fresh water clams

[curado]

can you eat them. sapiplate and i found a bar full of them

[BentRod]

I'm sure you could eat them, but I've heard it's not recommended. Can't remember the reason though.

[jens]

About 10 years ago, I was at a barbecue and someone was steaming up some clams. I ate bowl of them, but noticing a slight tinge on my pallet. I thought nothing of it because to me, clams are clams and I love clams. 3 hours later, I was bent over and couldn't get off the toilet. Everyone who ate these clams got sick as well. The guy who brought the clams, said they were freshwater clams. I'll never eat them again. But, I am sure if you cook them properly, you should be ok. I don't think he steamed them long enough?

[curado]

yeah this spot had thousands of them for probably a 100 yards and all the way across the river

[jens]

I would just be worried about the E-coli levels in that body of water. Maybe call the WDFW and ask about it.

[Jake Dogfish]

They are not legal to harvest. I have tried them though several years back and they were terrible.

[racfish]

The shoreline by my house along Seward Park have fresh water clams. The birds love em. I tried them for perch bait and it worked well. As well as any other bait did.I would probabvly not eat them unless they were in a faster moving water.They stay pretty much in one area so they would tend to pick up pollutants better. JMO.

[curado]

the bar i s on the snohomish river

[racfish]

The bottom of the Snohomish is much like the bottom of the Duwamish. Id leave them alone in the estuary waters. JMO.

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

are they freshwater clams, or softshell clams like up at the mouth of the Skagit? Softshell clams are east coast transplants.

[curado]

the shells are hard so not soft shell

[Bodofish]

Don't eat them Kid! They pick up everthing from the water they're in. In survival school they tell you not to eat them. It's a sure way to pick up some Giardia and be sick the rest of your life. Not to mention all those cows up stream....... yuck!!!!

[curado]

i wont touch them i was curios

[geljockey]

A friend of mine is a freshwater native non-game fish biologist for WDFW and happened to come across your posting. She told me that it is illegal to collect freshwater clams for eating or any other personal use. She also said that the clam ( actually a mussel) you are seeing in the Snohomish is probably a western pearlshell. Western pearlshell can live to be over 100 years old. They’re pretty interesting critters! She provided a link to the Pacific Northwest's native freshwater mussel workgroup and a PNW mussel guide http://www.fws.gov/columbiariver/musselwg.htm. If you have any further freshwater mussel questions, she said that you should feel free to contact her at [email protected].

[BentRod]

A friend of mine is a freshwater native non-game fish biologist for WDFW and happened to come across your posting. She told me that it is illegal to collect freshwater clams for eating or any other personal use. She also said that the clam ( actually a mussel) you are seeing in the Snohomish is probably a western pearlshell. Western pearlshell can live to be over 100 years old. They’re pretty interesting critters! She provided a link to the Pacific Northwest's native freshwater mussel workgroup and a PNW mussel guide http://www.fws.gov/columbiariver/musselwg.htm. If you have any further freshwater mussel questions, she said that you should feel free to contact her at [email protected].

Cool info. Thanks.

[The Quadfather]

Curado, curious how big the clams were. This summer while out at Lk. Ozette near NW cornor of the state, we right on top of huge amounts of freshwater clam/mussels. They look like a mussle really, more than a clam. These things were 3.5" long 1.5" wide, and about 1.5" in depth. They were huge. I only wish I kept a pic. Of course I wanted to eat one,, but did not. And yes, if you google enough you will find everyone in the know will tell you that they are straingers/sive of the pollutants in the earth/water. Both man made pollutants and natural funk.

[Jake Dogfish]

As I mentioned before I did try the big ones that look like giant mussels, and they were absolutlely horrible about the worst thing I ever tried eating. All fresh water clams/mussels are closed to harvest and with that taste I don't think we have to worry about poaching.

[hotfish]

we used to eat them out of mason lake no ill effects, also not much taste