Montauk Pioneer - March 20, 2009

I waited too long to get my boat the Mako out of the water this year. It wasn't until two days before the big storm of January that dumped 18" of snow on us that she sat on land. The Thursday before the storm, I arranged to bring the Mako over to Outboard Marine in Bay Shore by water from Amityville. The forecast was 10 mph winds and mid 30 degrees. I dressed like I was cod fishing and set out. The east-west channel was open, and the bay was clear of ice halfway across to the south at the start. As I ran east, I marveled at the beauty of the clear air, water and ice around me. However, the forecast was a bit optimistic as the temperatures were in the mid 20s and the wind was about 25 mph.

I did not make it to Bay Shore that day. As I passed Babylon, slush ice was being pushed together by the north wind. It got progressively thicker until I was trying to break through very solid ice. The ice had closed in all around, and I had to work the boat's 225 hp Suzuki engine very hard, to return back to the ramp at Tanner Park. I then had to wait for a boat hauler to pull the Mako out and bring it over by land. That evening, while taking Patty and the kids to a friend's house for dinner, we saw a sight that I have not seen in a long time. On Montauk Highway, being pulled by a Suffolk County Police Blazer, was an airboat. Everyone wondered what an airboat was doing on Long Island, but I had a clue.

That day brought me back to the late 70s when I had other experiences on the ice.

During the heydays of clamming on the Great South Bay (late '70s and '80s), the winters were colder than now. The entire Great South Bay would freeze during most winters. The winter of 1977-78, was particularly cold. By late December, the bay was frozen over. By early January, the ice was over 14" thick. Since we could not get the boats out and dig, we were feeling the pinch pretty hard. Some of the guys got work on land, but most of us were getting tired of sitting around waiting for spring.

I don't know who first thought of clamming through the ice, maybe the Patchogue Indians, but as we realized that we could get out and work, we went at it full speed. First we needed some equipment suited to this job. A chain saw to cut holes through the ice, a plastic garbage can to keep the clams in water (if left on the ice, the clams would freeze and not be marketable) and a sled (Flexible Flyers disappeared from back yards all over the south shore) to haul everything out beyond the legal line. The water near the land would hold runoff, and nasty bacteria. So the D.E.C. would establish a line that we had to go beyond to reach the unrestricted water. Different lines marked the seeded, and very productive bottom, leased by the town to Blue Point Clam Corp. The line actually was painted on by Suffolk County Police so we would be very clear where it was (the color was bright orange). They used an airboat,(same thing utilized in the everglades) with a paint applier similar to how a highway crew paints road markings. This line could be anywhere from 500 yards to a mile or more from shore.

The more creative diggers used snowmobiles and even stripped down Volkswagons. The most reckless clammers used their 4-wheel drive pickups, but after a few went through the ice, it was back to sleds.

The game plan was to meet at Peter's Diner in Patchogue for breakfast at 5 a.m., go down to the shore, load up the sleds and go out over the ice to the line. Once we were out over legal bottom, the chain saws came out and we cut a slab 3' by 25' or so. The slab of ice was pushed down under the surface where it rose up under the pack ice, away from the hole, providing access to dig. The same long handled rakes and tongs that we used off the boats were deployed. If you could get 100 clams out of each hole, you where doing well. Five holes added up to one count bag and that was a good day. I have to point out that back then, 80% of all the hard shell clams in the country came from the Great South Bay, and when it froze, supply and demand drove the price up to almost three times the summer price.

After clamming, we would go off to the buyers waiting on the shore. We had to be careful not to let the clams freeze so we moved fast. It was pretty tough work, but it was better than nothing.

As in the summer, some of the diggers would not be happy with a regular day's pay so they decided that they would go over the line into the restricted leased area, where at least twice the clams could be dug in the same time. These poachers would be able to see the police coming and get back over the line before they could be caught. It worked for a while, but the Suffolk County Police were not frustrated very long. They decided to use the airboats for a new task. These boats were flat bottomed, and powered by big aircraft engines. They would skim over the ice at over 100 mph. We could hear the roar of the engine five miles away, but they would close in on the poachers, come screaming up and turn right around and blast the engine, coming to a complete stop, directly in front of the bad guys. The police running the airboats wore bright orange survival suits, and orange helmets to protect them from exposure. And they were the biggest officers I ever saw. The sound and sight of those airboats was awesome. It put the poaching on ice.

Here is a recipe for baked clams that is first rate.

Cook panchetta down and add olive oil

Run carrots through food processor to fine chop, then do celery and onion

Sauté carrots, celery and onion in oil

Add oregano,black pepper,cayenne and sugar

Get water boiling in large pot and add clams

As clams open remove from pot

Mince clams in food processor and add to the pot

Add 1 cup of the breadcrumbs, and about 1 cup of the reserved water from cooking the clams