Clamming Rig

[Ziggy]

Thinking of buying a clamming rig to keep up with the demand this year. I have worked on a clamming rig a few times. I always thought it was by far the most destructive gear ever used in the bay, but since so many recs want clams this year, the money I make should make up for my guilt of destroying all the grass beds and such. So my question is, If you know that I am participating in the most destructive form of commercial fishing known to the bay, will you still buy my clams? I dont want to invest the cash if you guys realize what you are promoting.

[BowMovements]

LOL once some of the rec crabbers realize that it's not cheap or easy to use clams as they think it is they will probably go back to nx. I think they just wanna try it because of all the hype over the winter thread discussions. I'll buy your clams if the price is right. ;-)

[rj]

Matt,
Zig is trolling
:chugbeer:

[Burchbeer]

Ziggy/Matt,

IMHO, clams work best May June and after that for some reason nx do better. I use a combo of clams and nx. I have even put both in my c-tpx.
Fish too. But I am not crabbing for a living either. Matt, to me, using them is easy. Making the bags iup and then isnt bad. I guess0 the hard part is baiting them and attaching them to your line/snood. For my humble rec crabbing, baiting is just part of what I love doing. Crabbing is a hobby/sport and getting things ready is no big deal for me.

I dont think most recs are using clambags regularly. Comms, well that is a different story and I really dont know what percentage of them use bags. Most coms I see working lines are using nx,eel , lips. I know comm potters use clams quite frequently too.

As for buying a rig, it is a hit or miss thing. You need a crystal ball to try to determine if the market is strong enough to invest in the gear. Do you have the bux to invest in one? I have no idea what the cost would be to buy all that apparatus and then pay for someone to mount it to the boat.

$25-30K??

I hear there will be a shortage of clams this year. Hope I am wrong. One guy that I know said there are Clam farmers that actually have areas where they grow and harvest them. But talk is cheap and Id have to see all that with my own eyes. How would you keep the beds from being dredged by others?

AS for the destruction a dredge leaves, I understand it and in my case I could go without buying razors for bait.

I would buy your clams if the price was right and you were in my neck of the woods.

For what its worth.

Dave

[BowMovements]

Yup, I don't mind baitn 1200'. It's the other 3600' that gets me! ;-) I agree recs aren't using as often as people make them out to be, I think a couple are trying different things this year and frankly trying new methods is one of the enjoyments of the game! Let'em buy a bushell do their thing and have fun. It's not like that all they are going to use year round is razors.

[going2fast]

never seen a comm use a chicken neck before. and im a comm. clams are overrated and they only work well certain times of the season. i'll stick with shrimp heads and bunks.

[Weber]

never seen a comm use a chicken neck before. and im a comm. clams are overrated and they only work well certain times of the season. i'll stick with shrimp heads and bunks.

Do you use the clam/bait bags for those as well?

[BowMovements]

That's weird of the dozens of fellow waterman I know we have all used nx. It's not the only bait used but it is used allot. correct clams do work well during certain times of the season, but I don't think they are over-rated. Shrimp heads are great but not always easy to get on the western shore. Bunk, menhaden and elwives Iv'e only used in potting. If you want this summer you can travel along side and watch me use necks, then you can say you have seen a comm. use nx. ;-)

[Big Liar]

Ziggy,

If you can catch smart clams and train them to craw inside the bait bags on their own, we'll all buy them from you. Better yet, come up with an artificial bait that we don't have to take off our line all season. You will definitely get a return on your investment, and no guilt. I've been trying to come up with one of these for years now.

Last year I used Clams, Necks, moved north, then Clams, Necks, Lips, then back to necks for the last couple of days.

[going2fast]

sorry for the misunderstanding here. i know of plenty of liners who use nx but everyone runs pots in my neck of the woods [mid potomac]. i run around 300 pots and wouldn't even know where to get that many nx. i get my shrimp heads from petersons in colonial beach. just throw a handfull in the bait chamber. only good for a day though.

[BowMovements]

sorry for the misunderstanding here. i know of plenty of liners who use nx but everyone runs pots in my neck of the woods [mid potomac]. i run around 300 pots and wouldn't even know where to get that many nx. i get my shrimp heads from petersons in colonial beach. just throw a handfull in the bait chamber. only good for a day though.

That explains it! Whatdya have a CB3? I gotta LCC and run high line. Ive been tryn to get my aunt to send me up heads from NC. Just tryn to find a cheap shipper. wanna put them in my clam bags once just to do a comparison.

[c-hawk 25]

Save you money bow movement. Shrimp heads didnt work on the tred avon.

[BowMovements]

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