Netarts Bay Garden RV Resorts

Enjoy a camping trip at Netarts Bay.

Netarts Bay is located about 5 miles southwest of Tillamook, Oregon, and offers something fun for everyone. It encompasses parts of the Netarts Bay Shellfish Preserve, Cape Lookout State Park, and has lots of space to beachcomb, fly kites, or try your hand at clamming and crabbing. Shellfish licenses are available for purchase online. Three-day licenses are $19, yearly licenses are $10 for Oregon residents, and $28 for non-residents.

Grab your shellfish permit, hit the thick, claylike sand at low tide with a shovel and bucket, and watch as the clams give their locations away by squirting water up out of the sand. Once you see a squirt, you have to dig quickly to catch the clams. Enjoy your spoils with some homemade clam chowder, stuffed clams, or clam fritters for dinner. If you’d like to try digging for razor clams, find yourself a clam gun and hit nearby Cape Meares Beach. Clamming is loads of fun, but you must always keep an eye on the tide. The water comes in fast and you can easily find yourself stranded on a sandbank if you’re not careful.

Crabbing is also a fun and deliciously rewarding pastime. Netarts Bay houses both classic dungeness and rich flavored red rock crabs. You can use crab traps from the shore or by boat in the bay. Be sure to learn the difference between female and male crabs because all females must be thrown back. There is also a size limit for dungeness crabs. If you’d like to try crabbing the bay by boat, rentals are available at the Netarts Bay Garden RV Resort with all the crabbing materials included for $110 for a three-hour session. Crabbing season is late summer and fall.