Clam Chowder and Salmon Stocking

We woke to sunshine again this morning an oh does it feel good.

The tides over the next few days will be some of the lowest Alaska will have this summer and Razor Clamming will be at its highest. Our friends went clamming today and brought back 60, the limit per person with a fishing license. We helped clean them and what a job it was. We never have had Razor Clams before so we were hoping we would like them because they look awful and aren’t they huge? I made clam chowder from one part of the clam while Troy fried another part. All I can say is YUM! These clams are so mild. The fried ones, well you could just keep popping them in your mouth like popcorn. The chowder was delish, thick with big chinks of clams, potatoes, carrots and onions. I need to go clamming now and Tommy was a happy camper. We did gather a bunch of mussels today while the tide was out for steaming on the fire tonight. Look how far out the water receded and its still not low tide yet. The water comes up to just in front of the RVs.

Wind surfers were out having a blast today. Sounds funny to be wind surfing in Alaska doesn’t it?

Another cool thing happened today. We were able to watch the lagoon get stocked with Coho or Sliver Salmon. We watched this tractor trailer pull up to the lagoon and on the back saw a sign live fish. The female truck driver was hulling out large hoses attaching them to the bins of fish on the flat bed. Cute sign she had on her pink truck saying “silly boy, trucks are for girls”. You go girl! OK, back to fish. People from the Alaska Dept of Fish and Game pulled the metal pen that sits in the lagoon closer to shore. The semitransparent hoses were put on a ramp and into the pen. Then the ADF&G guy held the end of the hose and when a lever was pulled on the truck, the fish came a flying down and out the hose into one of 4 sections of the pen, until all 4 sections were filled. If you look closely you can see the fish in the hose. A total of 130,000 salmon will be kept in the pen for the next 2 weeks to imprint here. The Smoltz (this is the name of the salmon at their current size) will then be released only to return here to spawn in 3-5 years. Only 3 to 7 % will make it back, the others will be consumed in the food chain. The lagoon is also stocked with King Salmon at another time. Neat to see.