I remember grunion hunts when I was a kid. I don’t remember ever catching and eating them, I think it was more an excuse to go to the beach at night and have a cook out (I am not sure if they still allow it but at the time the beaches had concrete fire rings). Great time had by all (except I presume the grunions)
When I was living in Venice, CA, in the early 1970’s before I met Hubby, I had some Japanese neighbors. They took me grunion hunting, and when we caught a female, they’d eat the roe on the spot. I thought that was icky (never liked caviar). The next evening, they had a party for everyone in our (small) apartment building and served the little fishies cooked using their own special recipe. The spices were perfect, and the fish were delicious. I remember that we joked about being the fearless grunion hunters and about the ones that got away.
Lots of people in California don’t believe in grunion. They think it’s just an excuse to go to the beach and make out, or they’re a prank. The problem may be that the date has to be exact, and the moon has to be in the right phase, and you have to go to the right beach, or you miss them. So people who have been talked into going and then miss them get kind of hostile about it. Which is kind of funny too.