Razor Clam Season & Dig Dates — How They Actually Work

More razor clam trips are lost to bad timing than bad digging. The clams are there; people just find out too late that a beach got approved, or show up on a tentative date that never got confirmed. Understanding how the season actually works is the difference between catching digs and reading about them afterward.

The short version

Washington: dig dates are announced and approved one series at a time, often only a few days ahead, after toxin testing. Season generally runs October through May.
Oregon (Clatsop beaches): generally open year-round, except the July 15–September 30 conservation closure and any biotoxin closures.

Now the detail that matters.

Washington: tentative vs. final

Every fall, WDFW publishes a long list of tentative dig days for the season ahead — often dozens of dates stretching across the winter and spring. It’s tempting to treat that list as a schedule. Don’t.

A tentative date only becomes a real, legal dig after two things happen:

WDFW approves the harvest dates, and
The Washington Department of Health tests recent clam samples and confirms the clams are below the marine-toxin limits.

Because toxin samples are collected and tested shortly beforehand, final confirmation usually lands just a few days to about a week before each series. Digs get cancelled outright when toxins are too high — it happens most seasons. So the tentative list tells you when to pay attention, not when to drive to the coast.

Morning or evening?

Washington digs follow the lowest tide of the day, which swings with the season:

Fall and winter (roughly October to mid-March): evening low tides. You’ll often be digging after dark — bring a lantern or headlamp.
Spring: morning low tides.

The Copalis / Mocrocks catch

Copalis and Mocrocks frequently alternate days within a series — they’re often not open on the same date. Always confirm which of the two is legal on the day you’re planning.

Oregon: mostly just go

Oregon’s Clatsop beaches work the opposite way. Rather than announced digs, they’re open year-round by default, with two exceptions:

The conservation closure, every year from July 15 to September 30, to protect young clams north of Tillamook Head. Beaches reopen October 1.
Biotoxin closures, which the Oregon Department of Agriculture can issue at any time and which override the open season.

So in Oregon the question usually isn’t “is there a dig?” but “is the tide low enough, and is the beach toxin-clear today?”

How to never miss a dig

The honest truth is that staying on top of this by hand means refreshing government pages, cross-referencing a separate toxin map, and checking a tide table — for each beach you care about, every few days, all season. That’s the exact chore ClamClock automates.

We watch the WDFW and ODFW approvals, read the health departments’ toxin results, and pair each open beach with its low-tide window — then send you one alert the moment your beach is open and safe. No more finding out a day late.

Next: learn how to dig, and make sure you understand the safety side before your first trip.