Doran Regional Park at the south end of Bodega Bay — October 2023
Doran is a required stop on every coastal trip, the spot where we gather ghost shrimp to use as live bait. We never know exactly what the tide situation will be until we arrive — more than once we’ve waded in knee-deep water as we collected the allowed number of pale pink shrimp. The tide sat just right on this particular occasion. We were able to find our quarry along the exposed edges of the bay, where the sand was just damp enough for the Big Guy to wield his “shrimp gun.” We usually have this part of Doran Park to ourselves; the big sandy beach across the road is the main attraction here. If we have any company, it will be raucous gulls who try their very best to steal our shrimp and complain loudly when they fail. Which is why I rarely have time shoot photos of our process! Between snagging the wet, slippery little shrimp before they slip back into their holes to keeping the demanding birds at bay, collecting bait at Doran is some serious business.
Not so innocent!
Gulls, Terns, and Marbled Godwits
