don sorry your wrong about that. you get a bull rake and fish for them off the side of your boat. you get a lot every rake full ive bin talking to my buddy to give me some tips.
Ayuh,.... Over in his neck of the water, they slosh around in knee deep water, diggin' clams with a fork, 'n tossin' 'em into their boat, they're pushin' around in front of themselves...
Oh, I will have ato say that SBL is correct on this one. In R.I. (Narragansett Bay) quahoging is done with bullrakes that have handles up to 30' long (sectional that screw/locks together). You let the skiff blow down wind while getting into rhythmic pattern of pulling on the handle of the rake, using the weight & momentum of the skiff to move the rake anong the bottom. There are quite a few guys that make their living this way. - Years ago when East Greenwich Bay was opened up to quahoging for the first time in years someone I was in college with bougth a brand new Chevy pickup with cash earnings from 8 weeks of quahoging.
thanks ned i was wondering diffrent setups for the boat for this and yes i hear you can make enough money to get by, by doing this. It's be a great summer job.
I would suggest trying to go along w a local clammer a time or 2 to see what you would need to start you own operation. I hear the competition can be fierce or ugly w the lobstermen up your way and wonder if the "newclammers" are similarly shuned or harassed? Clamming in N.C. is much easier. 30+ yrs. ago we just wore old sneakers to keep the Oysters and crabs from hurtin your feet, and shuffled along the bottom in low tide in water 1 to 4' deep. You can feel the clams just under the bottom and simply reach down and pull them out of the mud/sand. We often loaded a 16' jonboat w hundreds of lbs. in a few hours. We made some $$ but we ate alot of the profit also!!
The size of the boat is not critical. The way its done is there is a float on the handle and as the rake is pulled in the handle arcs over the other side of the boat. When the handle reaches the water, the float keeps it afloat. The long pipe/handle is somewhat flexible.
I have seen it done many times in Oyster Bay, New York (Long Island) but never worked it myself.
