After taking the first bite of the delicious razor clam, pulled from the beach along Deep Creek that very day, dredged in flour, egg and crackers and deep-fried to perfection, I was dumbfounded that I have let this much time pass living in Alaska having never eaten one before.
Maybe it was just the moment, being in the company of friends in a place that bears fond memories and wistful longings to return. Maybe I was just really hungry. Still, that chunky, perfectly prepared clam prompted me to make a silent agreement with myself -- and later a verbal one with my husband -- to finally, finally, experience clamming on the Kenai Peninsula.
The Memorial Day weekend coincided with great clamming tides, so it was no surprise the beaches along the Sterling highway were crammed with avid clammers, intent on catching their limit.
We were down there for other reasons -- readying for the commercial setnet season, visiting with friends, getting out of the house -- but the tangle of vehicles bottlenecking in Soldotna told us that the rest of this gang was likely headed to the sandy beaches.
And now I understand why.
My first home in Alaska was right nearby, overlooking the Inlet. For locals, harvesting razor clams was just a part of life in summer. I worked at a local newspaper there and whenever the tides were extremely low, either the photographer or one of the reporters would head down to Clam Gulch, Ninilchik, Deep Creek -- wherever the hordes amassed -- and write the obligatory story.
Somehow I never was tapped for that assignment and somehow I never caught the bug.
I have it now.
While visiting our friends, they described the process. In my ignorance, I thought a simple shovel is all one needed, but apparently there is such a thing as a "clam gun" (also called a "pipe" or "tube") that can snatch out plugs of sand at a time, making it easier to outrace the digging mollusks.
The smell of cooking oil melded with the meaty scent of clams, and while eating dinner, I made sure to get the recipe, to try and replicate once I have my own clams.
Memorial Day weekend was just the beginning of the clamming season. Although people clam as early as April, it's more pleasant in the spring and summer months. The best times to harvest clams is during minus tides -- the Alaska Department of Natural Resources recommends minus 2 feet or lower tides, although most tide tables will also suggest any tides at minus 1-foot or lower. The clamming location covers a 50-mile swath from Anchor River to the south to the Kasilof River to the north.
Outdoors freelance writer Melissa DeVaughn and her blog "Deadlines and Stopwatches'' can be reached at www.melissadevaughn.com
Clamming tides June 5-10: Tides range from minus-1 to -1.8 June 20-27: Tides range from minus-1.1 to -5.4 (the most extreme occurs June 24) July 7-9: Tides range from minus-1.2 to -1.4 July 20-26: Tides range from minus-1.2 to -5.2 (the most extreme occurs July 23) Source: Alaska Tide Book Co., based on Deep Creek tide table.
Melissa DeVaughn
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