Oyster Blog — News from Here

Every year the nearby town of Hoodsport outdoes itself putting on a Fourth of July extravaganza. This year we got ourselves together and participated in the street fair on Friday, selling barbecued Hama Hama oysters with a butter and garlic sauce. Saturday was the really busy day in Hoodsport--with live music, a raffle, and a surprisingly excellent fireworks display--but since it's also a really busy day in our store we weren't able to fire up the barbecues. Several of our customers on Friday were hungry hikers in town to visit the newly re-opened Staircase trailhead.

Neighbor Gary sent over these pictures of an eagle nest near his home in Eldon, the hamlet overlooking the Hamma Hamma estuary.

Normally Hood Canal is a quiet sort of place--its mirrored surface unbroken by wake of kayak, canoe, or motor boat. But each year, on the first two Saturdays in May, boaters come from near and far to test their wits and wiles against those of one of the Canal's most elusive but delicious inhabitants: the Hood Canal spot prawn. Here's a brief and incomplete tutorial in how to catch Hood Canal shrimp: 1. Make sure your boat makes it to the water. 2. Prepare cans of Friskies cat food to use as bait.   4. Remember: mechanical pot-pullers are for...

Nearly 60 kids participated in the fishing derby last weekend. They had lots of fun and made lots of mischief, but unfortunately, between them they only caught 30 fish. Here are some of the lucky fisherkids: The biggest fish caught measured 19 inches. If you didn't catch any fish, then hold up your M&M's! Clearly that's too much gum for a 4 year old to eat all by herself, which is why her brother, in the background, has a gum-eating grin on his face. As at any proper Hood Canal function, there were plenty of oysters to barbecue. And only...