COMING IN FROM THE COLD
When not braving the Bering Sea, Capt. “Wild” Bill Wichrowski can sometimes be found on Florida’s coast
Capt. “Wild” Bill Wichrowski, reality TV star of Deadliest Catch fame, plies the frigid waters of the Bering Sea in search of crabs. Joining him on the arctic adventure is Floridian Erik James Brown with his Chihuahua, Rico Suave.
“Once you’ve been through it all, it takes a lot to scare you. Both my boat and I have been through a lot, and we keep coming home.” —Capt. “Wild” Bill Wichrowski
If you’re a fan of the Deadliest Catch television show, you know the kinds of situations Capt. “Wild” Bill Wichrowski can sometimes find himself in. Arctic temperatures, giant waves, hurricane-force winds— he’s been through it all.
Such as the time he took his boat from Alaska to Seattle and ran into sustained winds of 100 miles per hour. Sixtyto 65-foot waves battered his boat, knocking it sideways and causing the engines to cut out. “We were basically under water for a little bit before the boat righted itself and we continued on,” Wichrowski recalls. “That was probably one of my scariest experiences.”
But his decades of crab fishing in Alaska have taught him that the wheelhouse is no place for fear. “If you’re afraid, the crew is terrified,” he says. “You have to act as if everything is completely under control, even if you’re looking out the window and praying that you’re going to make it through.”
But that doesn’t happen to him as often as it might for someone else. “Once you’ve been through it all, it takes a lot to scare you,” Wichrowski explains. “Both my boat and I have been through a lot, and we keep coming home.”
Alaska is a far cry from more temperate places such as Costa Rica and Mexico, where Wichrowski has also spent time fishing. In more recent years, he’s been plying the waters in the Florida Keys and southern Florida as well. “The similarities between offshore fishing down here in Florida and in Alaska are you’re on a boat and you’re on the water,” he notes. “And from there, everything changes.”
WORKING LIKE A DOG
Wichrowski has been appearing on Deadliest Catch— the Discovery Channel’s popular reality TV show about crab fishing in Alaska—since 2010. Throughout the years, he’s had countless people ask to be part of his crew, and it’s not a request he takes lightly.
“People look at Deadliest Catch and they think it’s like going to Disneyland, and they want to try the ride,” he says. “And it’s really one of the most labor-intensive jobs on the planet. Some of the people who ask me for jobs wouldn’t make it 30 minutes.”
When Erik James Brown asked to join his crew, Wichrowski didn’t say yes right away. He’d met Brown’s mother, Sandy Stilwell Youngquist, and her husband, Tim Youngquist, through mutual friends. Wichrowski hit it off with Tim, who co-owns a Fort Myers well-drilling firm, over a shared love of powerful
“When that bell rings, you need to be up and out of bed and on deck within 15 minutes of the bell ringing. And it takes you 16 minutes to put clothes on.” —Deadliest Catch crew member Erik James Brown
machinery. And he and Sandy, who owns Captiva Island Inn, Keylime Bistro and several other Southwest Florida restaurants and businesses, bonded over a shared interest in food.
“And then the next thing I know, here comes Erik, carrying his little dog,” recalls Wichrowski. Brown was born and raised in Florida and had also lived in Costa Rica. He’d spent a lot of time on boats but never in a place like Alaska. But he wanted to join Wichrowski’s crew—with his Chihuahua, Rico Suave. “Maybe that kind of intrigued him,” says Brown, laughing.
Wichrowski finally agreed, and in the fall of 2018, Brown found himself in a whole new world when he headed to Alaska for two months. Instead of wearing flip-flops and board shorts, he was sporting glove liners and long underwear beneath all of his fishing gear.
“I was definitely freezing the whole time,” says Brown. “That was one of my disadvantages for sure, trying to deal with the cold and just the amount of time it would take me to get ready.”
“I don’t know if he had ever seen snow before, and he went from beautiful, sunny Florida weather to being force-fed coffee and taking 30-foot waves over the rails,” Wichrowski reports. “His eyes were big quite a few times.”
New guys on the crew normally have to do a lot of grunt work, such as collecting trash and washing dishes. “It’s fast and furious,” says Wichrowski. “I kept explaining to Erik that he wasn’t going to be doing a TV show. He was going to be working, and someone just happened to be filming it.”
Brown’s personality helped carry him through the times when he maybe wasn’t performing at the level the crew needed. “He was funny,” says Wichrowski. “He’s got interesting stories, and I’ve never seen a guy so accepted by everyone else. And he improved.”
Rico Suave wound up being a much-loved addition to the crew. “Here was this dog wearing more clothing than half my crew members,” Wichrowski notes. “And everyone loved him.”
“Rico didn’t get seasick,” says Brown. “He’s a good boat dog, for sure. We had an exit strategy for him in case he was not OK, but he wants to be anywhere I am. On day one with me showing up from Florida with a Chihuahua, everyone was like, ‘No way.’ But in the end, there wasn’t one crabber on the boat who wasn’t having tender moments with Rico.”
Rico Suave will probably get plenty of screen time when new episodes of Deadliest Catch air in spring 2019. “I’m excited to see how it all comes out,” Brown states. “You’re just figuring things out as you go the whole time you’re out there. That part of it was definitely different for me. When that bell rings, you need to be up and out of bed and on deck within 15 minutes of the bell ringing. And it takes you 16 minutes to put clothes on.”
“I don’t think Erik has ever worked so hard in his whole life,” his mom says. “And he was colder than he’s ever been before. I was so proud of him.”
RIDING THE WAVES
Wichrowski has also learned a lot about hard work over the course of his career. He grew up in the Pittsburgh area and spent four years in the Navy after graduating from high school. When he finished his service, he headed off to the Bering Sea. He’s been fishing in some form or location ever since and knows that it takes effort to succeed.
“Every downfall is just a hurdle you have to go over, go around or go through,” Wichrowski says. “Nothing can stop you. You have to keep going no matter what happens. You have to come up with a plan to fix it—or you sink.”
“The similarities between offshore fishing down here in Florida and in Alaska are you’re on a boat and you’re on the water. And from there, everything changes.” —Capt. “Wild” Bill Wichrowski
That attitude is one reason why he earned his “Wild” Bill nickname in his early days in Alaska. “Alaska then was kind of the wild, wild West,” he explains. “It was old school, knuckles and elbows. There were a lot of challenges, and I never was one to turn down a challenge.”
Finding others who share the same work ethic can be difficult: “The hardest part is finding people with the mindset to perform tasks effectively for extended periods of time. I don’t care what business you’re in, finding people to work is really difficult.”
But Wichrowski himself shows no signs of slowing down. In addition to appearing on Deadliest Catch, he often leads private charters for groups, such as the excursion to Costa Rica that was auctioned off earlier this year at the Southwest Florida Wine & Food Fest to benefit SWFL Children’s Charities. He’s also involved with Key West-based Hemingway Rum Company’s Papa’s Pilar, and represents companies that include fishing gear maker Grundéns and Livingston Lures.
He’s been testing Livingston’s crab caller during his Alaska fishing trips and also working with the company on different applications and markets for its products. “Livingston Lures has been crushing it in the freshwater market for bass lures for years, and now we’re branching out into saltwater and commercial fishing. My catch phrase is, ‘We’re trying to build a better mousetrap.’ ”
Wichrowski would love to host a travel fishing show down the road. “The quest is to keep it going,” he says. “Only so many people make it to the screen. It’s exciting to have the door opened, and now the potential is in my hands. If I can pull it off, I’ll keep going in the TV world. And I’m just grateful for the doors it’s opened. I’ve made some great friends because of it.”