so we're clamming we're catching clams um we're we're treading them so which means that we're walking in the marsh uh we're going to feel them with our feet and then we're going to we're going to reach down pick them up they look like that I got I got a few nice job dude we dug a bush clams we can eat them every way we can think of we're going to steam some we're going to bake some we're going to eat some raw uh might even have some Linguini white clams sauce so we're going to see what we can do um but this stuff is this is Long Island this is uh you know this is this is digging clams um what this bushel would cost if you had to buy them per the six or per the Dozen in a restaurant is hundreds of dollars and out here it was just the gas to get across the bay and in here to this beautiful Marsh and uh to know where to go with uh with Dad guiding us you never know what you're going to step on there's you know broken bottles maybe or shells so what we do is we use the coverings um for dress shoes um and a sock and that's it so you can see they're kind of Muddy um but we use these they keep your feet protected um but you can still feel the clams underneath the water so we're going to talk about how we're going to eat the clams that we caught the first thing we're going to do is we're going to eat them on the half shell so it's raw dad's going to open some clams up here um so it's literally just opening the clam up throwing some cocktail sauce on it slurping it down and here's your first first one nice white meat beautiful you know what I'm just going to eat this one regular it's my favorite way to eat them um clams are great no matter how you cook them but this is my favorite way want some cocktail sauce on that one yes I would give that one to you get a little juice out of that they take the top shell off in the restaurant yeah it makes it look prettier and here we go that's it dad's been clamming on this Bay for for how long 70 years I hate to say that so tell me a little bit about that well I you know our family used to every weekend go out to make extra money for the family digging clams and and I was at a very young age and I actually started selling my first clams about 500 ft from here at 7 years old I I always lik to do clams and uh I got better and better at it and as I graduated high school I uh went to college locally and I paid all my tuition all my expenses was made through digging clams I went to college seven years um two years four years to get a Bachelor of Science degree at ad Deli then 2 years to get a Bachelor of Arts and teaching at the University of South Florida and you dug clams in Florida too and I dug clams in Florida and all this time all my tuition all my expense my off-campus living was all provided by digging clams the school district where I have 215 credits on my transcript they paid me $25 a day this is 73 and I had two half days and the two half days they PID G me $12.50 which great being a teacher I loved it was the best years of my life the year year and a half teaching were probably the most uh rewarding years of my whole life honestly I would do it to this day again if I could but I'm too old and then I went back on the bay uh course that's what I did to get where I was at that point and I just continued and spent the rest of my life out there as a commercial fisherman and we're still digging CLS and still digging clams and having fun it's not really a job if you enjoy your your work if you were going to sell these to a clam buyer a mixed bushel how much would they be I'm since I haven't sold clams in so many years uh and actually in Great South Bay the clamming industry is coming back big time it's probably probably going to be like it was back in the 60s and 70s we had about a 30-year time where it's just no recruitment in the clams but I would say uh the little neck clams like this from what I understand talking to some of the fellas they're getting 25 28 cents a piece and a chow clam and a Cherry Stone which be a more mediumsized clam uh I think they're getting 18 or 22 cents and that's the same price we got back in 1980 82 but it's there's still enough clams that you know if a young person wanted to uh start they could it's a low overhead that's one of the best things about clamming your overheads once you get yourip is your gas to go out and back and it's probably four or five gallons a day if that yeah yeah cuz when I do other things like going crabbing it's over $1,000 a day to leave the dock so I don't catch $1,000 worth the crabs I work 12 hours for nothing this year the prices were very low I got paid what I got paid in 1978 to 1985 it's just unbelievably terrible the worst I've ever seen for a crabber up and down EAS seab board not a local city situation it's a coastwide situation and I think about what that is in Arizona for a half dozen little necks will be 12 15 20 bucks for a half dozen clams this size and for a half dozen they're going to pay you $2 that's what the markup is that's why when when you're go into restaurants that's why stuff is so expensive it's not this side getting rich it's the people that we're selling to and then they're selling to restaurants and everyone keeps mark it up but the lowest paid people in that enti entire totem pole of the people on the bottom which is us we're going to go head home and start processing this stuff now these are just steamed um there's water in here and then as the clams open up um they let juice in there so we kind of there'll be a little bit of grit sometimes so we'll take them out of the shell kind of wash them in the juice a little bit and that also reheats them in case they get cold into butter and then eat them and that's how we do it and uh and they're great that's great so these a Clams Casino um top necks just a yep it's a top neck which is a little bit smaller or bigger than a Little Neck um on the half shell dash of Tabasco piece of sharp cheddar cheese piece of bacon put in the oven at 350 for about 25 minutes and then five minutes on broil let them cool they come out looking like this and I'm grabbing one grab one I'm going to grab one they come right out cuz they're cooked and it's like a mixture of cheese and the delicious Tabasco baking goodness real good Tabasco gives it a little spice little kick with the Tabasco yep gives it a little kick cheese is great Bacon's awesome um if you have access to clams try them like this you absolutely can't go wrong we had Saturday Sunday and Monday morning to do all of that so we caught Blowfish caught crabs caught clams caught fluke cast netted some fish caught our own bait ate a whole bunch of stuff that was just in a couple days here on Long Island um and it's just it it's doesn't even break the surface of everything that there is great to do here just on the Great South Bay so if you you want to see us do more stuff like this let us know in the comments we're always open to try out some new stuff go to new places but it's also always good to come home so thanks for sharing it with me