1 Ron López

2 January 22, 2023

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1 The Grunion are Running! The Grunion are Running!

3 High on the short list of good memories of my teen years is grunion hunting. We moved to

4 Ventura in 1950. Our house was a short block from the beach and only two blocks from the pier. The

5 beach and pier combined to be my playground in my teen years. Grunion are small slender fish with dark

6 backs and silver sides. Most are about six inches long. They can be found only on the west coast

7 between Point Conception and the tip of Baja California, although they are periodically reported both

8 north and south of their normal habitat. What is unusual about these little creatures is how they spawn.

9 They spawn on the beach at night between March and September during the high tides. They

10 come in with the high tide and with her tail the female digs into the wet sand to deposit her eggs. Males

11 surround her to fertilize the eggs. When finished if they are not covered by the next wave, they slither

12 back on the wet sand into the sea.

13 Strict rules are in place for grunion hunting. First, a valid fishing license for anyone over sixteen

14 is required, second, only your hands can be used and, no digging holes or pits to trap them. In other

15 words, you must pick them off the sand with your bare hands! All of us kids knew (from what our elders

16 had told us) the grunion habits and the best ways to catch them. We ran up the beach to start the hunt

17 when we saw the tide rising. High tides occur during the full and new moons. So although most often we

18 carried flashlights, our primary source of light was the moon. We began walking or sometimes trotting

19 down the beach for a couple of miles looking for the telltale slithering silver on the sand. When we

20 spotted one or two, we let them be. We knew they were scouts who had to return as a signal for the others

21 that this was a proper place to spawn. The process might take a couple of hours for the whole school so

22 when we spotted a few fish, we felt no sense of urgency.

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 1 Ron López
2 January 22, 2023
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1 Sometimes the runs on a particular beach might be light with only a few grunion, but periodically

2 the other extreme happened with thousands upon thousands on the beach at the same time. You couldn’t

3 walk without stepping on a bunch of them. Also, even though the California Department of Fish and

4 Game published a time table or schedule of the predicted times, they didn’t always tell the grunion.

5 Grunion rarely arrived before the appointed time and frequently waited an hour or two later than

6 scheduled to start. So, the runs usually began between 10:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. As seasoned and

7 knowledgeable hunters we were convinced the grunion avoided lighted places. On those beaches where

8 cars shone their headlights onto the surf, we yelled to turn them off. They might run heavy on one part of

9 the beach tonight and on another place tomorrow night so location was also problematic.

10 Grunion hunting has long been a popular activity during summer nights in Southern California. It

11 is inexpensive fun, and during the 1950s and 1960s it was especially popular. The beaches didn’t have as

12 many houses encroaching on them as today. One stretch of beach in town, an area called Pierpont, had

13 beautiful sand dunes with vegetation growing on them. Parents often took their young children on a hunt

14 to introduce them to the experience. They picnicked among the dunes, and many took firewood to roast

15 hot dogs or marshmallows while they waited for the grunion. And, it wasn’t uncommon to see aspiring

16 scientists who happened to be young sweethearts seeking a living laboratory to explore nature’s

17 mysteries.

18 Those of us who lived along the beach were the pros. We knew the best places and all of the

19 secrets for a successful hunt – provided the grunion cooperated. We all knew one another, so regardless

20 of how we started the evening after a while, four or five of us might be running together. Our tools were

21 our swimming trunks, a sack for the grunion, a flashlight, a t-shirt and sometimes a light jacket. We

22 offered advice and reassured those new to grunion hunting (seemingly a constant presence) to be patient.

23 They were not on a snipe hunt.

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2 January 22, 2023
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1 When we got hungry and thirsty from running up and down the beach, we had an easy solution.

2 We reconnoitered the people in the dunes without raising suspicion by offering a simple greeting and

3 moving quickly along. We met and decided if we wanted a fire or just food. Then one of us would run to

4 the water and begin yelling, “The grunion are running! The grunion are running!”

5 People left their campsite and ran to the water. “I saw one! I saw one!” No one would deny it.

6 “Over there! Hurry!” People ran eagerly about the surf calling out to one another.

7 Meanwhile our companions prowled among the little encampments and took a few hot dogs or

8 slices of bologna and bread, marshmallows and a couple of bottles of soft drinks being very careful not to

9 take too much from any one site. We met at the pre-arranged place to share the booty and decide whether

10 or not or how long to continue the hunt that night.

11 Most of us kids were more interested in the hunt than in the prey. People did enjoy eating the little

12 creatures - scaled, breaded and pan fried. But they were bony, and it took practice to know where to cut

13 and how to pull the skeleton leaving only the flesh. Mom made us wash the sand off the fish, wrap two

14 dozen or so in newspaper, and distribute the packages to seniors in the neighborhood.

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