razor clams

[dave k]

HI,
I know about collecting razor clams at high tide using salt water etc. Anyone have any info about snorkelling for them however?
I have heard about people still using salt water when diving - and I remember a long time ago someone talking about using a sort of hook knife to pull them out of their holes in the sand when they were underwater.

Anyone got any idea's?

 

[bikething]

I thought it was at low tide.... and you pour dry salt down the holes and wait for them to pop out?

not seen / heard of collecting them at high tide, but i guess if they're waving around in the water feeding, they'll be easier to grab

 

[hiraeth]

I thought it was at low tide.... and you pour dry salt down the holes and wait for them to pop out?

not seen / heard of collecting them at high tide, but i guess if they're waving around in the water feeding, they'll be easier to grab

Its low tide and salt i use, and tasty they are too.

 

[Dan1982]

i've seen people diving for them in scotland but imagine it is alot easier/drier to do it at low tide
i'm pretty sure you can use neat salt or a solution as long as the concentration is high enough.

i am desperate to try and find some in my area as i love shellfish and am yet to try them, i've seen them in my local fish market but would rather find my own. are they found on any sandy shoreline???

Dan

 

[sapper1]

The hook you refer to is very similar to an arrow with a small head and long shaft,the shaft is kept bare as when you thrust it down a hole and twist to lock across the end of the shell you can then pull the shell cleanly of the end.
The secret to catching them this way is finding the right angle to thrust the hook at,if you get it wrong you miss the shell.

 

[fishy1]

A guy I know says he electrofishes for them, one guy drives the boat with the lectrics out the back, and the other guy is a diver in the water who follows behind and picks them all up.

 

[lavrentyuk]

Delicious steamed...........

I'm a bit worried about whats happening in the Gower with the shellfish deaths. Could be the end of Penclawdd cockles off the beach there.......

 

[FerlasDave]

nice raw too, a little chewy though =]

 

[hiraeth]

nice raw too, a little chewy though =]

Have to agree with you, also like mackerel raw straight from the sea.

 

[littlebiglane]

It is usually the very low tides that expose them. Easily spotted - and not to be confused by Lugworm casts - Razor Clams have 'holes' that look like inverted nipples.

 

[Dytiscus]

if your now a fan of sushi then knock up a quick fire on the beach should be able to find enough dry drift wood above the high tide line for a scrape fire chuck em in give me a few minutes and enjoy

 

[Grooveski]

Brine works as well as dry salt. Stick a pot of seawater over a fire, boil off 4/5ths or so of it and it'll be salty enough to set them off.

Some folk say you should walk backwards when looking for them. They poke up and squirt water after they feel disruptions in the sand, presumably making sure the burrow is still clear.
Apparently it means you can sometimes spy burrows where the cast has been washed away. I've never tried it as when I've been out looking for them there were always plenty of obvious ones with casts.

My dad made a bunch of hooks for the scouts when I was a kid. Stiff wire(welding rods maybe) with the top bent into an eye and the bottom bent back to form the hook. A cord sling looped through the eye to slip our hands through so we were pulling from the wrist.
We had better results from salt/brine than from hooks though.

 

[Mike B]

I have found that snorkelling for me is the most productive method for razor clams.
Follow out an ebbing spring tide and use a highly concentrated brine solution in a washing up liquid bottle in the same way you would do above the tide line.
Mike B...

 

[Dingo]

I have found that snorkelling for me is the most productive method for razor clams.
Follow out an ebbing spring tide and use a highly concentrated brine solution in a washing up liquid bottle in the same way you would do above the tide line.
Mike B...

just a thought? you use a solution in an old washing up bottle under the water, and you pour this or squirt it ? under the water?

 

[Mike B]

just a thought? you use a solution in an old washing up bottle under the water, and you pour this or squirt it ? under the water?

Yes mate very easy to do with an old well washed out washing up liquid bottle.
The depressions left by the Spoots are easier to find while snorkelling there's only a couple of foot of water under me at the most.
And the reason for the washing up liquid bottle is you can poke the nozzle right in the depression and squeeze,then flip the lid back over again so your solution doesn't become too diluted by the sea water re-entering the bottle to fill the void.
The super salt concentrate irritates the spoots and they begin to rise just as they would above the tide line but they are much easier to extract from their burrows as the sand they are trying to cling to acts more like a liquid,so they can't get a good hold with their foot.
You also get a much better quality and size of spoot snorkelling, cos everything else (foragers included) more or less pass them up as they are permantly under water.
Mike B...
P.S.
Might as well add now I've given away my secrets is at £6.50 a pound on Leeds market which equates to about 7-8 Spoots I thought there had to be a way people were collecting these on a semi commercial basis that was easier than walking around above the tide line.I was put in touch with a Scots guy who actually dives for them among other things,so hence the snorkelling came into being.
And the only reason I snorkel now is for food for free!!.
Mike B...

 

[FerlasDave]

yet another excuse to snorkel. =] just what i need!

thanks

 

[fishy1]

Yes mate very easy to do with an old well washed out washing up liquid bottle.
The depressions left by the Spoots are easier to find while snorkelling there's only a couple of foot of water under me at the most.
And the reason for the washing up liquid bottle is you can poke the nozzle right in the depression and squeeze,then flip the lid back over again so your solution doesn't become too diluted by the sea water re-entering the bottle to fill the void.
The super salt concentrate irritates the spoots and they begin to rise just as they would above the tide line but they are much easier to extract from their burrows as the sand they are trying to cling to acts more like a liquid,so they can't get a good hold with their foot.
You also get a much better quality and size of spoot snorkelling, cos everything else (foragers included) more or less pass them up as they are permantly under water.
Mike B...
P.S.
Might as well add now I've given away my secrets is at £6.50 a pound on Leeds market which equates to about 7-8 Spoots I thought there had to be a way people were collecting these on a semi commercial basis that was easier than walking around above the tide line.I was put in touch with a Scots guy who actually dives for them among other things,so hence the snorkelling came into being.
And the only reason I snorkel now is for food for free!!.
Mike B...

£6.50 a pound is pretty good. Do you know if their are any min sizes for collecting razors?

Do you actually insert the salt water nozzle down the hole? I know a good area, but it's pretty silty, and I would imagine this would disperse a large amount of mud and make seeing the razors impossible.


Have you dived for them commercially in the past? Do you try and keep them alive after picking, if so, how? Just keep them damp with seawater?

 

[Mike B]

£6.50 a pound is pretty good. Do you know if their are any min sizes for collecting razors?

Do you actually insert the salt water nozzle down the hole? I know a good area, but it's pretty silty, and I would imagine this would disperse a large amount of mud and make seeing the razors impossible.


Have you dived for them commercially in the past? Do you try and keep them alive after picking, if so, how? Just keep them damp with seawater?

No Mate I've never dived for them commercially but Ian the Scots fella that took me out does albeit on a very small scale.
I have only once tried snorkelling for them with a combination of a few inches deep of sand with mud underneath and the visibility was crap so gave that one up as a bad job.
We always go as a family although sometimes I go with friends and we are all armed with large buckets and the whole haul goes in the buckets,Razors,Mussels,Winkles,Limpets,Various seaweeds(please be careful with seaweeds as they can seriously affect thyroid function as I found out),and they all last the trip home or back to camp no probs.
And as I said earlier yes just squirt the salt solution directly into the burrow,and yes it stays localised to their burrow long enough for it to irritate them and make them rise up,and to be honest I don't know if there's a minimum size for taking,but I can't see the point in taking any that aint got a nice amount of flesh on them just let them go and they will dig themselves back in and be there for you next year.
Mike B...

 

[chickenofthewoods]

please be careful with seaweeds as they can seriously affect thyroid function as I found out.

Would you mind elaborating a bit please? I'm interested in the edibility (or otherwise) of certain seaweeds.

 

[Mike B]

I only wish I could elaborate more.
I was having probs with my thyroid sometimes seriously overactive which was suppressed with a drug called Carbimazole then sometimes it went seriously underactive and had to be boosted with a drug called Thyroxin.
The specialists were at a total loss as to why it kept going from one extreme to the other,and after awhile I noticed that the changes were linked to my eating of various seaweeds.
I found out that many seaweeds contain Iodine which can affect the thyroid so now apart from sea-lettuce(which seems to be ok for me) I avoid them all and my thyroid has been normal for the past 2 years.
Just as a point of interest another wild food I now avoid are Blueberries,the first time we picked a load of these I had a dicky-do,started to feel unwell about 20 mins after eating a load ,then got tunnel vision, dizzyness,and passed out, as they had somehow made my blood pressure rapidly fall.
Mike B...