The fishermen were quite pleasant out on the commercial wharf. Maybe there's a difference in gruffness from those who fish during the day as opposed to those who fish at night, like we've met during grunion greeting nights. Some folks were pulling up 5-6 anchovies on the same multi-hooked line at a time. I don't know what they were using as bait. The water was so clear that you could see the massive schools swimming around the pier.
We never ate the canned stuff as a kid, but as an adult I crave sardines and those bigger kipper snacks from time to time. I understand from the local fishermen that fresh sardines are a world of difference from the canned ones. I'm still reading up on the difference between mackerel, sardines, and anchovies, not to mention grunion. I've added a new label small silvery fish, since I don't know how else to group them, considering they're all in different fish families.
ps 04/03/14 - I should mention the fishermen told me these were Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax caerulea). I find some fishermen are quite knowledgeable about their fish, and others just act like they know everything. I've corrected the ID above now that I know better. The giveaways for me are the gaping jaws on anchovies and lack of rows of black spots on sardines.
