I always get excited for the Annual Grunion Run. Every summer, these silver fish come up on the beach to lay their eggs. They ride in on one wave and are gone by the next. I used to hunt the little buggers in my hometown of Oxnard all the time. So I do have some fond memories of going to the beach in the middle of the night and chasing through the ocean after these beached fishies. You have to catch them with your hands (any other way is illegal). So we’d catch as many as we could and keep them in a bucket full of water. When the run was over, we’d count them up and throw them all back. I think the most we ever caught was about 45. I don’t ever remember eating grunion. We just went for the pure enjoyment of it all.

I am always telling my friends how fun it is and a couple years ago actually got a few of them to go with me, so they could experience the excitement for themselves. We drove all the way out to Oxnard (takes about an hour) and after getting kicked off of one beach by the cops, we found another beach where we could watch this bizarre tradition. We waited and waited. And waited. And not one single grunion showed themselves. Well, there’s always next year.

So when our good friend suggested we go Grunion Hunting for his birthday, I was stoked. Everyone would finally get to see what I’ve been blabbing about. A handful of us got our fishing licenses and the Party of 12 was ready for action. After a great dinner, we made our trek out to Malibu’s Point Dume beach to try and catch a glimpse. Doesn’t Point Dume sound super scary? Anyway, the weather was awesome. It was a foggy, but probably the warmest beach night ever. Unfortunately, we got there pretty late and completely missed the high tide. No sign of grunion anywhere.

Grunion: 2 Humans: 0

Well, there’s always next year…