Matt Rockhold, F/V Friendliest Catch
Fisherman & Pro Surfer
Santa Cruz-based Matt Rockhold sorts rock crab on his boat the F/V Friendliest Catch. Photo courtesy of Matt Rockhold.
The day starts early for Santa Cruz-native Matt Rockhold, 49. Most days he wakes up before sunrise to motor his boat, F/V Friendliest Catch, out of the Santa Cruz harbor to fish for either rock crab or California halibut and lingcod. By lunchtime his boat is tied up at the dock and he’s off to his other full time job as marketing director for Buell Wetsuits & Surf. If the surf’s up, he’ll paddle out before heading home.
Yet around Santa Cruz, and the world for that matter, Rockhold is best known for another job—that of a world-class professional surfer who helped pioneer aerial maneuvers in the 1990s and 2000s.
Rockhold turned pro after graduating from Harbor High School in 1991. By 1999 Rockhold was ranked second in the world in the Surfing Magazine Airshow Series. In 2001 he was featured on the cover of Transworld Surf and was pictured getting barreled on the cover of Surfer Magazine in 2003. Rockhold traveled the world for competitions, surf movies, and photoshoots in far flung places like Indonesia, Tahiti, Alaska, and throughout the Americas. While work took him away for 8 months a year during his prime, he always returned to Santa Cruz.
“I’ve surfed everywhere in the world, but Santa Cruz is the best place to live with the best waves and the best fishing,” he says of his hometown.
While still in the prime of his career he started commercial fishing for nearshore California halibut and lingcod as a “side jam” that kept him on the water when the swell was flat. In 2012 when he saw his career slowing down he upgraded from a 16-foot C-Dory to his boat the F/V Friendliest Catch, a 25-foot Parker 2520 Deep Vee, and began to fish for rock crab as well.
“Fishing has been there for me throughout the years. If you do it right you can make some money, it’s got me through thick and thin.” Rockhold says. “Surfing and fishing go hand in hand: When it’s flat you fish, when there’s waves you surf—it’s utilizing the ocean to the fullest.”
Rockhold has also developed a sizable presence on TikTok with his @friendliestcatch and @rockhold accounts with some commercial fishing videos garnering millions of views. He’s also poised to launch a Friendliest Catch clothing label with t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hats made from recycled materials derived from lost fishing gear that was pulled from the sea.
While Rockhold’s ability to juggle his many responsibilities and pursuits might fall within the realm of aspirational for most, the root of it all is a love for the ocean.
