Every year, in the wee hours of the morning, little fish flock southern California beaches to spawn in what is known as the Grunion run.  My first (and until recently, only) experience was spent shivering on the beach at night scouring the beaches with a flashlight, only to walk away sleepy and tired with an empty bucket.



This time around I still ended up with an empty bucket, but that was because we gave up our catch to a family.  We hit a relatively desolate stretch of beach about ten minutes before midnight, and waited, finally following the birds to the end of the beach where our flashlights revealed lightning quick flashes of silver.  Many of them are ridiculously quick, I can't tell you how often I attempted to chase one down only to be smacked by a cold Pacific ocean wave for my troubles.  They are also small and squirmy, and I was very leery of squishing them.



The videos below are courtesy of Vivian's camera, starring Ricky (with commentary by Vivian) and the Grunions. :)