7/20 Crabbing and Clamming.....

[Duffman]

Moved the rig for a change of pace to Barney bay. NOT familiar at all with the area but extended family was down for the week and joined em.

Crabbing was flat out.....lights out. Little lull in the hi sun mid day but pretty consistent thru the tide change. Tons of shorts and females but weeded thru em to put a solid catch of jimmies together. Snappers are about 4” right now. Jellies huge problem around the docks but open water clear.

Decided in the afternoon to clam. Never did it. Log onto NJ DFG and download $10 permit and map and had at it.

After taking some paint off my Yammie skeg we had the kids digging in their heels. Cool stuff!

Btw. Greenheads suck!!!

[EddieG]

Nice report...great job im sure the kids loved it!

[AndyS]

Nice ! Many different types of clam rakes on the market these days. Would shy away from bare feet and hands as a chunk of glass or metal could ruin your whole day. And yes, Greenheads suck !!!

[courbeco]

Nice report Duff....Kids will always remember it! Thanks for sharing!

[Rocky]

Great harvest enjoy!

[Duffman]

. And yes, Greenheads suck !!!

Holy $hit man I thought I got shot with a pellet gun at first!!!!:D

[jenny lee sportfishing]

Brings back some memories for me


Skin soft and scope mixture for the
Flies. For real

[Tony Cav]

Brings back some memories for me


Skin soft and scope mixture for the
Flies. For real

Whoever discovered this is either a madd scientist or just plain madd!

Skin,-so-soft is well known but mixing it with Scope. Cleaver

[SaltLife1980]

Greenheads have a savage bite!! Sucks so bad

[joeya78]

Just wear a sun block style shirt with long sleeves , that’s the best to keep them from biting you.

[Gumada]

The scope added to the Skin so Soft gives the green heads minty fresh breath after they bite the cr@p out of you....

[Skolmann]

Black sand flies are worse.

[Gerry Zagorski]

So my first time clamming was down that way as well..... One of the guys from the site, Howie, hooked me up with some rakes to borrow and a general location.

A friend of mine had his boat down there at the time and we tried to get into the area he told us but even when staying inside the channel marker sticks, it was too shallow for us. We switched gears and found a shallow flat in the area we could wade into...

Got off the boat holding the rakes and bushel baskets and were immediately covered up with those flies. With your 2 hands full it was hard to swat the buggers ... Toughed it out long enough to harvest 2 dozen or so little necks and got the hell out of there...

I was so proud I called Howie afterwards (Sunday afternoon) to let him know we scored... He asked me when did you clam? I said earlier this morning.... He said you know it's illegal to clam on Sundays :D

That was it for me and clamming but those fresh little necks we're the best I ever had... I can still taste them.

Glad you got out with the boys and got some grub Duff... I'm sure it's one of those experiences they'll remember forever.

Steamed blue claws and fresh clams... Hold the black flies please...

[Arbutis]

Green head flies - here's why they hurt so much! Watch this video as it digs into the skin. Yikes!

https://youtu.be/mbyM2mDDRBk?t=1m

[Billy223]

Them greenheads are the devil! I am trying a product "Catus Juice" to see if it helps, I was tired of soaking deet into my skin and all it did was lesson some bites. There were times I would submerge my body under water and just leave my head out. Well with 2 hands in use, these bastards would go in my eyes and try to get up my nose. It makes a miserable time and leaving me with about 100 welts all over my body and itch like hell for a week. But the clams are so good :) I was down there a couple times this year but before the greenhead season in full force. Cactus Juice seemed to help but it is not waterproof so once you come out of the water, it has to be re applied. I will be giving this product a full test in a couple of weeks, Hoping to have a 90% effectiveness.

[AndyS]

Fear not ! You can go clamming in the fall and even winter !
Had days when ice was forming on my rake handle, needless to say there were no Greenheads to speak of :)

[bolt]

This sounds like a typical day for me sixty years ago on the Shrewsbury.

Great job dad on showing the kids a real day at the beach!!!

enjoyed this post and tyvm for;) sharing.

[BT67]

Upper Barney bay/Mantaloking area, have house for season on water. No mosquitoes or green heads to speak of...quite strange. Crabbing has been very good, haven't even had to leave the dock.:D