When I lived in Big Sur, I found that coyotes shat where the view was great. Check out the hair (mice, gophers, etc.) and bits of deer bones here.
I was poke poling for eel (nada) in the lagoon yesterday and this little Horned Grebe would dive down for maybe a minute, then pop back up energetically, didn’t seem concerned by my proximity.
Thanks to HighFidelityRob for identifying the bird.
At left: crab snare; you toss it out with a fishing rod, wait 15 minutes and reel it in. It snags crabs in the loops.
Yesterday I went on a 3-hour tour with Kirk Lombard on the shores of San Francisco Bay. He demonstrated catching crabs with crab snares, how to throw a net to catch herring, and how to catch eels. Kirk is passionate about the ocean, sustainability, and getting your own food. He leads tours of various types, takes people clamming or herring-catching, and has a seafood subscription service. He says there are numerous small fish in this area — smelt, sand dabs, herring, sardines — that are overlooked by commercial interests and perfect for the get-it-yourselfer.
I’ve poked around on the local coast all my life and come from a family of fishermen — all sport fishermen except for my grandfather, who had a bait and tackle shop in SF around the turn of the century — but I learned a ton of things. There’s a 300-foot deep channel under the Golden Gate Bridge carved out in old times by the Sacramento River. You can make a pudding from a type of seaweed. Fish that is touted as “local” often comes from boats that spend over a month at sea, with 65-mile long longlines.
There were two 12-year-old boys in the group and he was the perfect teacher. He got them reeling in crabs, throwing a herring net correctly, and poke-poling for eels. If you’ve got kids in the Bay Area,this is a wonderful learning experience. If you’re a city-dweller interested in bringing in some of your own fresh seafood, check him out. 6-star.
Friday night I took my kayak up to Tomales Bay and put in from a beach near Nick’s Cove. The purpose: to observe the bioluminescence, which I’d read about. It’s a phenomenon in waters hereabouts where luminous plankton glow on dark nights. I’d first seen it several years ago while walking on the beach barefoot on a dark night at low tide. I would kick some water and when it landed, flashing spark’s danced around on the water’s surface. Holy cow! Then I took my hands and threw water on some rocks, small pinpoints of brilliant light cascaded down the rock—ping, ping, ping.
I paddled over to Hog Island and hit it lucky, sunset-wise. As the sun started going down, flocks of cormorants sailed overhead, going to roost in the shallows of the island. When it finally got dark, I took my paddle and splashed some water, and there were sparkles. I didn’t see a lot of luminescence other than that, maybe because there were a few lights shining on the water from across the bay. Maybe you have to get in a darker part of the bay, like down around Marshall, to see fish swimming in a green glow.
I loved being out there in the inky blackness of night; no wind, the water glassy. Something about being totally alone in the dark of the moon is exquisite.
Thursday I hiked, hopped, jumped down a steep canyon… The entire west coast has rivers and creeks that run down to the ocean. Anywhere from Washington down to San Diego, it’s the same, clear water heading to sea, running perpendicular to the coast. In Baja, it’s arroyos…This canyon, with a good water source running even in this drought, isn’t much traveled; it’s makable, but not easy…so beautiful…at one point I slipped and fell down a slope; luckily hit no rocks…gotta be more careful.
Drove over the hill yesterday, listening to Deadbeat Poets’ Society, Mott the Hoople (All the Young Dudes), shot pic of this nice little home in San Rafael…Went running alone, night-before-full-moon, no headlight necessary; it’s taken me years to cast off the feeling that I have to “train,” i.e. push it to stay in shape for races. Now I’m comfortable going at my own pace, pushing it a bit on the uphills to get the cardio system pumping, stopping to catch my breath and enjoy the view…photo of the coast…last photo of horses shot in pretty total dark. One of them came over and let me pat him on the cheek…the wetlands are dry this year; usually the frogs are loud, but nary a frog voice last night.
The Sky Ain’t Cryin Big news around here is no rain, and none in sight. Dry dry dry.
The ground is cryin.
Mushrooms are hidin.
Creeks are dribblin.
Hills, usually verdant this time of year, are brownish green, oh my.
People I pass on my walks say, beautiful day, I grit my teeth and agree.
A beautiful day right now would be torrents of rain.
Foraged Firewood I rented a log splitter and Marco I split enough wood for two years in about 5 hours. Usually I pick up oak from the side of the road, but this year there was a ton of cypress and eucalyptus lying around, cut to firewood-sized logs, needing only splitting. Very few people around here get their own firewood these days; probably half the houses in these two small seaside towns are second units for city people who come infrequently. The do-it-yourself era around here ended years ago.
Killer Kayak The Hammer, made by P&H in the UK, is a new and uniquely designed ocean kayak. Check it out in the surf:
Note: you’ve got to put in a fair amount of time in order to maneuver around like this. If you live in the San Francisco area, check out the California Canoe and Kayak Co. in Jack London Square in Oakland. They must have over 100 boats in stock. If you’re serious about buying a kayak and put down a $300 deposit, they will let you try out any number of kayaks over a three month period, keeping them for several days until you find the one that suits your needs.
Kindhearted Woman Blues – Robert Johnson
I’m the dunce fisherman of my family. My grandfather had a bait and tackle shop in San Francisco in the early 1900s (and made bamboo fishing rods), my dad was a fresh and salt water fisherman, my brother Bob has for years had a Double-ended Monterey, my brother Carl fished commercially for a while. And me — I guess I just don’t have the patience — if they’re not biting, I’m outta there.
BUT I’m trying to increase my seafood intake. Saturday went on long beach walk with my buddy Jack Fulton, picked up some mussels (had for dinner last night). Jack shot this pic of me heading out to the mussels.
Then last night I managed to catch 4 eels and now I’m gonna prepare them to be smoked tomorrow.
It’s, um, possible I’ve said all this before — ah, me.
