Calder has been a fishermen since day one. Learning to fish with his father, Richard, and uncle, Daniel, he was a deckhand until he was old enough to run his own boat. For many years while their company, Sea Harvest, was more involved with processing, Calder was running the crab and black cod boats. Calder got his first boat in 2008 and has been fishing on his own ever since. Now he fishes nearshore rockfish, Dungeness crab, salmon, halibut, and albacore.

Miles is Calder's son, and he can be found wherever his father is, from the docks of Moss Landing to fishing out at sea, and even surfing the breaks off our coast - a little waterman in training. Calder's favorite fishery is Dungeness crab because it makes him a good living. For pure enjoyment, Calder prefers nearshore rockfish because the peace and quiet and beauty down the coast where he fishes can't be beat. For eating, it's all about the king salmon for him, thrown on the grill with a special mixture of mayonnaise, capers, dill, lemon, and a few other secret ingredients on top. No flipping the fish. The joys of fishing for Calder are in the freedom and life on the ocean, and the challenges are balancing time on the water with time with his family.

Walter has been fishing his whole life. As the son of Richard Deyerle, his first footsteps, along with his brother Calder, were probably on his father's boat. Walter started commercial fishing at the age of 19 and has continued full time through thick and thin. Walter and his deckhand, Marshall, currently fish for rockfish, black cod, halibut, and Dungeness crab. Walter's favorite fish is hardheads (thornyhead, idiot fish, etc.) simply battered with italian seasoning and pan fried.

James was a carpenter for 15 years, his medium – concrete. He built bridges, water treatment plants, parking structures, and most proudly the Scotts Valley Middle School.

At the age of 29 James was watching Shark Week and decided he wanted to go fishing. From humble beginnings, James bought a kayak and started fishing in the Elkhorn Slough. After a few trips, he grew adventurous and pointed his bow to the Moss Landing jaws and fished his kayak in the open ocean of the Monterey Bay. Shortly after he bought an 14-foot aluminum skiff and then quickly converted an old Sea Race ski boat to fish open access fisheries like rockfish and lingcod. 

In 2019 James decided to go full-time commercial fisherman. He bought the F/V Tina May, a 25 foot Farallon, from a recently widowed woman in Fort Bragg. Her husband was a carpenter and fisherman too and was looking to hand her husbands boat on to someone that would carry the legacy. Soon thereafter James acquired salmon and crab permits, completing the transition to full-time fisherman.

James’ favorite fish to catch and eat is lingcod, prepared simply in an aluminum foil boat full of salsa and grilled on the BBQ. 

James feels good about the current health of our local waters, especially compared to those he has seen in other countries and communities not as fortunate. He is optimistic about California king salmon in 2019 and is thankful for guidance from an old friend from Little League, Dave Toriumi, captain of the F/V Grinder and another fishing partner of Real Good Fish. 

Originally from the Santa Cruz mountains, Khevin began his career as a commercial fisherman off the central California coast. Khevin currently fishes Dungeness crab and black cod. Khevin is among the few proud fishermen who make a full-time living fishing commercially. From baiting thousands of hooks one by one, to icing down every fish, he does it all himself with his deckhand as a labor of pride and love. Just try a piece of their fish and you'll know why it's so good.

Fifteen years ago when Tony moved to the Monterey Bay area, he had never set foot on a fishing boat. In fact, Tony's daughter bought him his boat, the Eagle, so that he could become a fisherman and leave his 17 year job as a welder for the Navy. For 3 years, Tony taught himself how to fish, making no money, until he says he finally learned how to catch fish and be a real commercial fisherman. Since then Tony has been following the tides, fish, bait, water temperature, wind, moon, weather, and seasons with eight years of data that help him predict where and when the fish will be found - a remarkable amount of information to be tracking!

Getting a tour of the F/V Eagle, Tony shared with us his simple but formidable galley: full range camping stove, high quality old steel knives like they used to make, worn out cutting board, well seasoned pots and pans, shelves and drawers stocked with an assortment of spices, sauces, and ingredients far beyond what most of us stock in our full sized kitchens at home. I asked him what his favorite fish was and he quickly responded "I love eating all fish," and with little encouragement, we spent 30 minutes discussing his favorite recipes.

When asked his favorite thing about fishing he said he likes working hard and problem-solving, and having to know everything: taking care of the boat, understanding regulations, taking care of the fish, and knowing how to fix all the problems on the boat himself.

Tony, 55, has one daughter and four sons. When he's not busy as a father, he is fishing, year-round. Depending on the season, he fishes sablefish (black cod), grenadier, salmon, rockfish, and Dungeness crab. At the time of the interview he was outfitting his boat to fish halibut. His message for our members: "Cold water fish are the best because they have firmer, more flavorful meat. Avoid most foreign fish because you don't know how long it's been traveling, and most farmed fish is not so good because the water is not clean."

Jimmy Phillips got his fishing chops jackpoling for albacore tuna out of Crescent City, CA. Albacore put up a fight, so catching them one at a time on cane fishing poles is not an easy way to make a living. For an eighteen-year-old, though, it was a lot better than a desk job, so he worked on boats and eventually landed in Half Moon Bay.

He now runs his own boat, the Kimberly Rose, out of Half Moon Bay. He fishes for crab and salmon, and his brother crews for him. Along with the freedom of working on the ocean, he also loves the sense of adventure and the feeling of putting everything - blood, sweat and tears - into what he does for a living. His main stress is not the weather, but the rise and sharp drops of fish prices. “Fuel prices and mortgages stay the same,” he said, “even when fish prices drop.” Along with selling his catch to Real Good Fish, he also sells direct to consumers from his boat in the Pillar Point Harbor near Half Moon Bay.

Brendan grew up in Santa Cruz, fishing with his grandfather, and his mother. “My mom is a great steelhead fisher,” he said. “She really knows how to read a river.” He’s 27 years, old, and believes that it’s important that younger people take up the mantle and fish commercially, but he approaches it with the perspective that fishermen are stewards of the ocean. It’s no surprise that he’s also a biology student at UC Santa Cruz, and believes that fishermen and marine resource managers can work together to create a sustainable system. 

He started off working as a deckhand on charter boats out of San Francisco and Santa Cruz, and now deckhands for commercial crabbing and salmon boats out of Moss Landing. He runs his own skiff, Mysealium, out of Santa Cruz and works the open access fisheries like white sea bass, halibut, sand dabs, and ling cod. His favorite fish to eat is Petrale sole, noting the light texture and mild flavor. But he likes to fish for California halibut the best. “It’s a nice long drift, not too crowded with other boats,” he explained. “When the tide shifts and the bite turns on, it gets exciting.”

Scott caught his first fish at the age of 4, and from then on he was hooked. From trout and bass in the mountains to halibut off our coast, Scott found himself spending most of his free time on the water. At the age of 33 he decided to fully commit to his passion and pursue a career as a commercial fisherman. A few years later, Scott and his father, "Biggie," bought the F/V Tidepoint, named after Scott's great grandfather's tug boat harbored in Oregon.

When he's not fishing on the F/V Tidepoint, you can often find him fishing on Stan Bruno's boat. Sustainability is crucial in Scott's eyes, which is why he handles younger, smaller fish more carefully and throws them back, because he "sees his future in those fish." In that same way, he also knows how important it is to have a younger generation of fishermen to bring our community fish, which is why he gets a great deal of fulfillment seeing kids playing on the docks, just like he did as a child. Scott enjoys fishing for sand dabs, salmon, and albacore, but Dungeness crab is his favorite.