you find oysters by searching them Whoever gave this answer
above is a genius, clearly... I mean, you find oysters by searching
them... Is that supposed to be searching for them? I dunno, either
way, clearly a genius at work there. Here's my answer: By hand, and
finding the right spot and doing a good bit of searching. Like most
other types of shellfish you can find oysters in bays, inlets,
lakes, marshlands or other shallow spots attached to larger bodies
of water, and sometimes even ponds. Tidal areas where the floor of
the body of water becomes fully exposed at low tide (like some
parts of the large bay of Cape Cod) can be one place to look.
However sea gulls eat them so it can be hard to find them in these
areas where the tide goes completely out, but you'll see the left
over shells of many different sea creatures everywhere. There are
many different types and species of oyster (some types of shell
fish which are commonly called oysters aren't even in the oyster
family at all) so you can find them in both freshwater and marine
environments. Oysters tend to group together and form oyster beds,
so where you find one you're likely to find many more. Unlike
clams, but similar to mussels, oysters are capable of attaching
their shells to things, so you can find them growing off of piers,
docks, rocks, and any other solid stationary objects in the water.
That is actually how they are commercially raised and harvested.
Fishermen have ropes that they suspend in the water, by buoys or
other ways, in fisheries and they grow the oysters on the rope
itself. I've even heard references to oysters growing on trees in
the Caribbean, but it was never clarified if these trees were
partly submerged or not and I've never seen it myself. If your
seriously trying to find some oysters my best suggestion would be
to go to the ocean, find a marshy inlet where its shallow but the
tide never completely drains out all the water and look around for
some partially hidden spots where the oysters might latch onto. The
type of area I'm talking about would be something like a very small
public boat launch where people field tiny 1-2 person pleasure
craft like kayaks or canoes to access a larger area of water.
Small, like, might not even have a dock kinda small and hopefully
doesn't see too much traffic. MANY familes enjoy taking their
children to these areas to hunt for crabs and other shellfish just
like your looking to do, so the less known and less popular the
spot the more likely it hasn't already been picked clean. That
said, you would be better off going to do this earlier on in the
year before the summer season brings in thousands of vacationers,
many of whom who will end up doing exactly the same thing your
planning on doing. I'm probably venturing too much into the realm
of speculation here, so I could be wrong about this: I believe of
the many different species/varieties of oysters, a greater number
of the types are better suited to living in colder waters, so
you're more likely to find a larger variety of oyster types in
northern waters. But then again its probably also a regional thing,
so the variety might be greater in the northern waters, but
nonetheless still spread out over the great distance that covers,
and therefore the varieties found would differ from area to area
and all types wouldn't be found at any one particular spot. That
probably wasn't even worth mentioning I suppose. I should probablly
mention that this information comes from my experience and that's
all related to my time on Cape Cod so it may not exactly translate
well relevantly to places on the west coast like Cali or down south
like Florida or the Caribbean. But they aren't that different so
this info should still be relatively useful. Also an important
thing to be aware of about oysters is that they essentially eat
stuff by filtering it out of the water, and therefore a lot of the
stuff in the water gets into them and stays there. An important
thing to remember and consider if your thinking about eating these
oysters you find. Because if the water they are in is polluted, so
are they, and I know I've seen beaches shut down before because of
bacterial considerations (waters are tested regularly and sometimes
bacteria levels can be high enough to pose health issues) so that
might have an impact too. Just be aware of where your getting them
and how safe the water is. The local shellfish authorities and/or
beach authorities can give you plenty of information relative to
these safety considerations. Anyways! Important things to remember:
check shallow waters, preferably marshy inlets to the ocean,
preferably tidal - so water depth fluctuates and the oysters food
supply is replenished with the shifting tides - but not tidal to
the point that the water completely drains out and the inlet floor
is exposed, try a time of year that's off-season for vacationers or
tourists in whatever place you decide to go to, find an area that
is not extremely well known or popular like a small boat launch
that's out of the way and sees little traffic, look on rocks or
docks or other submerged objects, especially partially hidden
places where they aren't readily visible and easy prey for the sea
gulls like UNDER a dock or in the case of marshy areas push back
the sea grass and comb through it a bit. Also, check out things
that are out of the ordinary or wouldn't normally be there - I was
at the bayside beach at Cape Cod earlier on this summer, it was low
tide and I was walking out on the flats and there was a tire
partially filled with cement which was being used as an anchor for
somebodies small sail boat. The thing was COVERED in mussels and
oysters and barnacles. And I mean COVERED. Every inch of the
cemented portion had shellfish on it. Shellfish on top of shellfish
layered together. Even some of the inside portion of the actual
tire had some on it. And inside the tire was a small pool of water
with sand at the bottom and there was several dozen of the small
sea snails (aboout as big as the tip of an index finger) and
several tiny baby crabs (the tiny translucent kind no wider than a
fingernail). Strangely enough the sea gulls hadn't even touched it,
like they didn't know there was food there or something about the
tire turned them away. So check for out of place objects of human
origin. Come to think of it you could ask the locals of wherever
you end up going to look for oysters, they usually could help give
some advice that's good as long as they aren't the angry type of
locals jaded by the presence of the yearly vacationers. Those
people will usually be rude and tell you to piss-off or worse send
you in the wrong direction out of spite. You could ask people in
the local offices that give licenses for this kinda stuff, which
reminds me that you should become aware of the regulations
concerning shellfishing in the area you go to. Many places require
you to purchase a temporary license for taking any shellfish and
they limit the amount you can gather and specify what you can take
and what you can't (size, gender, whether its in a phase of
reproduction, etc. depending on what type of fish) and any
violation of these regulations can carry heavy fines - especially
if your fishing without any license at all. Can run up to several
hundred dollars I think. Some places are stricter than others, and
I believe this is also a seasonal thing so if you go during
off-season you may be free and clear. But I dunno for sure. If push
comes to shove and your really having a tough time finding any
oysters you could always try digging a little into the sand.
Oysters don't really do any digging themselves, clams are the
shellfish that do the digging, but occasionally an oyster may get
buried in a small amount of sand in the course of the tides going
in and out, or people doing stuff nearby could possibly cause this.
Be careful if you do some digging though, I've gotten some pretty
nasty cuts on my feet from razor clams and regular clams buried a
few inches into the sand from just walking barefoot. Their shells
are tough and can be sharp, and walking fast through the soft sand
got me a couple of nasty gashes on my toes and bottoms of my feet.
So digging with your hands could result in similar injuries to the
fingers. So don't get over-zealous with the digging, especially
because its unlikely to get you much results. Anyways, good luck
with your search. Oysters are hard to find... I've only seen a few
in my time. Mostly I find clams, razor and regular, snails and the
occasional crab. The only thinng rarer than oysters in my
experience has been scallops. I've only seen one of those suckers.
So find a good spot, spend a little time searching, and with a
little luck you'll find some oysters. Good hunting!