It is the start of razor clam digging season on the Washington ocean beaches. If anyone is planning on going, that would help motivate me to get out there. Landing is on the Copalis State airport (S16). This is the only place that you can legally land on the the ocean beach as I understand it.
We've been there a lot and its very easy in and out; really any plane can do it.
Here is the states currently proposed upcoming digs taken from their web site:

Dates, beaches, and evening low tides for the proposed digs are as follows:

Oct. 4, Friday, 6:56 p.m.; 0.0 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks
Oct. 5, Saturday, 7:36 p.m.; -0.4 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks
Oct. 6, Sunday, 8:17 p.m.; -0.7 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors Mocrocks
Oct. 7, Monday, 9:48 p.m.; -0.8 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks
Oct. 8, Tuesday, 10:40 p.m.; -0.4 feet; Twin Harbors

Oct. 17, Thursday, 6:15 p.m.; -0.2 feet; Twin Harbors
Oct. 18, Friday, 6:57 p.m.; -0.6 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks
Oct. 19, Saturday, 7:38 p.m.; -0.7 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis and Mocrocks
Oct. 20, Sunday, 8:16 p.m.; -0.7 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks
Oct. 21, Monday, 8:55 p.m.; -0.4 feet; Twin Harbors, Mocrocks
Oct. 22, Tuesday, 9:34 p.m.; -0.1 feet; Twin Harbors

The location you can dig after landing is Mockrocks. Its the only location accessible from the landing area.
Some of the tides are too late (dark) for fly-in digging but most of these are do-able. Digging is generally started about 2 hours prior to low tide.
If you cant make this set of tides but would like to go another time, just keep an eye on the state web site (search "razor clam diggin season"). Some time later in the season (after the new year I believe) they switch to digging on AM tides. There seem to be more fly-in opportunities then.
So, weather permitting, this is a good time. Hope to see some of you out there.

Landing on Copalis during razor clam season??? That could be an adventure. Also the low tides look to be after dark.

Clam diggers can really screw up your prop.

I like razor clams and I love an excuse to fly but Copalis Beach is more than 6 hours from me so I need to have some concept of what is involved.

Two hours before low tide is a good time to start digging but how long should a novice allow to dig? Sunset is currently 7 pm and I see no reason to fly in unfamiliar areas after sunset.

Is parking the plane at W04, Ocean Shores, a reasonable thing to do if you plan to take a day to fly up and a day to fly back, or should I think someplace more inland to overnight?

I don't mind departing through low cloud cover IFR but I have no desire to fly IFR into an unfamiliar airport such as Bowerman, KHQM.

Thanks
Dick

I've never dug 'em but I can sure eat 'em.

EB

I've flown out to Copalis many times. Other than whoever I go with, I've rarely seen more than one or two other airplanes there. But the first time I flew out there during razor clam season, I counted 24 airplanes parked on the beach! You'd think with all the airplanes parked, people would have a clue-- but no. I was on short final to land south when a family of clamdiggers walked out to cross right in front of me. As if that wasn't bad enough, they stopped right where I was aiming to touch down, and Dad pointed up to show Junior "hey son look, there's an airplane". Nice. I just goosed it and went right on over and landed long. That was no problem since there's about a mile of beach available, but it was an eye-opener.

I was on short final to land south when a family of clamdiggers walked out to cross right in front of me. As if that wasn't bad enough, they stopped right where I was aiming to touch down, and Dad pointed up to show Junior "hey son look, there's an airplane". Nice.

Sometimes people are so stupid, I am not certain they fully realize how stupid they are.....

Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, in reference to life in general; "The big problem with dumb bastards is that they are too dumb to recognize something smart". That sentiment covers a lot of ground.

EB

Dick,
Parking at Ocean Shores doesn't get you close to Copalis for digging or to the Oean Shores beaches either. The experience kinda requires landing on the sand at Copalis. If at all possible I would be glad to meet you at Bowerman or in the air to show you for your first time. I would be glad to help you with the digging too. An experienced digger might be done in half an hour if the clams are showing well. You should probably plan on 45 min to an hour.
I've had people and dogs walk out while on final but it's not usually a problem. The worst case scenario might require go-around.

http://youtu.be/zRdTG0L8GPo

Jeff

Hoping to be on the sand and digging by 5:30 tomorrow. That's plenty of time to get out before the light fails. Now we just need the weather to cooperate

Washington and Oregon have sites that are very good at detailing going after razor clams. I came away being able to lie to myself it did not look that cold and I would in all likelihood be able to catch the limit.

The logistics looked like 12 hours of flying with at least 1 overnight stay and I'd most likely come up with an excuse for 2. At the moment, I have to fly chaperoned so I have to convince my flying buddy of the worth of the adventure (not that hard).

Gas $60/hour, overnight a place to have stories about $40, no stories maybe $80... Hmm..got to stop the logic...coming out to $50/clam.

The 15 clam limit per day is fine but Alaska Sea Food sold me a 1 lb pack ( about eight ) flash frozen for $18.95. They were delicious last night. Going to try their mega prawns tonight.

The urgency to participate has diminished but the trip is definitely on the list of things to attempt.

Thanks for the offer of help and guidance.

http://youtu.be/bGZA_gIUnf4

Good times.

Alpina23 wrote:http://youtu.be/bGZA_gIUnf4

Good times.

That was pretty cool. I'm definitely not use to having to watch out for people like that. Did you get any clams or just fly in and out?

CW

We all dug our limits. The clams were abundant and digging was really easy this trip. I trimmed the video down so as not to bore all of you to death
It is common that you have to be aware of cars, people, dogs, and things that wash up at high tide; but it really isn't that tough. The "runway" is so long that you can really choose where you want to set it down.

The tires and wheels on an amphibian are pretty darned small. How did they do in the sand? I figure if those tires are OK, almost anything else will do.

Alpina23 wrote:We all dug our limits. The clams were abundant and digging was really easy this trip. I trimmed the video down so as not to bore all of you to death
It is common that you have to be aware of cars, people, dogs, and things that wash up at high tide; but it really isn't that tough. The "runway" is so long that you can really choose where you want to set it down.

I think you kind of hit the nail on the head with the fact that the "runway" is where you make it. I get so use to having a defined area as the "strip" that the wide open space is an unusual perspective. Add people who aren't necessarily standing on the "edge" of that defined space to the mix and it just makes it more unusual. Maybe I'm more intrigued by that than I should be but I think it's pretty cool to "mingle" with the "normal" folk like that. I bet they got a kick out of it too!

Glad you bagged some clams! Thanks for sharing the adventure.

CW