The fall and early winter coastal razor clam seasons are set to begin Oct. 16, and it appears that the clam abundance is decent on the southern beaches and bigger clams are to be had on the northern ones.

Evening digs are tentatively planned at Twin Harbors (Oct. 16-19); Long Beach and Copalis (Oct. 16, 17 and 18); and Mocrocks and Kalaloch Beach (Oct. 17 and 18). Digging at all beaches will be restricted to the hours between noon and midnight.

"The results of our 2009 summer stock assessment show that Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Kalaloch Beach have had an increase in their total allowable catch, while Copalis and Mocrocks are about the same," Dan Ayres, the head state Fish and Wildlife coastal shellfish manager said in a news release. "This is great news for Kalaloch, which will have harvest opportunities for the first time since spring 2007."

Kalaloch had been closed due to low clam abundance, but this year's annual stock assessment shows approximately 3.5 million clams of harvestable size, Ayres said. The National Park Service scheduled the proposed digs at Kalaloch Beach, located within Olympic National Park, to coincide with those at other coastal beaches.

A public meeting conducted jointly with staff from Olympic National Park will be held in Forks to further discuss razor clam populations at Kalaloch Beach. The meeting will be held Wednesday, Oct. 7, 7-8:30 p.m., at the Washington Department of Natural Resources conference room at 411 Tillicum Lane near Tillicum Park in Forks.

I can't get all the specific openings into the paper tomorrow, so here are the other tentative dates and low tides for the season:

Friday, Oct. 16 (5:50 p.m. -0.5 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis; Saturday, Oct. 17 (6:38 p.m. -0.8 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks, Kalaloch; Sunday, Oct. 18 (7:23 p.m. -1.1 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks, Kalaloch; Monday, Oct. 19 (8:06 p.m. -1.1 ft.) Twin Harbors.

Wednesday, Nov. 4 (7:33 p.m. -1.3 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors; Thursday, Nov. 5 (8:18 p.m. -1.2 ft.) Twin Harbors; Friday, Nov. 6 (9:07 p.m. -0.9 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors; and Saturday, Nov. 7 (9:59 p.m. -0.5 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors.
Saturday, Nov. 14 (4:34 p.m. -0.3 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks; Sunday, Nov. 15 (5:21 p.m. -0.7 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks; Monday, Nov. 16 (6:05 p.m. -0.9 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks, Kalaloch; Tuesday, Nov. 17 (6:47 p.m. -0.8 ft.) Twin Harbors.

Wednesday, Dec. 2 (6:32 p.m. -1.2 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors; Thursday, Dec. 3 (7:18 p.m. -1.4 ft.) Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks; Friday, Dec. 4 (8:04 p.m. -1.3 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks, Kalaloch; Saturday, Dec. 5 (8:51 p.m. -0.9 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks, Kalaloch; Thursday, Dec. 31 (6:16 p.m. -1.1 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks, Kalaloch; Friday, Jan. 1 (7:01 p.m. -1.8 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks, Kalaloch; Saturday, Jan. 2 (7:45 p.m. -1.6 ft.) Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks; and Sunday, Jan. 3 (8:29 p.m. -1.2 ft.) Twin Harbors.

I'll have more news on this in the Thursday fishing report of The Seattle Times.