Ninilchik, Alaska

 

The Flats are Paved with Clams

 

We always stop on the beach in Ninilchik to watch the clam diggers go way out on the tidal flats to dig clams.

 The full moon has created the monthly super tide. It is about a 30 foot swing here on Cook's Inlet in the Gulf of Alaska.

I buy a shovel and try my luck....

At times the mud makes walking difficult. I see one man limp to the rocky shore with only one boot....the mud has left him half barefooted...

I fail to recognize any clams and return with an empty bucket but with both boots.

The halibut boats launch just south of the Ninilchik Beach at Deep Creek. They launch and recover with the aid of a tractor.

I learn more about halibut. You can only fish for about 2-3 hours  during slack tides (high tide or low tide)....when the tide is ripping at 8 knots the 4-pound fishing weights blow right off the bottom...

Fishing is worst during the monthly peak tides, but better during high tide than low tide.

I schedule another Deep Creek  halibut trip for the morning  of July 30 when the tides will be both slack high and much less extreme...Also I book two more half day trips out of Homer....Saturday and Sunday....