filling with the target catch, and felt the anticipation of a new lucrative side-job welling inside of me ... maybe three, four hundred pesos today, Daniel!

Not even close. After the first hour I started keeping some of the smaller ones. You have to poke and wiggle the fork until you hit something solid. There are no rocks, and the sand crabs just crunch. So, solid means a clam. After two hours I could feel the blisters forming on my palms from the pitchfork handle. After three hours, pride was the only thing keeping me going, as I told the bartender how much better I was going to do than our biking friend, Carl. By the fourth hour the chant, We're clammin' for nothing, was stuck in my head. With arthritic hands curled painfully around some new blisters, I surrendered and retreated with about 22 clams, only about eight of which were marketable.

They did, however, make a fine dinner. The cook charged me 50 pesos to prepare them in a garlic-butter sauce and serve them over rice with steamed vegetables. I paid 25 pesos for the accompanying beer, as I had missed happy hour.

Here are the dock totals from yesterday, March 19:

Fisherman's Landing took out 15 anglers on 2 boats and reported 5 sculpin, 1 sand bass, 57 rockfish, 1 sheephead and 2 lingcod caught.

H&M Landing had 80 anglers on 4 boats and reported 2 spiny lobster, 4 spider crab, 18 yellowtail, 85 rockfish, 1 lingcod, 1 bonito, 4 sheephead, 6 sculpin, 45 halfmoon, 2 calico bass, 1 cabezon and 60 mackerel, with 71 spiny lobster released.

50 anglers rode 2 boats out of Point Loma Sportfishing and caught 6 sheephead, 2 sculpin, 42 rubberlip seaperch, 65 rockfish, 1 halibut, 4 sand bass, 21 yellowtail, 1 calico bass and 1 bonito.

Seaforth Sportfishing reported 95 anglers on 4 boats with a catch total of 423 rockfish, 2 sheephead, 1 sculpin, 64 yellowtail, 2 bonito and 2 barracuda.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Why Unified® Review: What To Expect Dropshipping (Positive & Negative)

Next Article

Looking back at race relations in Coronado

A former football player recalls the good and the bad
 A Pismo clam from the Silver Strand
A Pismo clam from the Silver Strand

I couldn't help but think of a line from the crabbing show Deadliest Catch when it was a slow day: "We're crabbin' for nothing!" The difference was that I was looking for chocolate clams on the low tide on a beach in Mexico instead of braving the rough and frigid seas off the Alaskan coast.

Clams are a big part of the diet here around Santa Maria Bay, with over ten miles of pristine beach usually loaded with pismos and chocolates. A couple weeks ago, there was a guy here at Cielito Lindo camping in an RV spot and traveling by bicycle. He was headed from Buffalo, New York, to Panama. On a bike. He was paying his way by playing cards on the internet, mostly, but here at the compound the internet was too slow for him to stay in a game. So he decided to try his hand at clamming.

I do a lot of surf fishing and, while walking in the shallows at low tide, I find quite a few clams with my feet. The going rate here is 100 pesos (about $6.60 with the exchange rate right now) per 24 clams the size of a man's fist or larger. I figured that, with the ease I was finding them with my feet, he would do well.

So, off goes that guy to the beach at low tide with bucket and pitchfork. Long story short, he spent a couple hours and only came back with six clams — 25 pesos — enough for a Dos Equis beer at regular price at the bar. So, he had his beer and decided to pedal on south to a better IT connection.

Sponsored
Sponsored

I thought I could do better, so at the next low tide phase I got a cubeta (five-gallon bucket) and my tenador por trabajo (pitchfork), and headed to the clam beds. This was the first time I had been clamming since I was a child, when clamming was still popular at Imperial Beach. Back then you could still drive out on the sand, and the sloughs were full of life. I seemed to have forgotten how to clam in the four-plus decades since.

I timed it well enough to have four hours of productive time, two hours before the low and the two hours after. I watched the other folks — there were many — and their clamming techniques. I could see piles and cages filling with the target catch, and felt the anticipation of a new lucrative side-job welling inside of me ... maybe three, four hundred pesos today, Daniel!

Not even close. After the first hour I started keeping some of the smaller ones. You have to poke and wiggle the fork until you hit something solid. There are no rocks, and the sand crabs just crunch. So, solid means a clam. After two hours I could feel the blisters forming on my palms from the pitchfork handle. After three hours, pride was the only thing keeping me going, as I told the bartender how much better I was going to do than our biking friend, Carl. By the fourth hour the chant, We're clammin' for nothing, was stuck in my head. With arthritic hands curled painfully around some new blisters, I surrendered and retreated with about 22 clams, only about eight of which were marketable.

They did, however, make a fine dinner. The cook charged me 50 pesos to prepare them in a garlic-butter sauce and serve them over rice with steamed vegetables. I paid 25 pesos for the accompanying beer, as I had missed happy hour.

Here are the dock totals from yesterday, March 19:

Fisherman's Landing took out 15 anglers on 2 boats and reported 5 sculpin, 1 sand bass, 57 rockfish, 1 sheephead and 2 lingcod caught.

H&M Landing had 80 anglers on 4 boats and reported 2 spiny lobster, 4 spider crab, 18 yellowtail, 85 rockfish, 1 lingcod, 1 bonito, 4 sheephead, 6 sculpin, 45 halfmoon, 2 calico bass, 1 cabezon and 60 mackerel, with 71 spiny lobster released.

50 anglers rode 2 boats out of Point Loma Sportfishing and caught 6 sheephead, 2 sculpin, 42 rubberlip seaperch, 65 rockfish, 1 halibut, 4 sand bass, 21 yellowtail, 1 calico bass and 1 bonito.

Seaforth Sportfishing reported 95 anglers on 4 boats with a catch total of 423 rockfish, 2 sheephead, 1 sculpin, 64 yellowtail, 2 bonito and 2 barracuda.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Stinkfoot Orchestra conjures Zappa at Winstons

His music is a blend of technical excellence and not-so-subtle humor
Next Article

Why Unified® Review: What To Expect Dropshipping (Positive & Negative)

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.