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View Full Version : You Can Grunion, But You Can't Hide... At Least From Sand Cr



labjet2000
06-05-2007, 12:43 PM
I’ve been living in Southern California for the past twenty-five years, and until this past weekend, I’ve never gone to a grunion run. I suppose I could claim I thought a grunion run was a fundraiser marathon thing for some sick or disadvantaged group, but that would be a lie. I’ve known since I was a little boy back in the Midwest what a grunion is.

As a kid in Milwaukee, I’d sometimes go with a neighbor at night to join a legion of fishermen lined up along the breakwater of Lake Michigan. An endless row of cars backed up to the jetty railing with open trunks and tailgates set up a makeshift sportsman’s hobo camp complete with lawn chairs, barbeques and lanterns. Each party of fishermen produced a jerry-rigged contraption, as varied as the designers themselves, consisting of a boom and five foot square net that hung out over the break wall. The net, using a matrix of cables, pulleys and a hand crank, was dropped into the murky depths of Lake Michigan and quickly retrieved in pursuit of spawning schools of lake smelt.

It was custom for each member of the team to take a smelt from the first successful netting and bite off its head. I guess it was some kind of hazing ritual that set smelters apart from other fishermen who got there kicks out of just kissing their fish. As a street kid, biting the head off a fish in order to appease the smelt gods was just too cool. Being a budding twelve year-old naturalist, my research about smelt and other similar though not related fish introduced me to the grunion.

When Kalidawgfan posted a notice last Friday that the Grunion were to run, I figured my meeting of the grunion was too long in coming and I took the bait...

My wife and I took my son and his best friend out to Carpinteria State Beach on Saturday night. We arrived around eight and killed time until the high tide scheduled for 10:41 PM. There was no real wind to speak of, but it did get pretty chilly. The beach, in the wee hours of the morning, is a kind of eerie place. The sound of the surf is just as loud, but one’s lack of visibility can be somewhat disconcerting… at least for me it was. Beach walkers would suddenly appear out of the darkness and disappear just as suddenly. After a few hours, I managed to get used to it.

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Equipped with shorts, flashlights and nylon laundry sacks to put our grunion in, we were about as prepared as grunion hunters could get. Apparently, being prepared isn’t good enough because for our first dance with the grunion, we were stood up like cheap dates. It’s too bad too because I had the boys all primed for biting off the head of their first captured grunion. Now that would be some picture, huh?
Anyways, we had a great time. For those interested, the sand crabs were out in full force and must have been spawning like there was no tomorrow. Eric and Josh collected tons of big ones just for the fun of it. They would find huge beds ten feet in diameter with crabs within the top inch or two. Most sand crabs were C&R’d with the exception of a half dozen. Eric took some home to feed his pet turtle. We’re going to have to get out there one of these mornings and pound the surf for BSP and whatever else is biting now that the crabs are in full swing.

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I know the pix are bad... disposable camer while the digital is being serviced. Sorry about the long-winded back-story. I have a tendency to digress at my age. Hope to see you all on the water… Be safe.

Labjet

Sea Monkey
06-05-2007, 01:20 PM
Not long winded at all... fun grunion story and the kids look like they had a blast. The pics aren't bad at all!! Thanks for sharing!

bigfishlittlefish
06-05-2007, 10:15 PM
Judging by ur pix, I can tell u that u broke the cardinal rules of catching grunions. 1. No lights anywhere near the beach. 2. No noise while near the surf. 3. No walking on the beach itself until the main run. Grunions send scouts out to scope the area. If they detect any intruders near the surf, they'll hold it in for another night or move on down the beach. Just like most people, they want their privacy while they do their thing.

bflf

Granny Fish
06-05-2007, 10:41 PM
The kids look like they were having a blast!
You missed the grunion, but those sandcrabs would have been great bait for some corbina there in the surf.

Thanks for sharing your story. You're a great story teller. You might want to size down your pictures to make it easier to read.

Props to you for getting the family out there and making some memories.

spiceguy
06-06-2007, 08:45 AM
Thanks for the little tutorial about the Lake smelt. I find them sonetimes packaged in some frozen food sections at a few markets. They're great fried up & eaten whole as I'm sure you know. BFLF is right-on about the Grunion & their scouts. Next time follow his suggestions and you're a lot more likely to succeed. Cook 'em up just like the Lake smelt and use the extras (if any) for Halibut bait. :wink: