For today's Catch and Cook Seafood Fishing Adventure we will be Clam digging / foraging for some tasty bay clams as well as jetty fishing for some Rockfish and will be doing a tasty seafood catch and cook.
This is 1 of 5 days that I spent camping out of my car down on the Oregon Coast, sleeping in random locations, fishing every chance I could get, and simply, just enjoying life. I hope these experiences educate as well as inspire those of you who are interested in being able to provide for yourself by taking advantage of what's already around you. Whether it's being able to catch your own fish to eat, or how to forage from the land. We have a lot of great resources, but unfortunately we also have a lot of depleting resources.. and how we treat this world is how it's going to treat us back.
You will never see me "limit out" , take, or kill, more than what is necessary to make a meal. This "take take take" mentality has put us in a pretty precarious predicament
I decided that for the first catch and cook video Barview Jetty would be my destination. Barview Jetty Fishing has been pretty good to me. It's located just North of Tillamook, OR and South of the town of Rockaway. The Jetty protects the Tillamook Bay.
Born and raised here in the Pacific Northwest , this place is very familiar and I am always confident that when I come here I will be able to find fish one way or another. Rockfish was the plan and I had a good feeling I was going to either be cooking up a Black Bass or a Kelp Greenling. These are two species of rockfish that are pretty easy to find here along the boulder lined jetty, as well as surfperch, but the conditions pointed towards rockfish being a better target.
I was using two different techniques for targeting rockfish. One was my go-to (a 3/8-1/2oz jig with a Berkley Gulp 3" swim bait) this technique usually finds me Black Sea bass, but at times it has also produced some decent sized Kelp Greenilings. (I typically fish this swim bait setup up off the bottom, for one to avoid snags and two, simply because I will use a bait rig if I want to fish the bottom) Lingcod can be found here as well and im making it a goal this year to land one.
Since I was more interested in eating a Kelp Greenling as opposed to a bass, I decided to go with the bait rig. As you will see, this rig is basically the same setup you would use for targeting surfperch. It's a pretty popular beach fishing rig. I was using sand shrimp for bait, and was down to my last one!
I lucked out and managed to find a fish.... after a mishap or two, but in the end I had my fish. Being that I am by myself, I was wanting to find something that was the right size so I could avoid wasting anything, this fish was the perfect size. I knew that I was pretty limited on supplies and only had the bare minimum for cooking a meal, but knew I could make something amazing out of something little, so I decided that since I had some noodles I should probably take advantage of the low tide and forage for some clams.
Clamming in Oregon, or anywhere for that matter, can be a LOT of Fun. When it comes to what you need for clamming, it's pretty simple. As you will see in the video I simply had a small kids shovel and an empty bottle of water with the top cut off. I would always recommend that anyone who is interested in, or planning to clam, to check regulations, toxin levels, and limits, since not all clams are the same. A quick reminder for those who are clamming -- FILL YOUR HOLES - never leave the holes you dug unfilled.. This is Clam habitat, please protect it.
Just up hwy 101 from Kelly's Marina is where you will find these huge clamming area. Here you can find all types of clams. I found some Purple varnish clams, which are pretty tasty so I kept it simple and kept about 5 or 6, even thought the limit is 72. You can also find razor clams here, but I would have needed more than just a plastic shovel, since not all clams prefer the same substrate, some like the sand, some like the mud, and others prefer it to be rocky.
The location for cooking this meal really wrapped up the day. I was cooking about 200 feet away from where I had caught the rockfish, and the view of the setting sun was incredible.
DID YOU LIKE THIS VIDEO?!?!
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You can find more Catch and Cook Videos in my Catch and Cook Playlist
Stay tuned for more catch and cook videos & car camping, Salmon & Steelhead fishing and more.
It is going to be a busy year and I couldn't be happier about it.
STOP BY and Check Out the Angling Addicts PNW website at www.anglingaddictspnw.com