Clams for Stripers

[bottom bouncer]

I fish in Cape Cod Bay and I am looking for a new way to put trophy stripers in my boat. I use the conventional techniques of trolling, jigging, tube and worm, and eels. I was wondering if anyone who fishes the bay has ever tried sea clams. I read about it alot in NJ. I was wondering if a fresh sea clam will be able to produce some big stripers for me. Any insight would be great. Thanks

Tight Lines

[Notaro]

some guys told me to cut the soft part, u know the green stuffs on the clams?and use them for chumming and use the foot of the clams on ur hook.

[macojoe]

I hate the Bay!!
But I have a couple of friends that have there best luck Tube and Worm. The problem with any bait over there is the Dog fish. You will catch tons of them using bait. They also like to troll 9er's. Hope this helps you out.
Try the Vinyard for hogs!!
Macojoe

[fireguy]

I have great success catching stripe bass using sea clams fishing from Long Beach in Plymouth. I know some others that use clams to catch stripe bass in Plymouth Harbor. I think it makes a great bait inshore fishing.

[HESH2]

IF YOU BUY KOSHER SALT AND SALT THE CLAMS THEY WILL DRY OUT AND STAY ON HOOKS BETTER.CAN ALSO USE VEGGIE DYE TO COLOR CLAMS.A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO MY SONS FISHED CAPE COD BAY AND HAD A BOAT DROP THEM OFF,ON THE PICK UP BACK CAPTAIN ASKED IF THEY HAD HOOKS,THEY SAID YES AND HE PULLED TO A SPOT AND GAVE THEM CLAMS-EVER DROP DOWN THEY CAUGHT LARGE STRIPERS.I NEVER DID THE SALT THING BUT READ IT ON A NJ POST.

[Good N You]

Clams work well around plymouth and also on the national seashore, especially after a big storm the stripers come in looking for a free meal of smashed clams. Kosher salt works to firm up the clams but your catch will decrease some. The fresher the better. Flounder hooks that almost circle back to the shank work the best.

[STEVE IN MASS]

Not for nothing, but I fish in Jersey 3 or 4 times a year.....

Salted clams are okay, if you must, but fresh are much better. The "staying on the hook" thing.....lose your fish finder rig, and switch to a hi-lo rig, or the same set up with only 1 hook. The fish finder has a tendency to "whip" the bait on the cast....clam goes one way, sinker goes the other. Had that problem all the time until I switched to the hi-lo. It is more streamlined on the cast, the sinker heading out first, and the bait following it in a straight line.

Take your clam, hook it thru the "tongue". Then take the "lip", wrap it around the body a few times as much as you can, and then put the end of the lip thru the hook again. Between the hooking method and the hi-lo rig, I rarely (though, every so often do) lose my clam bait on the cast.

Some guys use elastic to hold it on, but I've never been a fan of that.

If you MUST salt clams......shuck up your clams. Get a 1 quart plastic container (such as a yogurt or cottage cheese container), that has a number of small holes poked in the bottom. Put this container inside another one that has no holes in it. Put in a few clams, add some kosher salt, a few more clams, more salt, etc. Put a lid on the container, but don't seal it tight. Stick it in the fridge, and all the excess juice will drip into the outer container in a day or so. Toss the juice, or better yet, save it to put in your chum mix.

Now seal the container, or transfer the clams to a zip lock bag and store in the fridge. I have salted clams in my bait fridge downstairs from a year or more ago, and they are still good to go, if I should really need to use them in an emergency situation. Rumor has it, once salted, you can even leave them in your car for a week or two, and they won't smell or go bad.....though if it's July and 90 degrees, I wouldn't recommend that.

[bottom bouncer]

Thanks for the replies i will write them down and put them to good use.

Tight Lines

[Mr. Sandman]

I don't fish much with clams anymore but in NY they have a purple clam that stinks to high hell and it works great for bass. We use to chum with clam bellies and drift back these stink clams as bait. They were deadly. I know NY exports the bait up here but it is a little pricey. The purple is from the mud it is in, as far as I know it is just a regular chowder calm but it is well seasoned in this stinky mud which seems to work. It also is pretty tough and stays on the hook like a pork rind.

[Notaro]

cool, that's a good method.

[Flash King]

Use Clams at Merrimack mouth,esp. during May/Early June. Lots of schoolies but there are usually a keeper or two per trip(catch-tag-release) Fish/finder rig with 5/0-6/0 circle and Large chart. Bead