Razor Clam/fish where around Dublin

roby1987

Hello Guys,
I was told by some Irish colleagues that there is a way to catch razor clams using the salt.
Well, The confirmation arrived while watching some videos on YouTube where there are people fishing razor clams quite easily (apparently) using salt and helping themselves with a small knife or their fingers eventually.
I love seafood and The idea immediately excited me, thus both on Saturday and Sunday I tried to fish this clams armed with salt and knife but unsuccessfully.

I went firstly on a beach between Malahide and Portmarnock, the next day around Booterstown.
When the low tide arrived, I started seeking for razor cams on the recently emerged sand but, when individuated what I thought it was the clam hole, I put the salt into it helping myself with a knife as shown in the videos I previously watched but nothing happened. I tried more and more times of course...
Not for nothing, I found at least some normal clams but I still don't know what I did wrong.
Nonetheless there are thousands of razor clam shells in these places, therefore I keep thinking that such places are correct and that I'm wrong in something.

Is there out of there anyone who knows where and if I can find such clams around Dublin?
If yes, is there a particular beach and/or hour that would be ideal?
It looks so easy watching those videos and they say that I need just sandy beaches...

Thanks to everyone

GrumpyMe

roby1987 wrote: »

they say that I need just sandy beaches...

And spring tides - the lower the better...;)

recedite

Or try digging with a fork.
I would not be inclined to eat shellfish from a beach where the water quality is not up to scratch. Its up to you to check it out. A weekend away to the west coast might be in order.

GrumpyMe

recedite wrote: »

Or try digging with a fork.
I would not be inclined to eat shellfish from a beach where the water quality is not up to scratch. Its up to you to check it out. A weekend away to the west coast might be in order.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.188971064480262.48110.181578698552832&type=3

From memory - there are more outbreaks of red tide out West/South West than East so going West doesn't necessarily guarantee better quality shellfish. https://www.google.ie/?gws_rd=ssl#q=red+tide+ireland

If you picked/got one then tick it off your bucket list - pop down to the local Asian market store or local fishmonger(probably need to order) and buy a bale of decent sized ones!;)

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Do not eat any shellfish from Dublin beaches as recent water quality reports were very poor.

diomed

They've been watching the Youtube videos too? :pac:

Fwiw when I was a young child Saxa salt cartons had a picture of a young boy chasing a bird and putting salt on its tail.
When I asked my parents about it they said that is how you catch birds. You put salt on their tail.
What followed was me with a handful of salt running after birds, and my grandmother and mother laughing until they could hardly stand.

Good luck.

roby1987

Hi folks,
Thank you very much for your advice.

Westin Ambitious Spectrum wrote: »

Do not eat any shellfish from Dublin beaches as recent water quality reports were very poor.

Yeah I know it. To be honest for the moment I'm focused on succeeding in that. I don't really mean to eat shellfish in this case but I'd like to understand at least how to catch them.

I don't exclude a weekend to the west shore either.

What I wanted to know is just whether I can find such a shellfish in Dublin Bay (in the 2 places quoted in my post) and if yes, how I may improve my "technique".

Many thanks for your advice though.
It is absolutely precious

savagethegoat

yeah, I have a very similar problem catching and eating Sparrowhawks.... but I suspect a topic on that subject wouldn't be acceptable on this forum.

cd07

savagethegoat wrote:

yeah, I have a very similar problem catching and eating Sparrowhawks.... but I suspect a topic on that subject wouldn't be acceptable on this forum.

No it wouldn't they are a fully protected species and any kind of capture is illegal. Anyway back to razor clams id try gormanston laytown or bettystown iv seen them caught there before.

CJhaughey

GrumpyMe wrote: »

From memory - there are more outbreaks of red tide out West/South West than East so going West doesn't necessarily guarantee better quality shellfish. https://www.google.ie/?gws_rd=ssl#q=red+tide+ireland

If you picked/got one then tick it off your bucket list - pop down to the local Asian market store or local fishmonger(probably need to order) and buy a bale of decent sized ones!;)

Its not just red tides that are problematic, the biggest issue for filter feeding shellfish is that sewage and stormwater runoff can pollute areas where there are shellfish present.
You can eat shellfish from these areas but they need to be depurated in tanks to remove Virii and Bacteria.

roby1987

cd07 wrote: »

No it wouldn't they are a fully protected species and any kind of capture is illegal. Anyway back to razor clams id try gormanston laytown or bettystown iv seen them caught there before.

I'll try as soon as I can. Many thanks for your contribution

I will tell you if something came up!