Northwest Fishing Reports

Glad I found this site. It is a wealth of information and I am hoping that it will help me change my thought that this state has no aquatic life in its freshwater lakes and rivers! LOL!

I have done a ton of clamming in the Mukilteo area and have access to a private beach that I can at anytime pull hundreds upon hundreds of clams out of. When I first started clamming I was pulling Geocuks up but after some research I have found that these were "horse clams". The other clams I was pulling up ranged from Cockles to HUGE butter cams, I mean the size of my fist. There isnt a spot on the beach where I cant put in a shovel and pull out at least 20 when I am after a horse clam.

Couple problems though and I am hoping that someone here will be able to point me in the right direction.

I spent the beter part of this morning researching viable Geoduck areas and they all seem to be way south in the Oly. area. the furthest one north is on Bainbridge island that is accessable by car. Everything else appears to be boat access only. And the only time that you can really harvest a Geoduck is if the tide is out in the -2 area.

Are there any places in the north end that produce geoducks that area accessible by car?

Another question I have is the beach where I go after the horse clams the sand has a funny stink to it. It smells alot like creosote (sp) and after digging a few out my hands will stink for days. I have tried everything under the sund to get it off and it wont. I have even sprayed Brakleen (yes, brake cleaner) to get rid of it with no luck. Is this normal for some of the beaches in the area? Or is this a point of concern for pollution?

Any info is appreciated.

I had the mud-stink problem in Penn Cove. My fingers turned black and stunk for a couple days. There, it smelled more like sulfur. I think it's pretty common around Puget Sound. Some of the stink is probably/most likely due to pollution, but I'm sure some of it is just natural due to the decaying debris that rests on the bottom of water sources. The best stuff I found is the orange hand cleaner with pumice (shop hand cleaner). The pumice helps take the top layer off your skin.
In regards to your question about Geoducks....well, you do have to go at extreme low tide to dig them. They like the mud type flats, but they should be all over the Sound. The problem is finding an area that is geographically flat enough so that a large area gets exposed during the extreme low tides. The south sound has lots of these "mud flats" due to to the geography, so that is where they are most easily found.
If you read up on the DFW website about the clams, you'll find some info on the "zones" where each type is most likely to be found. I made the same mistake you did. Thought the first couple of big horse clams I pulled were Geoducks, but when you actually get a Geoduck....they're different...and a lot easier to clean.
Hope you have some luck.

Page 133 of the regs has a list of "enhancement beaches". A couple of the listed beaches have geoducks. Other than that, most of the geoduck beaches I've seen are indeed in southern Puget Sound or Hood Canal.

Not really a big deal with me -- I like the smaller littlenecks, cockles, and butter clams. I might try and get some big horse clams once in a while for chowder, but if I get my 40-clam limit on the littlenecks/cockles/butters, I'm happy enough.

With regards to the smell, I have not found a beach that does not have the smell. I've even found the smell on the clean pacific ocean beaches. What may help is to wear latex gloves under a pair of garden gloves, when you are digging.

I just wear regular garden gloves (to keep the sand and rocks from scraping my fingers), and the water and smell seeps thru. Not a big deal with me either--it's perfume to me.

Did some reaserch on the Puget Sound red tides last night and found a 07 map showing approved areas for Geoduck "enhancement". Looks like the entire south east side of Whidbey Is. north and south of clinton was planted.