Commercial fishing is unique: There’s no 9-to-5, no standardized wage, and no regularity to the schedule. In short, commercial fishing is a lifestyle more than a profession, and one that is tuned to the ebb and flow of the tide and the life cycles of wild fish. For many the water is not just an office, but a playground with a cadre of Monterey Bay fishermen also moonlighting as elite surfers who ride the giant—often 50-plus foot—waves of Monterey County and beyond.
“With both surfing and fishing you’re out in this cool environment, seeing amazing things, testing yourself against nature with a goal in mind,” says Calder Deyerle, who fishes for Dungeness crab, king salmon, California halibut, black cod, and rockfish out of Moss Landing on the F/V Sea Harvester. “For me, it’s almost one and the same.”
From Santa Cruz to Moss Landing and Monterey, every port boasts surfers who command respect on the water. The late Peter Davi was a commercial fisherman and professional surfer, and his son Jake has followed in his father’s steps chasing both fish and heavy swell. In Moss Landing the Deyerle family vaunts generations of fisher-surfers and in Santa Cruz the commercial fishing fleet includes elite surfers like Matt Rockhold and Jason “Ratboy” Collins who both pioneered aerial maneuvers in the 1990s.
outside-in 
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