Waiting till next day to clean razor clams

[CaNINE]

With the late evening digs and drive back home I’m wondering if I could get away with cleaning clams the next day.  Is it safe to put the live clams in a bucket of seawater over night?

[ASHQUACK]

Yes, just just keep them cold. I do it regularly.

[Stein]

Overnight is probably ok, but they'll use up the oxygen in the water pretty quickly and die.  Put ice in the bottom of the bucket, clams on top of the ice and a wet towel over the top.  You don't want them in freshwater either which is why the ice is below them.

[Jake Dogfish]

Don’t need seawater just keep them cold.

[Remnar]

Don’t need seawater just keep them cold.

To keep them in sea water you would need the water to be cold and airerated . Doable with a $10 bubbler and frozen bottles. This method will purge some of the sand also.

Much easier to just keep them cold and out of fresh water . Freeze some old juice bottles line the bottom of the cooler and then put an old towel over them or not .

Even if a few die they will be fine for 24hours as long as they are COLD .

[CaNINE]

Ok thanks for the info everyone much appreciated

[msg]

have done that forever, starving them of oxygen stretches the neck out making it very tender compared to same day cleaning!

[Oncorhynchus spp.]

Yep yep, as others have said - just keep them cool, no water. Same for crabs too!

[Mech]

We use a bottle or jug of frozen water in a cooler when we need to keep our shellfish on hold for a while.

[HntnFsh]

have done that forever, starving them of oxygen stretches the neck out making it very tender compared to same day cleaning!

I do that to. I remember the first time the clams had their necks stretched out I thought. This ain gonna be good! But they were great!

[PsoasHunter]

We've always just done a bucket of water from the ocean and never had an issue cleaning them the next day, even if we are driving them 2 hours home and cleaning after unpacking the car.  We keep the bucket 2/3 full w/ a lid, they travel fine.  You do not need a bubbler for oxygen like crab, they're pretty stable. 

Ice works as too instead of water, but is slightly more effort having to pack and plan for it.  And if you use a bucket of ocean water, the clams filter out a lot of sand and are easier to clean in our experience.

[Practical Approach]

I usually leave them in the garage in a bucket.  No water needed.  They have always been alive in the morning.

[Alchase]

We use to keep them in a bucket of sea water over night and put a couple table spoons of corn meal in the water. the corn meal makes the siphon and clean themselves.

[dilleytech]

Put them on ice they will be fine for a day or two. Do not put them in a bucket of water they will die faster.