Razor clam digging

[Stein]

The Clamhawk is awesome but pricey.  We have one of the more inexpensive aluminum vented but haven't tried it out.  If you try a pvc and then an aluminum or steel tube, you will wonder how the pvc ones even sell.

The guns are very quick, we share 1 gun with our family of four and bang out limits before anyone gets bored.

[Smossy]

The Clamhawk is awesome but pricey.  We have one of the more inexpensive aluminum vented but haven't tried it out.  If you try a pvc and then an aluminum or steel tube, you will wonder how the pvc ones even sell.

The guns are very quick, we share 1 gun with our family of four and bang out limits before anyone gets bored.

Na, Ive had steel, aluminum, pvc. I prefer PVC over everything. I dont see whats to love about an aluminum tube. Its heavier, Clunkier, Needs to be rinsed (not really, but should) Pfft my PVC I can make repairs on the spot with a plastic welder, Keep the edges sharp so they glide through sand like its not there..

So lighter, easier to fix, easier to pull out, inexpensive.. Aluminim still isnt making sense to me.
Maybe if you and your friend want to have a light saber fight after you dig maybe??

But then again guess anyone could argue, Still seeing people use shovels. You guys are funny. My back just puts on sunglasses and sits back while yall get dirty dig 3 foot holes. lol

[Bullkllr]

Shovels are more sporting, and it makes me feel more "at one with the clams" 

[Bigshooter]

I've had and tried them all.  Clamhawk #1 PVC would be last. 

[fowl smacker]

I like the pvc guns as well.  Had the same 3 for probably 20 years.  Easy to re sharpen and I think I paid a total of $25 for all of them.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

The guns are very quick, we share 1 gun with our family of four and bang out limits before anyone gets bored.

But then again guess anyone could argue, Still seeing people use shovels. You guys are funny. My back just puts on sunglasses and sits back while yall get dirty dig 3 foot holes. lol

Guns are OK for getting 15 clams a whack.  But you will never see a commercial digger using a gun. Shovels only, as it's faster,  easier, easier on your back, and way easier to go fast and not damage the clams.  There is a reason the guys who dig for volume use shovels. 

[JimmyHoffa]

I'm a shoveler.  I think they work great.  One quick stab followed by a push and the clam is at your feet.

[j_h_nimrod]

I have a pile of guns, currently:
5 PVC
2 Aluminum
2 Stainless
1 steel

Also a couple of shovels

Stainless guns by far are the best material, followed by aluminum, then PVC, and lastly steel. I rate this by the force required to push it in the sand, other metrics are all design dependent and would require a much more thorough review.

The PVC take significantly more force to use and the ones I have had become brittle over time and break easily. The stainless ones are easy to push in and can be sunk to the handle with little effort. The aluminum are a bit more difficult than the SS but easier than PVC. The regular steel are good initially, but once they rust a little inside the tube they are miserable to use.

Stainless clam hawks with the vent are the best IMO, except the vent is in the wrong location.

Shovels - I like them every now and then for something different. Very effective if you know how to use them. You don’t see commercial diggers with guns if that tells you anything.

[3uPh0riK]

Went Clamming the other day (for the first time) at Twin Harbors and we were pretty much alone on the beach. I kinda expected to see a bunch of other clammers i could learn from. Didnt find a single clam. Watched the youtube videos that showed the "tells", but didnt see any of that.

Was also not sure how close to the surf to actually look for them, but regardless, found nothing

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

Was also not sure how close to the surf to actually look for them, but regardless, found nothing

I like to walk the edge of an outgoing tide, watch the waves smooth the sand.
3 hours before low tide, keep walking the edge until you find one, limited and off the beach in next half hour.

[Stein]

Went Clamming the other day (for the first time) at Twin Harbors and we were pretty much alone on the beach. I kinda expected to see a bunch of other clammers i could learn from. Didnt find a single clam. Watched the youtube videos that showed the "tells", but didnt see any of that.

Was also not sure how close to the surf to actually look for them, but regardless, found nothing

If you were alone, you were doing it wrong.  Drive back into town and find the parade to the beach.  Follow them and pretty much mingle into the mob and you will find clams.

This literally is the one time where you just go where everyone else is.  It couldn't be simpler once you get that part.

I did the same thing, was too far north and digging around in gravely beach and didn't find anything.  It is incredible how many clams there are and how dense it is, you can go right into the middle of 10,000 people and get your 15.

Closer to the water is better, but you can get them up.  You will see where others have dug, focus on areas like that.  Once you get good, you can get your 15 in the space of a living room.

[crazywednesday]

Im sure you already went out and bought what you needed, but here is my worthless advice. Buy one of the vented tubes (5") but not the clamhawk/hawg. They are both good guns, but you can get the much cheaper knock off versions at sportco/sportsmans warehouse. The vented versions are becoming the new standard.

[HntnFsh]

A lot just depends on the day, weather, surf etc. Sometimes they just don't show. Sometimes only for a short part of the tide. Sometimes they are in the surf, sometimes they are on the edge of the surf, sometimes they are a long ways from the surf. Clams are like elk, they are where you find them. Ive seen people walk by clams looking for clams too many times. Sometimes its crazy good like Sunday was at Grayland. Plus it was sunny, calm and warm. Clams everywhere. Every kind of show you could imagine. Usually when you pull a clam with a gun you will see a couple more show. Sunday we were seeing a half dozen or more show as soon as we started pushing the gun in! At times our guns were only a couple inches apart when we were after clams.

[The Marquis]

I went out for my first time on Sunday.  I got my limit in about an hour and a half at Long Beach.  They weren't particularly large though, some, but not all... some very small.  I went went where the people were.  It's funny, you can walk right past where somebody was already looking and get several as if they never showed themselves to them.  It's the strangest thing.  Highly enjoyable.

[WSU]

Sunday was stupid easy for me.  I had little kids and we got 48 in probably twenty minutes.  We stopped without careful counting (could have in theory kept 75) because 48 is plenty to eat and more than I wanted to clean.  I could have got hundreds.  Kids are the best part of the whole deal!

I find that an hour or so before low tide is good, and start digging down where the waves stop washing up the beach.  As HntnFsh said, sometimes you can get plenty further up and sometimes you need to be in the surf.  But 95% of the time, I get easy limits wearing normal rubber boots and staying completely out of the water.