Kevin Butler grew up fishing and foraging up and down the California coast and ended up in Santa Cruz for the last 4 decades. He brought his fresh catches home and learned to prepare them. As a child, he preferred salmon roe and sea urchin to soda and candy, outdoors to the inside. His childhood passions have developed into his current careers: a fisherman and chef.

He now fishes commercially for halibut, seabass, lingcod, rockfish, and sand dabs. He feels more comfortable on the water than on land. “When I go out fishing, I never have any idea how the day will work out," he said.  “But I’m away from cell phones, and land that can sometimes be claustrophobic.”

He not only sells seafood to Real Good Fish, but also works with Real Good Fish as our chef, preparing seafood for our events and doing our cooking demonstrations. He was the Executive Chef at Café Rio in Aptos, and enjoys showing people how really great local seafood can be.  “Instead of teaching or talking to people about how good fish can be, I got into showing them." If you've tried his chowder, anchovies or squid calamari at our events, you'll experience this for yourself. 

Ron Farquhar started fishing around 2002. Originally from San Francisco, a love of scuba diving brought him south to Monterey and he gradually eased his way into work as a commercial fisherman. In Ron’s case, a long “career” of personal spearfishing was his entry point. Next, he started working on charter fishing boats and then started his own business, Westwind Charter Sport Fishing & Excursions. The Westwind is a 31′ Island Hopper that calls Moss Landing its home port.

Ron now fishes commercially when salmon, halibut, albacore tuna, and white seabass are in season – generally from May to November. Throughout his work in fishing, the intimate knowledge of underwater “structure” (topography) he gained during his spearfishing and diving days has helped him to understand where to look for fish. Ron particularly enjoys fishing for white seabass and albacore since there’s so much excitement involved. The closure of the salmon seasons in 2008 and 2009 were tough, and adjusting to the rapid increase in area closures for MPAs has been difficult as well. Other challenges include occasional flooding of the market (leading to price drops) and fuel costs.

Ron tries to take advantage of fish closer to shore when possible to keep fuel costs down. Being able to sell to local buyers is a highlight of fishing for him, and he likes to know his local community is enjoying his catch. One of the most rewarding aspects of spending time on the ocean is seeing whales and dolphins, and being able to track schools of fish by watching birds feeding – it’s a way of witnessing the entire environmental cycle.

When not fishing, Ron works for the City of Monterey as a security worker for Monterey Harbor. In the course of patrolling the marina and wharf areas and checking on boats and moorings, Ron enjoys the people and hearing their stories from around the world. He also is able to keep a close eye on the types of fish being brought in by other fishermen on a daily basis. We’re glad to have started buying fish from Ron and wish him continued success!

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. 

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.”

Jeff and Emily Stackhouse are life-long agriculturalists who recently found a shared love of fishing off the Northern California coast. Both raised on sheep farms, they have built a life around farming and wilderness. Prior to working on the water, Jeff worked for the University of California as a farm advisor. In 2014, after a few years running a guided hunting operation he thought it was only natural to start a charter fishing business on his boat the FV Gorilla fishing out of Humboldt Bay and Crescent City, California.

For many food producers, COVID was a turning point. For Jeff and Emily, it was an opportunity to turn "Stackhouse Guide Service" into a commercial fishing operation. Fishing with a rod and reel they target a variety of rockfish including, canary rockfish, yellowtail rockfish, and lingcod. In the fall they target albacore tuna. 

They pride themselves on the handling and resulting quality of their catch. Starting with day trips - the fastest way to get fish from the ocean to your plate - each fish is handled one by one, and bled immediately for the most humanely and high quality filets. 

From a sustainability standpoint their ocean ethics are as high as they come while also being grounded in the reality that diversity of fishing techniques is critical for feeding our communities. As Emily put it,  "It is an honor to be a small-scale, sustainable, hook and line fisherman/fisherwoman. The world has diverse demands and needs a diverse fishing fleet to provide high-quality protein to the people, so our high-end, sustainable fishing is not affordable to all, but we would like to see the harvested product be treated with the most care and respect as possible."

When it comes to preparing their catch, Jeff loves his canary rockfish in fish tacos with the "Thai-One-On" recipe using a creamy peanut sauce from the Field to Table Cookbook. Emily loves her albacore pan seared with teriyaki/sesame blend and wasabi.

Emily did a great job summarizing the essence of this amazing fishing partnership: "It goes without saying, the North Coast is an incredibly special place on earth. Being able to fish as a husband-wife team on such pristine reefs with jaw-dropping coastal views is a wonderful treat in itself! We love and cherish our time together on the water!"

Tuk caught his first rockfish with his dad when he was 8 years old. They fished together recreationally on their 15 ft. aluminum boat almost every weekend, and when Tuk turned 16, his father bought a bigger boat and they both began fishing commercially. Tuk is currently a part-time commercial fisherman who fishes three to seven days a week out of Monterey, Moss Landing, and Santa Cruz, depending on the season. His other part-time job is working as an auto mechanic, something he enjoys immensely and that allows him to pursue his hobby and passion racing cars.

Tuk loves being out on the water in the early morning and knowing that every day will be different. When asked about the challenges of commercial fishing, he mentions all the work involved with fishing beyond catching the fish: where to fish, weather, wind, currents and, ultimately, making the right decisions.

His favorite way to cook sand dabs is unusual: simply pan fry one side, then sprinkle bits of crispy bacon on the uncooked side and flip it and cook that side until done. Yum!