Just because you’re alone doesn’t mean you’re lonely. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
Tucker Wooding is a very interesting man. You may know him from his stunning surf footage, of which there is a lot. From Maverick’s to Jaws and Teahupo’o, Wooding has pointed his lens at some of the best waves on the planet. But he’s got a another gig as well. Fishing is his main gig, but fishing and surfing often collide.
“It’s my passion,” he said of surf photography, “but my main gig is commercial fishing for salmon up in Alaska. I’ve been doing that my whole life.”
He’s nearly 30 now, and he’s been running his own boat since he was 18. He started early — at just 10 years old — and quickly fell in love with it.
“My dad, brother, uncles, and grandpa all fish, so it’s pretty much the family business,” he told The Inertia in 2022. “But fishing is a great gig for any college kid that would just want the opportunity to go up to Alaska, make some money, pay off student debt, whatever. I was lucky to get into it at a young age and it gives me the freedom to do what I’m passionate about, which is filming surfing for the rest of the year.”
The video you see here is shot in the Bering Sea. It’s a wild place, full of wildlife, inclement weather, and waves. It takes a lot of experience to pilot a vessel up there, and Wooding’s got it. So when he stumbled across the wave in this video, he knew he was on to something.
“I have been fishing in this particular area for most my life,” he explained of this part of the Bering Sea. “I got the chance to surf it last year, I had one of the most fun sessions in my life. No cameras, no proof. Just memories that will stay in my head forever.”
This year, Torrey Meister joined Wooding on a fishing trip in the Bering. They were there for the fish, of course, but they hoped for waves. And waves they got.
“We woke up during one of our fishing days to offshore wind and, surprisingly, a longer period, decent swell,” Wooding wrote. “With surfing as a secondary priority we weren’t expecting to get waves until maybe after the season. To our surprise we got waves! We were sleeping and my brother calls on the radio saying there was a pretty big swell. I popped my head up as I felt one of those swells lift my boat up. I was tripping out. It is really rare to get these kinda days here.”
Usually at this time of year in the Bering, when there is a decent swell it’s blown out. This day, however, the onshores decided to lay off for a while, so Wooding woke up Meister to break the good news.
“We scoped out some zones with the drone and ended up just paddling inside to where I anchored up the night before. Torrey surfed from low tide to high tide. Six hours in 48-degree water. During the low tide, the outer bar had some long mushy waves. But as the tide got higher Torrey saw some stuff going on in the inside. He got to the beach to check it out. Avoiding grizzly bears, Torrey found barreling waves on the inside sand bar. Tripping out yelling with no one around.”
After a long, cold session, Meister paddled back to the boat. Both he and Wooding were over the moon about what had just happened.
“We both just had the biggest stoke,” Wooding said. “I can’t remember being that psyched after filming a session. It was no way near crazy waves or anything, but the novelty of scoring when you least expect it. At a place where you least expect it, gives you the biggest joy you could ever have. It’s what keeps you coming back for more. The ocean will gift you in mysterious ways. We were so thankful to get that moment.”
