Shellfish / Bay Clam
Shellfish: Bay Clam
Tresus capax
In window now~142d left
Open
Year-round
No pronounced peak. Large estuary clam with only a mild glycogen firming in cold water; late-spring/summer spawning softens it slightly, but no pronounced stage.
signal · Bay water temp, salinity, spawn-stage sampling. (assumed)
Plate No. 035 · Finley & Bohlman
Managed, mind the rules
Big, deep, and slower to replace than the shallow clams. Take only your limit, and fill every hole you dig.
The read
Huge chalky shell; leather siphon won't retract. Deep digs on bay flats.
The event: Minus tide on estuary flats.
Field notes
Minus tide on estuary sand/mud flats: follow the large siphon 'show' and dig fast and deep (1–2 ft) with a shovel; they retreat quickly.
Shellfish license. 20 bay clams/day aggregate (no more than 12 gapers).
Confirm the bay is open before you dig. These are big, deep digs.
Blanch and peel the leathery siphon, grind the body for chowder, and pound the siphon meat thin for frying.
Where to find it
What we watch: live feeds
What informs Gaper Clam in particular. The shared feeds it reads (tides, weather, water temp) are the live feeds above.
ODA shellfish closures: ArcGIS FeatureServer · Machine-readable open/closed status for clams & mussels by coast zone, as polygons with a coded Status field.
Event (~2×/mo) · JSON, no key. ESRI IDs rotate; anchor on dashboard item metadata, not raw URL.
NOAA CO-OPS Tides & Currents API · Tides, minus-tide clamming windows, Yaquina water temp. Stations: Yaquina 9435380, Garibaldi 9437540, Netarts 9437262, Nehalem 9437908.
6-min obs; preds years ahead · No key. Filter lows < 0.0 ft for minus tides. Water-temp product discontinued after 2024 at many stations.