Mark Yuasa has the story in the Seattle Times:
Get the boiling pot of water ready because the lowest tides of the season are happening this week in Puget Sound for shellfish, and crabs are fair game in South Puget Sound.
“Clam populations are doing just fine,” said Camille Speck, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist in Brinnon.
Belfair State Park is often overlooked, and is open for clams and oysters, but be cautious of the muddy beach. Dosewallips and Duckabush State Parks offer clams and oysters, but it takes a little walk to get out onto the beaches and you won’t find many steamer-sized clams.
Fort Flagler State Park is open through July, and is best for larger native littleneck and butter clams. Illahee State Park, a beautiful park, north of Bremerton has a great planted oyster bed and is open through July. Potlatch State Park on Hood Canal is a great place for steamer clams and an easy walk onto the flats.
North Bay in Case Inlet across from Allyn is an easy, short walk and is abundant with steamer clams and some oysters on a planted bed. Clams here can be found high on the beach line so you don’t have to go very far out to find them.
“The big game of our shellfish fisheries on these huge minus lower tides are geoducks although they are challenging to get,” Speck said. “I would try Dosewallips and Duckabush, and they do get harvested so it takes some looking around.”
A good interactive map can be found on the state Fish and Wildlife Web site athttp://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/shelfish/beachreg.
