Last Friday night was a magnificent warm night so with the kids out of school and nothing on Saturday's agenda I decided that we would head off to the beach to see if we could catch some elusive SoCal Grunion.  CA law states that the only tackle you can use is your hands and if you are an adult you must have a valid CA fishing license.  We went over to Silver Strand State Beach in Coronado as that was the site of my previous Grunion successes (it's a dark, quiet, romantic beach and I think the Grunion prefer that).  We got there around 10:30pm and after a short 40  minute wait the first run hit the beach.  The giggles and screams started soon thereafter!
Maili on the hunt! (silver spots in picture are Grunion ashore breeding)


Grunion in the receding wave

At around 11:45pm the beaches were awash in breeding Grunion.  We practiced 'catch and release' on our Grunion hunting.  After a few successful minutes our bucket had a mass of wriggling fish and was unceremoniously dumped back into the wave only to be reloaded in just a few minutes. 

Maili got the honors of first caught Grunion!

Madison displays her catch!

Sydney was there with several girlfriends and they decided that actual catching was too 'gross' and were happy to be spectators.  it was a really beautiful night and around 12:30 we were done so we headed back to the car (and eventually to the showers for some) and went home.  For my kids, this was their first Grunion expedition and we all had a great time and can't wait to go again.  To learn more, check out www.grunion.org for details and the schedule for the next 'run'!