Best tides for razor clam digging

Why low tide is everything

Razor clams live in the lower beach, the band of sand that is under water most of the day. Only a low tide exposes it, and the lower the tide, the more of the bed you can reach. That is why WDFW schedules digs on the lowest tides of each month and why diggers talk about tide heights the way skiers talk about snow.

What a minus tide means

Tide heights are measured against a reference level called mean lower low water. A tide of 0.0 feet sits at that level. A minus tide, say −1.4 feet, falls below it and exposes sand that an ordinary low tide never uncovers. Minus tides come in series of a few days around the new and full moon, and the best series of the season are usually between −1.0 and −2.0 feet.

The two-hour rule

Arrive about two hours before the listed low tide and dig on the falling water. The beds open up progressively as the tide pulls back, the shows are easiest to spot on freshly exposed sand, and you are never fighting incoming surf. Plan to be done about half an hour after low tide. DigTide prints this window for every approved dig so there is no arithmetic in the parking lot.

Fall evenings, spring mornings

On the Washington coast the lowest tides fall in the evening from October through February and in the morning from March through May. That is why fall digs happen in the dark with headlamps and spring digs happen at dawn. Evening digs also carry WDFW's noon rule: no digging before noon on those days.

Which tide station to trust

Each beach sits nearest a NOAA tide station, and the predictions differ by a few minutes and a few tenths of a foot between them. DigTide uses the station WDFW uses for each beach.

• Copalis Beach: NOAA Westport (9441102)
• Mocrocks: NOAA Westport (9441102)
• Long Beach: NOAA Cape Disappointment (9440581)
• Twin Harbors: NOAA Westport (9441102)
• Kalaloch: NOAA La Push (9442396)