Clam beds and how to find them

Do you take notice to calm beds when fishing the salt? Are you aware of their presence when you fish? When you find them, do you change up your colors and technique? Do you mark your location of beds when you find them and return to those locations on later trips?

Clam beds...pretty significant to bay fishing yes or no?

fish bed in the ocean i didnt no that

Fisher wrote: fish bed in the ocean i didnt no that

I refer to the beds of clams that form on the sea floor. SB SBB love to forage around clam beds. They are a huge part of their diet.

o ic

waxon67 wrote:

Fisher wrote: fish bed in the ocean i didnt no that

I refer to the beds of clams that form on the sea floor. SB SBB love to forage around clam beds. They are a huge part of their diet.

Clams, or muscles..??

Hammer 4 wrote:

waxon67 wrote:

Fisher wrote: fish bed in the ocean i didnt no that

I refer to the beds of clams that form on the sea floor. SB SBB love to forage around clam beds. They are a huge part of their diet.

Clams, or muscles..??

Razor clam to be specific I believe. Not so much a chowder clam he he.

I guess if you wanted to get technical you wouldn't call it a bed. More like a hump or mound.

waxon67 wrote:

Hammer 4 wrote:

waxon67 wrote:

Fisher wrote: fish bed in the ocean i didnt no that

I refer to the beds of clams that form on the sea floor. SB SBB love to forage around clam beds. They are a huge part of their diet.

Clams, or muscles..??

Razor clam to be specific I believe. Not so much a chowder clam he he.

I guess if you wanted to get technical you wouldn't call it a bed. More like a hump or mound.

I though Razor Clams bury themselves under the sand, mainly on beaches up north..???

Hammer 4 wrote:

waxon67 wrote:

Hammer 4 wrote:

waxon67 wrote:

Fisher wrote: fish bed in the ocean i didnt no that

I refer to the beds of clams that form on the sea floor. SB SBB love to forage around clam beds. They are a huge part of their diet.

Clams, or muscles..??

Razor clam to be specific I believe. Not so much a chowder clam he he.

I guess if you wanted to get technical you wouldn't call it a bed. More like a hump or mound.

I though Razor Clams bury themselves under the sand, mainly on beaches up north..???

I know what your talking about. We used to have them wash up on shore in Morro Bay and Cayucas when I used to live up there. They are lighter in color and slender maybe a few inches long.

. For conversation sake shall we agree on the term "shell fish of various description"? and "the place they congregate in bulk"? Point being, for those that do not know to target these areas. I have been with guys and watched them pass right over these areas. Often given away by small bubbles breaking the surface especially during good tide movement. These areas were pointed out to me once upon a time, to be "clam beds" and a good place to drop a line. So I call them clam beds.

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I believe T and C Lures offers a color in "razor clam" and from what I have heard is rather effective.

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I have also used a white Senko usually 4" in these areas to some success. Especially out near the estuary end of HB

I should have said, that no, I have never searched for them, and never knew about them.

Hey Guys,
AHA!! you have stumbled on the Bat Ray secret spot!! (as well as croaker, corbina, bonefish, and anything else with a wicked grin on it's underside)

bodfish

A properly adjusted meter will help you locate them by showing a patch of "hard bottom"
The bottom reading will get darker and thicker because of the stronger signal return.
On a color graph, it might show up as more red or brown?

@bodfish-ya this is definitely one for under the hat if you ask me. But at the same time keeping secrets isn't any fun either! You guys have to learn to find and fish them!!

@IN2DEEP - sounds to me like perhaps you and bodfish can give a small seminar to some of us willing to sit and listen. Question: is the amount of contained air in the shell fish a factor in reading as well as the density of the mass? After all these critters do release bubbles. Bubbles register on ff don't they? So along with your denser reading and bubbles would this be a some what logical approach to finding beds and mounds with a ff?

i have fish these spot with tom and only ran across 3 or 4 but have hook up on each time and it was a spottie or a sandie but i have never remember where they were so next time i will try to mark a spot
i asked him to what are all these bubbles maybe its a sea monster he said no it a clam bed so slow down and fish it lol and i all ways caught there on a clam bed

waxon67 wrote:@bodfish-ya this is definitely one for under the hat if you ask me. But at the same time keeping secrets isn't any fun either! You guys have to learn to find and fish them!!

@IN2DEEP - sounds to me like perhaps you and bodfish can give a small seminar to some of us willing to sit and listen. Question: is the amount of contained air in the shell fish a factor in reading as well as the density of the mass? After all these critters do release bubbles. Bubbles register on ff don't they? So along with your denser reading and bubbles would this be a some what logical approach to finding beds and mounds with a ff?

Bubbles?
I've located razor clam beds in deep water (70ft.)
The only reason I knew that it was a clam bed was because the fish that we were catching were regurgitating fresh razors. Not sure about the bays
Density (rock, gravel, coral, clams ) is what makes for a stronger echo (bottom-wise)
Mud bottoms will have a weaker echo and show up as a lighter, more narrow bottom.
Next time we fish together, I'll look at your meter to see if it might need any further adjustments.
I hear that Mark Wisch over at Pacific Edge just came out with a new DVD on how to read a color sounder
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@IN2DEEP - sounds to me like perhaps you and bodfish can give a small seminar to some of us willing to sit and listen. Question: is the amount of contained air in the shell fish a factor in reading as well as the density of the mass? After all these critters do release bubbles. Bubbles register on ff don't they? So along with your denser reading and bubbles would this be a some what logical approach to finding beds and mounds with a ff?

I am a little confused about this releasing of bubbles? Is this belching or just passing gas?
You can take a regular shovel, some old cut off jeans or bathing suit, some old shoes and head over to the water ski ramp on fiesta island (San Diego). You wade out from knee to waist level and you will feel the sea grass around your legs. You must walk slowly and quietly and not make a lot of vibration. You then sink the shovel into the grass wuickly with your one foot and bend it slightly forward to cut off the escape holes.
You lift with two hands and voila razor clams. I have done this on many ocassions to get the live bait the fish can't turn down.
You will need a few gallons of fresh water, a beach towel and a change of clothes when you are done. Also a large plastic bag to put your fishing clothes and shoes in. Everyone knows how fresh that water is on the back side of fiesta island.
You really want to do this during the summer months when the water is warm and also during a negative tide. Freash live razor clams catch fish.
Razor clams, worms and other sealife live where the sea grass is.
That's why the fish are in the grass. So, if you know your fishing in sea grass the clams are there.
Another way to find clam beds is to look for the little pillows and sheets.
Kind of sounds like the Beverly Hillbillies the Clambeds.

Ha little pillows...lol...little sheets! What about the little slippers at the end of the bed?

Bubbles yes bubbles. I do not suggest as a lure fisherman that anyone harvest these clams and use them for bait...not in this crowd!! lol [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I won't even argue the cause or myth or possible miss information regarding clams , bubbles and weather or not there is a correlation

I will argue however, that should you take notice to the little bubbles released to the surface when you are tubing the bays;the bubbles that occur here and there but not everywhere, often during good water movement periods; and fish these spots well, regardless if there are clams there or not you might find you hook up nicely. Now I will also state that coincidentally I have snagged in these a fore mentioned zones and pulled up clumps of clams and bearded mussels and there fore will as before and for the duration refer to them as "clam beds" and you spot them by watching out for the bubbles...yes bubbles lol. So there ya go boys. Take it for what it's worth. Catching fish is catching fish.

Anyone want to discuss what a curly tail grub imitates when fished in the salt? As told to me by an old salty bay fisherman. Oh man, there is a whole other discussion.

Fish on boys...I'm glad it's got people thinking anyway.

Next:

Ghost shrimp...fake and real. The collection of and the fish that love them. Here I go again.

My take on this. I fish artificials only. While someone is taking time to pull clams, or whatever else they want to catch fish, I could have made 20 cast's and possible caught 10 fish. Also, if you look, all of the Big bay bass have been caught on lures, not bait..

Hammer 4 wrote:My take on this. I fish artificials only. While someone is taking time to pull clams, or whatever else they want to catch fish, I could have made 20 cast's and possible caught 10 fish. Also, if you look, all of the Big bay bass have been caught on lures, not bait..

Say it again brudda!

Hmmm,...
Bubbles? Ok here's what I know about bubbles.
Aside from what most people observe on the surface, bubbles are most readily detected by sonar. The detection of bubbles in my experience usually indicates,....
1) a spring, very very good!!
2) rotting detritus,... bottom organic material (dead moss or vegetation, or land based organic material that has somehow reached the bottom) producing CO2 and methane,... sometimes good for fishing, sometimes not so much,...
3) clams, and/or mussels emitting CO2 and/or methane. As clams or mussels ingest certain organic materials, those materials ferment in their guts and produce gases,.. clam farts?!
4) Some kind of bottom disturbance or new bottom structure that is leaking gas. A recently sunken object or in the case of places like the coastal waters in Ventura County
natural gas and oil seepage, especially after an earthquake.

Note: there are literally hundreds of micro quakes here in Southern California daily and any one of them can cause a bottom disturbance significant enough to stimulate settling and gas emissions along this coast.

Remember, Bubbles are GASSES and not always (in fact, very rarely) oxygen. So when you detect them, keep this in mind. Also depending on wind and current, surface indications are rarely a good indicator of where their emission point is. Use your meter to define the real point of origin.

Anyways,.. Bubbles=clam beds=fish? Perhaps. More than likely, rotting crap on the bottom. Use your meter to discern which! In any case,... Clam Beds, VERY VERY GOOD!!!

bodfish

PS
One of the best baits to use on clam beds is a short (4") soft white or grey colored plastic worm, fished VERY VERY slow (during the summer months this color tends to lean toward the red side as the clams darken in the warmer summer temps), preferably one that has a floating tale. It mimics the siphon tube of the clam and/or burrowing worms that tend to live alongside the clams. I learned this from an Old timer who knew where every clam bed in the LA harbor was and used to just kill'em (sand bass) every year! (this part's for you Hammer! Hee Hee!)

Thanks Bod.. I don't use a finder, and in the 2 yrs. I have been bay fishing, I have never seen any farts rise to the top..

Thanks for the info. bodfish!

x2 good info bodfish

bodfish,
good stuff.

X4 , Good Stuff Bodfish