‘Deadliest Catch’: ‘Wild’ Bill Wichrowski Had a ‘Strenuous’ Relationship With Son Zack Larson
Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch Season 19 continues on, and fans are invested in Captain “Wild” Bill Wichrowski. Wichrowski joined the show in 2010 for season 6, and that’s also when his son, Zach Larson, joined the show. Unfortunately, it seems Wichrowski and Larson didn’t have a great relationship. Here’s what we know.
‘Deadliest Catch’ star ‘Wild’ Bill Wichrowski and his son, Zach Larson, had a difficult relationship
Deadliest Catch Season 19 fans are missing Zach Larson, and they may recall his relationship with his famous father, Captain “Wild” Bill Wichrowski. Larson and Wichrowski had a difficult father-son relationship. Wichrowski has three kids, and Larson was from a previous marriage (he took his mother’s last name). Reports suggest Wichrowski stepped out of his son’s life when Larson was young, causing a rift. Larson joined his father in 2008 to catch crabs together for the first time. They had a distant relationship when they both joined the show in season 6, but they became closer as they worked together on the Cape Caution on the Bering Sea.
At the beginning of season 6, fans could get a sense of Larson and Wichrowski’s difficult relationship. Wichrowski had a short fuse, causing tension between him and Larson. But Larson was able to navigate the scrutiny and carry on.
It seems Wichrowski and Larson grew closer over time. In 2019, Larson posted an update for fans on Instagram. “A lot of people have helped me get to this point in my career. My dad, @captainwildbill_official, doesn’t get enough credit for that,” Larson posted. “Though the past few years have been strenuous on our relationship, we have also been working at getting back to what we had before. I typically don’t share much anymore, but my dad was the first to call and tell me congratulations, say how proud he was of me, and offered any help he could if I run into problems on the boat.”
What is Zach Larson doing now?
While Zach Larson doesn’t accompany “Wild” Bill Wichrowski on his boats anymore, he’s still fishing for crabs. He’s the captain of F/V Elinore J, as seen on his Instagram in 2019. After working with Wichrowski, he worked as an engineer on the F/V Brenna A for Captain Sean Dwyer.
Larson thanked Dwyer for his tutelage in the same 2019 Instagram post that references Larson’s difficult relationship with his dad. “Wanted to thank the Dwyer family and @captseandwyer for the opportunity to run a boat again for the summer salmon season,” Larson captioned the post. “Also, Sean is giving me a chance to prove my worth as a captain and I’ll be running the boat for this up-and-coming cod season in the fall and winter.”
Larson’s last Instagram update was in January 2022. “The winter cod season is underway for 2022!” he wrote. “This is us, Elinore J, pumping a load of cod from the Seabrooke near Port Moller. The start of the season has been an icy one, but the weather and fishing are starting to improve. Here is to a safe and profitable season for everyone.”
‘Wild’ Bill Wichrowski spoke revealed a ‘horrific moment’ at sea
“Wild” Bill Wichrowski and Zack Larson certainly faced difficulties at sea while on Deadliest Catch. And he described one “horrific moment” that didn’t make it into the show.
“It’s kind of ironic because I don’t know if it’s gonna make it, but my last delivery, we were assessing the entry into St. Paul Harbor, and there was a boat waiting to come out,” he explained to Looper. “We had a pretty horrific moment there where we got rolled over on our side. It was … there was no exact footage of it except for a guy on the camera. So I don’t know how this is gonna play out.”
He then noted that they experienced “horrible weather” due to icy conditions from fishing so far north. “We’re pushing farther north than we ever have,” he added. “I mean, I’ve never fished as far north in 40-some years. There were boats that had no business being north.”
This story was first reported by Looper.
Deadliest Catch Season 19 airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel.
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