David Siskind | Sunday, 3 May 2026
Strange morning at the beach. I saw things I’d never seen before, possibly due to the big grunion run last night. Full moon. Big tide. I saw dark tails in close. I felt I must be hallucinating or that they were big globs of kelp rolling in the gentle surf. But I don’t think so. They definitely looked like tails but seemed attached to fish larger than I’m accustomed to seeing on our beaches and were moving parallel to the beach in opposition to the currents. They were up and down for a half hour or so and then disappeared. Could have been sharks or guitar fish, I suppose, or maybe white sea bass? Also the beach was littered with strange transparent three-lobed potato-chip looking things (see photo). Turns out they’re the chitinous sails of valella valella, “by the wind sailors,” a colony of specialized organisms comprising a far offshore sea-jelly that sometimes washes ashore in SoCal. The beds of big egg-bearing sand crabs weren’t on my beach yet even though I heard they were found on some beaches further south. I didn’t see any corbina nosing into the swash but there were some corbina-like swirls 30 feet out. The light was bad so I couldn’t see much below the surface. I saw a cormorant cruising in the same zone fishing, coming up with several silvery 6” long grunion which must have been packed in close. I caught a couple of small barred surf perch casting among them. I need to go back out there to try again. Probably Monday.
My practices continued this week. I’ve been watching Jackie zooming her weekly Taichi class out of the corner of my eye when in NY and couldn’t help noticing the similarities between my improvised mobility movements and what she was doing. So last week I sat in. Fascinating. I’ve always shied away from aspects of Eastern practices which I’d eventually embrace for a while. In the case of Buddhist meditation my hindrances were derived from Western skepticism - reincarnation is hard to swallow. Taichi and Qigong’s visualization of energy - chi you can hold in your hand - and the claims of organ health benefits connected to various movements also seem like a stretch. As a result I have always chosen adaptations of these practices more compatible with my cultural biases. I’m not sure this served me well. From time to time I’d go for the roots and try something I would imagine as more authentic. But skepticism was always a block. As a dotard I’ve developed a new tude, and have convinced myself to suspend disbelief, at least for the duration of a practice session. All this to maintain my edge for fishing.
We’re in a weird place right now. Forces are strong but so is inertia. It seems like bad shit is coming (how do we make up for the reduced capacity to do physical work - move vehicles, move people, move goods,turn the shafts of machines in factories, generate power for data centers and every other thing) due to reduction in fuel availability and production - things will slow down and people will suffer. Seems inevitable but I hope I’m wrong. It’s all moving so slowly, or we’re watching so intently that we can see the ball’s rotation on the pitch. Not to discount the non-zero probability of widening war and the risk of that horror. People of all stripes are making money off the chaos, finding profit in everything from fraud to commentary. And much of the content is about the chaos. All very meta. Even people whom I respect have descended into a nattering state, chewing over the same clips and quotes. I’ve been doomscrolling but that obsession is newly limited by content providers erecting paywalls. Yikes. I can’t take my eyes off it but it triggers my ADHD majorly. In January Paul and I discussed this. He wondered why, he, on a remote lake, should give any fucks about all this and that it probably could be tuned out. But that was in January. What a difference a day makes. This stuff is tough to ignore. What are we going to do to replace this spectacle when it goes away? I can’t wait to find out.
Casting Note: Had a delightful zoom session with Paul this week. He has the patience of Job. At the beach this morning I kept things pretty short. I use a fast sinking SA surfline (I lost the package a while ago so I forget what it is) - might be over weight for my HT6 - I need to weigh it. Slowing down, finishing horizontal, or stopless worked best.
Cheers,
David Siskind