Jen Wren Cabo Fishing Report 14 February 2017

As happy as a clam

Right now I am as happy as a clam because winter is almost behind us. In my book this will go down as a mild one. Water temps are 68-69 degrees and air temps have been consistently comfortable. Yellowtail have showed up right on cue and it looks like this season fishing will be like the good old days.

In Southern Baja the winter months on the full moon and new moon bring the most extreme tides of the year. Every year we take advantage of this condition vacationing on a camping trip to Magdalena Bay.

Fishing in the mangroves at Mag is always action packed and productive when the tide is high. When the water recedes digging chocolate clams is easy.

Supplemented with shrimp and sometimes crab, scallops and lobster purchased from the local pangeros Mag always brings us a seafood marathon feast.

When we arrived after enduring 20 miles of washboard dirt road our secret camping hideout looked like we had never left it. I did notice the panga fleet of shrimpers was much smaller than the last couple of years. The co-op jefe explained to me that many had left the camp because of poor production. He went on to say they don't believe it is because of harvest pressure but a condition from lack of rain. That explanation was a little over my head because I didn't realize shrimp liked rain.

So, where did the popular phrase "as happy as a clam" come from? My first thought was they can't be very happy at low tide so I googled it. What I found kinda confirmed my thought. This was from a Google search:

The derivation is more likely to come from the fuller version of the phrase, now rarely heard - 'as happy as a clam at high water'. Hide tide is when clams are free from the attentions of predators; surely the happiest of times in the bivalve mollusk world.