Woo-hoo! I got it.
I got the permit.
I can't wait to tell the guys.
I'm the only one ever allowed to fish here.
If I find crab,
this would be like me starting a fishery
and that would be my legacy.
Unbelievable.
Secure the line. Let's go.
Let's get the hell outta here.
You guys ready to go?
Yeah! Woo!
All set!
The first season as a captain fishing for cod,
it's a good feeling and I am excited.
A lot of pressure on us.
If you're not out there when it opens,
you're not making money.
♪ It's all the same ♪
♪ Only the names Will change ♪
I see a lot of new faces,
but we've lost 24 people we know
in the last four years.
It happens like that.
This winter, we're up
against stuff we've never seen before.
If you're a young gun out there,
it's a lot of pressure.
♪ Oh, I'm a cowboy ♪
Why is this boat not turning like it used to?
♪ Wanted dead or alive ♪
I don't like all the decision-making.
I'm second-guessing myself every turn, dude.
There's nothing here. This is a bone yard.
You're the one who wanted to play here.
Woo-hoo!
We got one shot at this. We get them or we don't.
Now what is going on?
Cody, bring 'em up! Bring 'em in!
♪ I'm wanted ♪
We're going in. We're going.
♪ Dead or alive ♪
Watch out your little crabby ass
'cause I'm coming to get you.
610 miles northeast of Dutch Harbor
in Kodiak, Alaska.
Come on.
What are you doing up there?
Mounting stuff.
I was supposed to come down here
and get pissed off at you
but I went to go do errands
and you already did them.
I know. I do everything.
What am I supposed to do around here?
Bobo's eating a sandwich.
- Go yell at him. - Whoa!
On the Victory...
There's still a long list
of things I need to get done
before we go out fishing.
Move the boat, grocery shopping,
fuel, water,
and then we peel off the dock.
So, pressure's really on.
This is my first time captaining a boat
for the Tanner season buying my own gear.
So, I just hope that I can catch crab
and make back on my investment.
With over $100,000 on the line,
23-year-old boat owner and captain,
Sophia "Bob" Nielsen,
prepares for her very first bairdi crab derby.
Everybody here has a pretty good head
on their shoulders.
And they really care about me
and they want to see me succeed.
Hey, Bobo.
Joining her,
long-time boyfriend and deckhand...
You gonna take me out to dinner later or what?
You're gonna buy me sake bombs whether you like it or not.
Twenty-four-year-old Bobo Floyd.
And her big brothers,
33-year-old Brandon "Fuzz" Catina...
That fit makes you look especially fat.
Thank you very much.
and 30-year-old
Brett Catina.
He's looking especially fat every time I see him.
Well, we get into just some bickering matches
but with the crew that she's got now,
we're pretty solid.
All four of us brothers start
with Bs.
And one day, my other brother
started calling her Bob
and it just stuck.
Bob's young,
but she's got her together.
As long as we hold down the fort,
we're making money.
Oh [bleep].
What's going on, Captain?
So, it's up in the air right now,
but there's a rumor of a strike.
- Really? - And the price
that we got around town wasn't that great.
And we're asking
at least to match what they're getting out west,
$3.70.
Are you gonna stand down if everybody else stands down?
I'm not gonna be that that goes against the grain.
Yeah. But if somebody else goes,
we gotta go.
No pressure.
- No pressure. - Yeah.
I'm gonna go to the Tanner meeting tomorrow.
Hopefully I can, you know, get the scoop.
Okay.
Good luck.
One, two, three, team break.
No, I'm not doing that.
Get in here, Brett.
Okay.
- Victory. - Victory.
The Victory is my whole world right now.
She's, you know, been in my life
since I was a child.
Definitely trying to fill some pretty big shoes.
My father passed away quite a few years ago
and I inherited the boat.
I kinda just got thrown into the helm.
I love the boat.
It's been my livelihood.
It's gotten me where I am today.
So I'm like,
"I'm going to make the business successful."
I have a lot banking on the season.
I don't know if we're gonna get a better price,
but I really hope everything works out.
610 miles southwest...
in Dutch Harbor.
At least it's nice out.
I was expecting three feet of snow.
With any luck, you guys can
get those pots rigged real quick
and then we can get outta here.
So for the first time in...
what, since '08?
We're gonna go try our hand at cod.
Captain Sig Hansen,
along with co-captain and daughter, Mandy,
turn their sights
to the $5.5 million gray cod fishery
for the first time in nearly two decades.
You know, cod can be lucrative,
but it is a derby.
It's kinda like the old king crab days
where you really had to go at it.
So, time is of the essence.
Do you have a plan?
Jake's been doing it
the last few years.
Ask him for a little info.
Okay.
You use every angle you can get.
Don't ever forget that.
175 miles northeast of Dutch Harbor.
Woo!
Aboard the Saga.
We can prospect, but we can't retain any fish.
But that doesn't mean we can't retain information.
Staying at three knots,
I should be able to tow at this.
Targeting one-million pounds
of gray cod,
Captain Jake Anderson surveys for intel
ahead of the season opener.
Take two pots, tow it behind us.
And if I can catch something mid-water,
that means there's gonna be a lot on the bottom
and I'll start dumping there.
It's gonna save me bait, time,
and ultimately money.
All right. Here we go.
Goin' over!
Bubbles in the water!
Go, Jake, start towing!
Look okay, Joe?
Yeah, roger. Looks good!
We're officially trolling.
It's a little bit unorthodox, but unorthodox is what I do.
I don't think anything is gonna be in that pot.
We'll see what happens.
All right, mates. We're gonna start pulling it.
Roger!
Come on, show me something.
All right. Go. All right.
Okay.
All set, man.
Here we go, guys.
Jake, we got some!
Oh, yeah!
- There's four. - We got four.
- Woo! - Yeah!
Yeah, dude!
That just saved us like a week's worth
of work right there.
Nobody thought it was gonna work,
but now we have a spot to set our gear.
Hey, what's going on?
I was just gonna ask you the same thing.
Mandy and I stopped by and
I don't see a boat light up here.
Yeah. If I'm gonna make any money,
I gotta get to jump on anybody I can.
So you're prospecting?
Well, I would call it safely looking
for a parking spot.
Well, we're not gonna get outta here
probably until tomorrow,
so I mean, I feel a little
behind the eighth ball here.
You know, you can throw a bone my way.
I'm not gonna say no.
What do I get out of the deal?
My goodness, how soon they forget?
You were on deck. You got paid...
Here it comes.
And if I'm not mistaken,
there was a little giddy-up in Norway.
What do you wanna know?
Okay. Hopefully, I'll have something
to give to you as soon as you get up here.
All right, buddy. I appreciate it.
I'll see you in a little bit.
All right, later.
If I can get off to a good start
with information from Jake,
that really sets the tone.
You know, we can help each other.
So hopefully it's a win-win for both of us.
Normally, it's me going to Sig.
But in this case, I've got the upper hand.
I want things to start swinging in my advantage.
130 miles southwest,
on the western bairdi crab grounds.
Hurry up, Cody.
I can get those untied faster than that.
Let's go.
Aboard the Wizard.
These bairdi seem to be looking for colder water,
which means we're gonna have to go deep for them.
We've got the 166 line right here.
My guess is right in this area here deep,
just outside of town
is where we're gonna find them.
On the hunt for a mountainous
91,000-pound quota,
Captain Keith Colburn steams up the island chain
to an 85-fathom canyon,
the preferred depth
of the elusive bairdi crab.
Not ideal right now.
Doing it shorthanded is not the best way to do this
but that's about all I can do right now.
Jacob was on the Wizard in the fall.
Apparently he's working on the Aleutian Lady on deck.
Goodbye and good riddance, little skippy.
I hope OJ can come back. I know he just had a baby
and that's why he didn't come out
but we're gonna see what we can do.
Try and get this gear in the water.
Going over!
Yeah!
- Yeah! - Woo!
Woo!
We're gonna cover some area we haven't fished in years
but some of it is gonna be really deep.
All right, Robby.
Take it away.
Come on, guys.
Keep moving, keep moving as fast as you can.
Faster!
Shorthanded, I'm running the stiff.
I never do that.
You got a new guy up on the stack.
Come on, guys. Keep moving, keep moving.
Oh, why are there so many ties out here?
All right. Take it away.
Robby, stop it, stop it.
You're [bleep] chuck a block there.
Cody, watch out, watch out, watch out!
Heads up!
Whoa!
On the Wizard.
Cody, watch out, watch out, watch out.
Heads up!
Whoa!
Hey, Cody, just tie that pot down.
Swing it into place...
[bleep].
Holy [bleep].
What happened?
It cracked the window.
Yeah, you broke the [bleep] window.
Are you kidding me, man?
Shorthanded and under pressure
to set quickly,
stickman Robby Schlosstein
sends a thousand-pound pot
into the wheelhouse windows,
critical for keeping water out
and Keith Colburn in.
Robby, just get some plywood, okay?
Get some plywood. We've gotta cover
- this window now! - Got it. I'll grab some wood.
Taylor.
Taylor, safety first!
Ready for that board, we're ready.
Yup.
I'm afraid to touch the thing. It's already spiderwebbed.
I think this will get us to town at least, boys.
Let's just get to town.
We're gonna regroup.
90 miles away,
somewhere in the Bering Sea.
On the Time Bandit.
Good morning.
This is secret... Top secret information
but, for this area, none of you.
None of your business.
Been driving out of Dutch Harbor here.
Could be north, could be south.
It's gonna be a mystery.
I can't say too much.
You know, loose lips sink ships.
There's a good chance there's a lot
of crab right here.
I need to find out.
We could have a new fishery,
an open-access fishery.
It could be like something that will save our ass.
That's what we're doing this morning.
After securing a rare commissioner's permit
from Fish and Game,
Captain Johnathan Hillstrand sets 40 pots
on coordinates kept hidden from the crew
and from yours truly.
Paranoid perhaps
that his potential secret stash
will become a fleet-wide feeding frenzy.
We'll finally get to know what's here.
After all these years,
we're gonna find out what's right here.
Roger.
We feel fantastic. We fish on, baby.
Our first day out.
Going over.
Got a huge storm coming up.
I don't know how bad it's gonna be,
how close the center of that storm gets to us.
Depends on how big of winds we get
but it looks like 50 or 60 is gonna hit us.
Over!
If we don't catch those crabs,
we'll be about $50,000 in the hole.
I'll tuck my tail between my legs...
It could be a huge payoff.
They're in.
There you go.
I misspelled "N".
So don't...
That means I'm dyslexic.
There should be crab all over this bank.
We'll find out real shortly.
Back in Dutch Harbor.
Y'all ready for this cod season or what?
Woo! Yeah!
Roger, roger.
Oh, it's good to be back.
Oh, I'm stoked.
The crew is stoked.
This is what I've been waiting for my entire career.
Put it up top.
On the Barbara J...
Caught the quota of bairdi last season,
earned Harley's respect.
He saw something in me and I'm the captain.
After earning over $300,000
in just five weeks this fall.
I'm running the show.
It's a good feeling and I am excited.
But he's gonna have his hands full.
Oh, yeah.
Jack Bunnell goes from sharing the helm
with Steve "Harley" Davidson,
to being a bona fide skipper,
responsible for the catch
and the safety of the men aboard
in Jack's first ever cod derby.
There's 11 million pounds on the line,
24 boats registered.
That's roughly 500,000 pounds a boat.
If you're not out there when it opens catching cod,
you're not making money.
No, this is it.
You know it, you gotta find something.
I know you can do it.
Ryan, we gotta go.
Last pot coming on!
- Yeah! Woo! - Yeah, brother.
Kill some of them fishies.
That's it. We're gone.
Time for cod fishing.
What?
No.
What?
Didn't sound good.
All right.
That was the chiller alarm right there.
What's going on with the chiller?
This is not turning on at all?
Wow.
This is [bleep] not good, man.
The boat's chiller or refrigeration unit
keeps water in the tank at a brisk 33 degrees.
If the temperature rises,
fish along with the skippers' pay day,
will be spoiled.
We got a major issue
- down there. - What's up?
We're down a chiller 100%.
- I mean, major hole. - All right.
Like, total catastrophic failure.
Do you think you can keep them cold
with one chiller?
It's gonna be a pain in the ass
but we can do it.
It's just a lot of work for the chief.
But that's why we pay him.
You got two chillers.
And one chiller
is for the tanks on one side of the boat,
the other chiller is for the tanks
on the other side of the boat.
You can, if one breaks,
open bows that cross them over
and reroute the water.
I'm gonna go fire these guys up
and go fishing here.
2023 coming at you.
610 miles away.
Stupid.
Anyways.
Oh, boy.
Well, we're officially on strike.
In Kodiak, Alaska.
We're officially on strike.
I don't know if they're trying to call our bluff
but hopefully everybody can stay unified
and fight back for a better price.
This is really bad timing, you know.
This could have been dealt with a lot sooner
but makes you wonder about the future
and what it holds for the fisheries.
That's the worst news they could possibly get.
I'm worried about Bob.
The longer they sit,
hopefully the better price they get.
You fight too long, pretty soon you're gonna lose
and you're gonna lose big-time.
There's no guarantee in fishing.
There never has been.
And so it's the fishermen that pushes
through the ups and downs
that's gonna win the game at the end.
I guess, uh, going
on strike, so.
They just have...
They're still set with $2.50.
They're not really budging.
I don't think we're asking for too much.
Just a matching price.
Yeah, it's gotta be fair.
Um, I have another meeting tomorrow
with everybody.
So we will see.
If it gets too far into it,
are we gonna be looking
at trying to move our bait back up?
Yeah. We gotta bring it back to the cannery
and freeze it.
Okay.
How does the saying go,
"Smooth seas don't make good sailors?"
450 miles southwest,
on the eastern cod grounds.
Where are we at?
We're about two miles from the spot
that Jake warned us to start at.
Okay.
Let's give it a try.
Huh!
Well, you gotta start somewhere.
It's as good a place as any.
Aboard the Northwestern.
You know, it's all new to us now,
but the method is still the same.
You just gotta get the fish in the boat.
Captain Sig readies to launch his first pots
on the gray cod grounds,
relying on information
from his former protege
for a fast start.
We're gonna fish with 140 pots,
and we just gotta them dialed in.
I'll give him a shout here.
You got me, Jake?
Yeah, I got you.
So, Mandy got us to the... To the spot here.
Okay. You're on the northern end, right,
you're running it east to west?
No. I haven't done that.
I mean, I can, if that's what you want.
Yeah, that's where it's good.
You're gonna wanna go
on the northern end of my stuff,
and hit those contours to the west.
All right. So set 'em to the west,
that's what you're saying?
Yeah. I think that should... That should do it.
Okay. How far apart?
About 210.
You're gonna wanna try to stretch them out.
Uh, yeah, that's stretching out.
That's, like, fishing crabs.
I know.
It's gonna pay off though.
All right.
I'll head that way.
Get one out and I'll see what shakes, okay?
All right. Cool.
I'll be on this one.
Okay. I'll keep you posted.
He said he checked the whole area out,
so why go farther?
He's stretching us further and further to the west.
Why don't we just flip it around and go the other way,
lay them out to the east?
I mean, that's... Yeah.
Might as well stretch a few out that way.
I mean, I'm prospecting too...
Okay. Let's get them off,
find some fish,
and then we'll get into our own game.
I've spent all my time prospecting.
I need to know what's on the northern end of my gear,
east to west.
I already did my part.
I've been on the give so long,
it's my turn to be on the get.
327 miles away,
in an undisclosed location.
Woo-hoo!
Get nautical, brother.
On the Time Bandit.
It ain't easy today.
I forget about all this every time
when I come out here.
I forget about all the
and I just remember nice, calm day, sunny.
Like Phil Harris always said,
"It doesn't matter how much or big the wave,
we're gonna push right through that [bleep]."
Clock's ticking, man.
We gotta, you know, pull our pots, rain or shine.
I'm the only boat fishing golden crab at the very end...
how lucky am I?
But you gotta keep your mouth shut.
We shouldn't even be telling you guys what's going on.
Woo!
Looking to prove the viability
of a potential new fishery,
Captain Johnathan is poised to learn
if all his cloak and dagger yields dollars and cents.
Yesterday was the calm before the storm.
Now we're in the crap.
Woo-hoo!
For 30 years, I've been wanting to pitch here.
We don't need much, you know, if this starts off,
we're just spot checking.
If we see anything, we'll just start dumping back.
Come on, baby. Come on.
All right. It's a big one.
Yeah, that's a big one right here.
Yeah.
Woo!
Yeah.
It's the big boys!
We got life.
We'll dump it back.
It's a biomass here.
I have to really watch the tides when I set.
As soon as that tide switches,
they'll parachute down so deep,
I'll never see my pots again.
The tidal switch.
It goes up against this wind, it's gonna get real evil.
These things will stack 20-feet high
with whitewater breakers on them.
You gotta pay attention.
You gotta find the next one.
It should be like right on 1:00 or 11:00 o'clock,
right through that big, big wave up there.
Holy[bleep].
Big wave, guys!
Big wave!
Oh, watch out!
On the Time Bandit.
Holy[bleep].
Big wave, guys!
Big wave!
Watch out!
Woo-hoo!
That was a big wave...
Woo!
This weather is very dangerous.
It's a lot more critical, a lot more pucker-factor.
Oh, man.
A lot more stress.
I was puckering.
Definitely puckering on that one.
Woo!
We're getting through this gear.
It ain't easy, but we're doing.
90 miles away,
in Dutch Harbor,
on the Wizard.
All right. Rip it out.
Yeah, you're good.
Let it go down.
The last thing you wanna do is end up in town
with a bunch of gear on board.
Double time, double time, guys.
Let's go.
Like a glove, right?
All right. So problem solved,
get out there,
and we'll start setting.
Roger!
I gotta play catch-up on this slow start.
So we're trying to do it with four guys
and it's not working.
Three days behind the competition and short-handed.
I need a fifth set of hands down there,
so I'm gonna give OJ a call.
Captain Keith turns to a trusted deckhand
currently on shore for paternity leave.
Hello, OJ.
Captain Keith, how you doing?
We're doing good.
We're fishing bairdi,
and I know you just had little Cassidy,
but I'm trying to do it with four guys
and you know what, I'm gonna wear these guys out.
I need a fifth man on my deck.
And I hate to call you,
but I'm wondering if you might be available to come fish?
Right on, OJ, man. You are a rock star, dude.
Actually...
right now we can't afford more town time.
I'm gonna try and burn as little fuel as possible,
we're gonna put you on another boat,
we're building a raft,
and we're gonna do a transfer at sea.
That's the best.
I know it's short notice,
I know that's asking a lot, but are you good with this?
What, is that a yes?
Right on, man. You're the best.
Can't say enough how much we need you on this boat.
Thank you.
60 miles northeast, on the Barbara J.
Okay, boys. Cod 2023.
Come on, fish.
In cod we trust.
Woo-hoo.
Are we at the first one?
Yeah. First pot.
Starting the season out.
I think where it's caught,
I just let you on the gear, and I'm just the observer.
Yeah, right.
Rookie skipper Jack Bunnell
arrives at the first pod of his cod derby season,
looking to claim his part
of the $5.5 million total allowable catch.
One of the reasons I chose this spot is
because there's, like,
eight fathoms difference in a two-mile span,
so you can just... With a few strings,
you could see a lot of cod.
Really?
Maybe...
Yeah!
Let the slaughter begin.
First one on the block...
First pot of a new season,
I'm hoping for big numbers.
It's derby style.
As soon as that quota is caught, it's done.
Clock's ticking, pounds are being caught.
Woo-hoo!
Yeah!
Woo!
Yeah!
Woo-hoo!
That's a great start.
That is really good.
Bunch of big old fat hog cod.
Goin' over.
Somebody in some pub
is gonna be ordering up some fish and chips.
And they came right from us, man, you know?
Hell, yeah.
"Ordering up some fish and chips, please."
"Yeah. Well, here it is. We got it for you, buddy."
Nice and fresh.
Man, I gotta really use a lot of throttle to get up.
is going on here?
Why is this boat not turning like it used to?
What the [bleep] is going on?
I swear to God, we don't have a port
wheel right now.
Because when I put it into gear,
it sounds like this.
We don't have a port propeller.
It's gone.
- What? - It's not there.
I have... I have one engine.
Nothing, huh?
It's gone.
Hold on you guys...
There's no propulsion, like, the propeller is gone.
On the Barbara J.
The propeller is gone.
We're gonna see if the shaft is spinning.
Yeah.
The shaft could've, uh, you know, snapped.
If that shaft falls out,
we're gonna have water pouring in here.
It's gonna be a bigger problem than no propulsion.
you lost your pump.
You know?
how though?
Um, guess it was weak and it snapped, you know.
We can't be out here with one engine
and then hauling gear with the starboard engine,
that's the side that's gonna get tangled up.
If you get tangled up, then you're a dead ship,
you can't [bleep] dude.
I don't know.
We gotta go get a diver.
We need an eye underwater, see what the hell is going on.
You gotta have a GoPro or something?
Yeah, well, let's... Can we get that?
Can we use it and tape it to a pole,
and stick it down there, and see if we got a prop
or if it's completely gone, or the shaft's broken?
Oh, we got a GoPro from the nice guy and...
Behind the camera right now.
You got it. It's in your hand.
It's pretty tough to get that flimsy pole,
you know, we got three poles taped together.
Um, well, there's the blade,
I mean, you know, the...
There's the port prop.
No, they're fine.
- It looks great. - Yeah.
The prop is there,
it's not spinning
but the shaft attached to the engine is spinning,
so the shaft has to be broken.
If the shaft has snapped,
the propeller can fall out
and then, there would be a hole
about this big in the boat
and water would go in and sink us.
Better go see, inspect
what's going on down there.
We can't be out here goofing around.
Our lives are more valuable than anything right now.
Yeah, no, we can't be stuck out here.
All right. Thank you.
It doesn't go into gear.
Oh, well, if it doesn't go into gear,
then it's the reduction gear.
It feels really weird
'cause when you put it into forward,
it, like, goes, stops,
and then it goes to, like... It's like...
It's like something's broken in there.
I think we need somebody to look at your reduction gear.
Oh, yeah.
I think we gotta still go to town
and, you know, continue on with our thing, but it's...
At least we don't have to order a propeller.
I don't think we're gonna finish the cod season,
unless some miracle happens.
Hey.
Secure the block, clean up the deck.
Heartbreaking.
That's unbelievable, man.
Makes me almost[bleep] cry, dude.
And it's not like our quota is gonna wait for us to come back.
We're running for our lives right now.
90 miles northeast on the western cod grounds.
All right. Get ready here.
We got half a mile or so.
Aboard the Northwestern.
All right, Mandy.
First part of the season coming up here.
And this is part of, uh, Jake's dream?
Yeah, this is the one out west.
Hopefully, we'll get him some numbers.
We'll see.
First one's coming up.
Roger
Come on, people.
Here it comes.
Okay.
What do we got? What do we got?
Oh, just a couple.
Probably like three fish in there.
All right. Number two coming up.
Not good.
What are we doing?
I mean, it's not completely empty.
You don't make money on that.
The way it sounded,
there's fish all over the place.
"Oh, yeah, just go there," hey says,
"All kinds of life there."
I think I'm just gonna call him, see what's going on.
Oh, don't call anybody.
Don't do that.
Can you send Matt up?
Yeah.
Is there any of your buddies on the Saga
still fishing there?
Mason is still over there.
Could you text him and ask him
how they're doing over there?
For curiosity's sake, you know.
I'll shoot him a message.
32 miles southeast.
Take that!
Take that [bleep].
Oh, hey there, bud.
Look at that thing.
That's meat right there, boy!
Yeah!
You can see all that work now
that we did prospecting paid off.
We got the spot,
so just keep the block turning.
With Sig on a fish-finding mission,
hunting the western edge of the cod school,
Captain Jake is on a fish-catching mission,
tanking 21,000 pounds in just two hours.
Woo-hoo!
Three more.
Doing good. There's no 700-pound pot.
Here we go!
Yeah!
Woo!
That's a good pot right there.
Woo-hoo-hoo!
Yeah, baby.
Look at those things, they're whales.
We're getting fat 30. We're getting some dinosaurs.
We're doing good, man.
We're doing good.
Not yet.
He will just take this spot from me if I'm not careful.
So, I have no qualms with sending them
in an area that I wanna know if there's fish or not.
It's just me and Sig play.
- Yeah, man. - I like that.
Mason just hit me back with a bunch of thought bubbles.
What the hell is a thought bubble?
Those little bloop, bloop, bloop.
It sounds like they're in it pretty good.
Really?
30, 40s.
Thank you.
He can get all the fish he wants
but don't BS about it.
I wanna go pull the strings out to the east
that are closer to Jake.
And I'm telling you, if there's fish in this stuff,
he's just being sneaky.
We're gonna find out.
In Dutch Harbor.
First cod delivery.
On the Barbara J.
It's probably gonna be my smallest cod delivery
in my entire career.
I hope.
The plan is, get these fish off and get fixed.
Mechanic's down there.
The clock is ticking
and right now, the crew has made about...
zero dollars.
My crew.
Unacceptable.
All right. I heading down there.
I'm gonna go get an update.
Uh-huh.
Not good, Harley.
- Not good. - No?
Very bad.
Very bad?
Oil is sitting in there, you take a scoop,
just [bleep],
full of metal shavings.
I mean, you get those metal flakes in there,
I mean, it's obviously some parts inside of it
are ground down and destroyed.
Get this out, rebuilt.
That's a big swing can happen today,
this is probably one of the biggest swings
you're gonna have all season.
It's either a day fix or a week fix.
Exactly.
Exactly. It's about what we're looking at.
Oh, come on, day fix.
On the Time Bandit.
This is a Freddy saying...
You don't have to say nothing, he goes...
Tom, can't work for you, so he wants to work.
Hey, Cap.
Hey, buddy.
So if... We don't know
what we're gonna get here,
so if there's no crab here,
we're gonna have to pack them all up
- and go run... - Roger.
- ...run. - Figure out as we go.
As we go, yeah.
I just thought
to get in touch with this.
Oh, yeah, you bet.
- Yeah. - You bet.
Yeah, keep us all on the same page.
Roger. I'll be back. No problem.
Thank you. Thank you.
- Thank you, Captain. - Thank you, Skipper.
Thank you.
We're an area in.
You'll get this information, Ross, you gotta earn it.
You gotta come out here like a big boy.
Put on your big boy pants.
In a clandestine early season effort,
John scours the wind-swept breakers for the first
of 40 pots set on a deep 270-fathom bank.
Anyway, I got to find the buoys.
So the tides are running really hard,
so the bags might be down.
It's down.
So go to the next one.
It's always an adventure.
I don't see the second one.
The tides smoked through here, so you don't...
We might have buoys down or...
Yeah, we got--
We'll figure it out as we go, my friends.
You don't wanna leave no soldiers behind.
I ain't coming back here.
If it's not here, it's not here.
Usually, a pot is 1,500 bucks, you know,
with two shots, but we got 10 shots.
I'm so [bleep] up now.
Keep looking, guys.
Keep your eyes peeled.
All right, we're going back through the mark.
I think they're down.
This is gonna suck.
Found it?
No, I haven't found it.
- We got daylight coming too. - Yeah.
That's definitely gonna be our friend.
They're here.
They're somewhere.
660 miles away.
I love you, brother.
I'll see you at the dock.
See you later, little brother.
Whoa.
Clear.
I'll see you guys over there.
On the Victory.
We're on strike right now
and we could be for a long while.
All the bait that I put on the boat
needs to get out of the out fish hold
'cause it's just gonna thaw and turn to mush.
So I'm gonna give it back to the cannery
and they'll have to refreeze it for me.
This is a big pain in the ass.
24 hours into the strike,
Captain Bob prepares to unload two tons of herring
into the onshore freezer,
and avoid a $7,000 hit.
It's a lot of getting stuff ready,
then getting it even more ready,
and then waiting around.
Hello.
Why?
Who said that?
All righty. Well, I guess
I'll just tie it up with the dock then.
See you over there.
Change of plan.
And just sit around and wait.
We might leave tonight or leave tomorrow.
I don't [bleep] know.
Nice job, Blane. Go ahead, tie it off.
Poifect.
There's Bobo.
And we all head out and we don't have to take off
our bait or anything, so...
There was a rumor that the...
Nobody told us not to do [bleep].
You told her not to take the bait off.
Nobody told her not to do [bleep].
We said there's a price negotiation happening.
- That's it. - Yeah.
You told her not to take the bait off.
She can do whatever the [bleep] she wants.
- No. - This is her boat.
Then stop telling her what the [bleep] to do.
You told her not to take the bait off.
She can do whatever the [bleep] she wants.
- No. - This is her boat.
Then stop telling her what the [bleep] to do.
She's the captain.
Let her make the decisions around here.
We're not telling her what to do.
We're telling her what's happening.
You're making her second guess
everything she's doing.
Why does that have to stop her from getting the bait off?
- Are you the captain now? - No.
The price change was a big deal
because they could have reached out to everybody
and said, "Hey, we're going fishing," but...
Are we putting the bait on the pallets tonight?
Yeah. Why not?
It's gonna be bloop-bloop-blop
and it's gonna get off the boat.
Okay.
I don't like all the decision-making.
I... I'm second guessing myself every turn, dude.
No, dude.
Own your [bleep].
Own it.
It's better to make a wrong decision
than make no decision at all.
Uh, I don't know about that one.
430 miles southwest,
on the eastern cod grounds.
All right, guys.
First pot coming up.
Get her ready.
Aboard the Saga.
This string's got our best gear in it,
so this will probably be just as good as all the other ones.
Oh, yeah, baby!
Look at that. That's a nice one right there.
Oh, yeah, yeah!
Lots of fish. Big fish.
Twenty-six is good for a six hours soak.
Oh, God.
Wait a minute.
Damn.
What happened, man?
Is there anything wrong at the pot, Joe?
Bait's good and everything?
Yeah, it's good.
Oh, no, maybe it's a fluke.
We'll see on this next one.
Come on. Show me something.
What's going on?
Fishing's turning to [bleep].
15 miles north.
First one's coming up.
You guys ready?
Yeah.
Well, we asked for a little intel from Jake
and he gave us some information,
but he also alluded we should drive to the west.
Specifically sending us further out.
But pushing everything west one way
wasn't in our game plan.
After being sent by Jake
to unproductive western grounds,
Captain Sig and daughter Mandy
turn to their 30-pot string in the east
to suss out whether their supposed partner's intel
holds fish.
All right.
Here we go.
Perfect.
Looking pretty good.
I see some good fish in that pot.
Hey.
- Yay! - That's money right there.
So, Jake was hiding something.
Oh, my God.
Looking good.
That will put a dent in the tank.
See, you cannot trust anybody.
Oh, [bleep]. Sig's calling.
Hey, Sig. You got me?
I got you. So, how's it going?
You know?
Well, I mean...
you know, if you hit the 40,
maybe down to the 30-fathom edge,
that hasn't been romped on too much.
That's not too far away.
I got some feelers out there.
Okay. Thanks, Sig.
All right. Later.
I mean, he sent us to go find the edge.
We're gonna send him to go find the edge.
Hey, goes around, comes around.
It's just...
Payback's a bitch.
We're going deeper.
Looks like sending Sig out to prospect
worked out for me.
About time I get the better of this partnership.
In Dutch Harbor.
Let's put it back, baby, yeah!
On the Barbara J.
Oh, yeah!
yeah!
I can't believe how fast they got it back in,
but if it don't work, it don't work.
I mean, there's a lot to it.
You know, the alignment and stuff
is what I'm worried about.
After an unresponsive
portside propeller forced them to dock,
Captain Jack Bunnell finishes installing
the boat's new reduction gear
just 36 hours later.
All right. Let's fire it up
and give it a go!
See what we got.
Yo.
Okay. How we doing?
I think we got her all put back together.
- Ain't no way. - Yeah.
We're ready to test her.
Roger. Roger. We're ready.
Here we go.
Whoo!
Let's see if this port one goes into gear, bud.
- Oh, yeah. - Oh, listen to that.
Look at that RPM.
- Nice and smooth. - Oh, yeah.
Give her some juice.
Okay.
Well, it feels... It feels all good.
- Uh-huh. - Yeah, it does feel good.
Oh, uh, uh-oh.
That's full [bleep] dark.
- Uh... - Uh-huh.
Well, that's not ideal.
Started giving it some speed and nothing happened.
[bleep] dammit!
Go see what's going on.
Oh, my gosh.
Shut it down!
On the Barbara J.
Shut it down!
What are they saying?
Neutral, neutral, neutral.
- Yeah, port engine's in-- - Port engine neutral.
Port engine's in neutral.
Roger.
I hope that it's nothing major.
Lord, help me.
Lord, please.
Whew.
Blew a hose clamp on the keel cooler.
Okay.
Halting their operation,
an unsecured coolant line
leaking into the bilge
causing the engine to overheat.
A major problem with a simple solution,
a $20 clamp.
We're wanna find that out right now.
That's what sea trials are about.
To see.
The reduction gear works
and I'm confident in the reduction gear.
This feels like we got it good,
- going good, buddy. - Yeah, that was [bleep].
Damn, I think we're back in action.
Let's go fishing, dude.
Yeah, let's do it. I'm ready.
I'm ready to go catch some cod.
Welcome to an area of none-of-your banks.
It's classified.
None of your business banks.
Everyone's gonna see me here. What am I gonna do?
They play it on TV, then everyone's gonna
jump on top of me.
Now that I told you, I have to kill you.
Now I have to kill my cameraman.
On the Time Bandit.
What we got is a mess here.
We got pots struck with the current so strong.
I gotta find the buoys.
Do you see it, Neal?
After risking his 40-pot load
in strong currents and deeper 270-fathom waters,
Captain Johnathan scans the horizon
for his exploratory gear
on the banks of Area N.
Ah, I'm getting delirious.
It's a good thing I got my psychiatrist with me.
And my brother.
Andy!
In the coffee cup.
Gonna make a ride.
He's on a little coffee cup ride.
Andy, watch out, you're going down a tunnel!
He's in a tide rip.
Just like my gear, it's a mess.
Come on, Manny.
Roger!
Oh, right there!
Game on, baby!
They're right there, boss!
Whoo-hoo!
Finally, we'll be doing a test this year.
Now we'll know.
Cover this whole damn bank.
Uh, if there's a biomass living on here...
Whoo-hoo!
Okay, God.
Oh [bleep].
We got one. One golden crab!
The first keeper, you gotta kiss!
All right, guys. Coming up.
Gimme some crab.
Come on, baby!
Oh, bummer.
How is your day going?
No table.
Oh!
Boo.
Ay, ay, ay, ay.
I was thinking this whole bank
would have solid numbers on it.
So, it's not like I thought it was gonna be.
So far...
But damn, if we're not gonna have a good dinner!
Roger that, captain!
Whoo!
Not on my watch.
Sometime we hit that jackpot, sometime we don't.
But sooner or later, we'll get it.
600 miles northeast of Dutch Harbor.
My mother had beautiful handwriting.
And we wanted a little piece from her
before she passed away.
"Um, life is short.
Break the rules, forgive quickly,
laugh uncontrollably,
and never regret anything that made you smile.
Love, Mom."
And that was just,
uh, about a week and a half before she passed.
In Kodiak, Alaska.
I'm headed to the Kodiak Harbor office
to attend the tanner meeting.
Hopefully, the canneries came back with a better price
and we can finally go fishing and get this over with.
We would have been fishing right now
if we weren't on strike
and the later that this goes on,
boats are gonna be losing out on different fisheries
or they're gonna be losing out on their crew
'cause they have other jobs lined up.
Everybody's got families they have to support.
You never realize what you have until it's gone.
I say it, like, my parents' passing
is the greatest lesson I could ever learn.
But it's not until I'm facing all these hard decisions
and I don't have their guidance,
then I'm like, "Man.
You should be nice to your parents,
because one day they're not gonna be there
and you're gonna wish they were."
Well, time for the meeting.
We're gonna see what they had to say.
Hopefully, we could settle on a price.
Wish me luck.
570 miles southwest
on the western bairdi crab grounds.
We... We're gonna send the raft over,
we're gonna maintain the line over here.
You come in on it, get OJ on it.
Pull away and we will pull him to the Wizard, okay?
Aboard the Wizard.
It shouldn't be such a battle
trying to get your gear in the water,
but you know what, it has been.
We got a lot of bairdi to catch.
Let's start catching it.
This is the last pot off.
Just, uh, secure the deck real quick.
Operation OJ.
This is not how you wanna pick up a crewman.
But OJ's on another boat
and we're gonna do a transfer at sea.
We're gonna put OJ in a survival suit,
put OJ on the raft, pull him back over here.
Unwilling to waste more time at dock,
and over 50% of the fleet-wide
bairdi crab quota already caught,
Captain Keith makes trusted crewman
OJ Ganuelas come to him.
and we need Cody to grab the rescue swimmer.
Let's, uh...
Let's do this one time only.
Let's do it nice and clean and let's get...
Hitching a ride on the 111-foot
fishing vessel Bering Sea,
OJ connects to a local ferry,
the 8-foot fishing vessel, crab pot.
We got a pot full of buoys,
we got a buoyant little raft for OJ,
and I'm gonna stand by in a rescue service suit
in case anything happens,
I'm ready to jump in the water,
save my guy, bring him aboard.
Do you know what, Monts?
I think what I'm gonna do is this.
I'm gonna go down there
and I'm gonna have you up here, all right?
Okay. Perfect.
Good to go. Just relax, man.
- I'm trying. - We're gonna take a nice nap after this.
- I'm trying to relax, but I can't. - All right.
Everything ready to roll here, guys?
Standing by.
Under no circumstances you go in that water
unless you get the order to go in, okay?
We're gonna have one guy out there in the Bering Sea.
Last thing we want is two.
Going over!
Operation OJ.
"Operation OJ?"
We got one shot at this,
and then that's it.
Get him or we don't.
Getting OJ back's gonna be huge.
You know, he's a big part of the team down there.
I think OJ's gonna be kind of, like, a scared cat.
He's not the best swimmer.
He doesn't swim for [bleep].
If we got to abort, we got to abort.
Okay. So, you can go ahead if you're ready.
Hey, he jumped!
Oh [bleep].
Wait, he just flew over my shoulder.
- That's what happened? - Oh, yeah.
We got a buddy.
Hey, bud.
Hey, what's up?
We'll let you out. Come here.
There you go. Here.
Oh, yeah.
Come on, buddy.
It's all right.
Uh-oh. Don't go that way.
What the [bleep]?
I see him flying around the deck
and, shoot, he comes right in.
What the [bleep]?
He'll go in your hand,
he was on mine.
Hi, little buddy.
Oh, God! No [bleep] man.
I was just trying to hang out.
Don't move.
Okay. Stay over there.
You're good over there.
We'll get you to land, I promise.
Stop freaking out.
Captains Jack and Harley
hope one bird in the boat
is worth more than two cod in the tanks.
On the Wizard.
Okay. So, you can go ahead if you're ready.
Hey, he jumped!
Roger.
Yeah...
Well, I doubt OJ's ever gonna forget this ride.
Yeah, I'm pretty proud of OJ for jumping in the ocean.
He doesn't swim very good.
Hey, Monts.
Roger. OJ...
Get that life sling on.
Pull him in a little bit with the block.
Bring it a little closer.
Okay. It looks like he's getting closer.
Ease him in, Robby.
Nice and easy. Nice and easy.
Got it?
Hey, he's got it!
Put the yellow life sling under your armpit.
Let it slide through your armpit.
There you go.
Now, hook it in both t-rings.
Draw this hook through both those rings
in your life per.
All right.
Can you grab that orange bag
and just chuck it to me,
so we got tag line, okay?
- Okay. - Are we good?
Robby, bring him up. Bring him in.
Guy's in the water. Bring him out.
Get him out. Get him out.
Got you.
Whoo!
How you doing?
Yeah. Yeah.
High five.
My boy.
Yeah.
He is aboard.
Yeah! Whoo!
Mission accomplished.
Good job.
Come on, guys.
Tyler, well done.
Man, back on the boat, so, you know,
what's gonna get you to go back to the boat?
You know, do I need to ride with a Bering Sea taxi?
OJ just had a little girl named Cassidy.
For him to come out here and bail us out like this,
and then to actually jump in the Bering Sea
in the middle of January to get over here
shows you a testament to just how big
that kid's heart is.
I mean, OJ's heart is as big as anybody on the planet.
This guy did a really good job, man.
Now, I'm here. I'm back, baby.
Let's go to work.
You know, when you get a chew in every pocket,
you're probably a little more nervous
than you normally would be.
120 miles northeast,
on the southern cod ground
aboard the Saga.
Put it on. Put it on.
Oh, man.
Look at this crash.
Oh, my God.
Three fish.
You ain't gonna make money on three.
Those fish even ten pounds, Joe?
No. They're pretty small.
I'm right where he put me.
It's a new area that Sig gave me the bearings for.
Three fish.
Another three.
I mean, I'm at the place that I was sent to
and he's not giving me
Pull it up.
The [bleep] there's not...
Absolutely nothing here.
This is a [bleep] bone yard.
Yeah.
How do you know that?
Mason, bring up your phone.
- What's going on? - Can I see your text messages on your phone?
Yeah.
I hate going captain on you, but...
No big deal. It's just Matt.
You just told Matt some information
I wanted to keep quiet,
and he's given it to the boat.
You're not in trouble.
Just tell everyone down there
to just be careful what they're texting.
Keep the cards close to their chest.
All right.
Don't get all depressed now.
You... You're the one who wanted to play here.
Seriously, though, there ain't nothing here, dude.
Enough.
You're fine.
You just got to keep punching 'em in.
Have you hauled through everything?
- No. - Because you did...
Well, what are you calling me for?
First, you got to go through the gear.
Just keep pulling the gear.
And then, let me know
when it's all said and done, okay?
All right. Copy.
You got to have faith, pal.
I have been in the...
been in the game for a little bit longer.
I was so proud that my partnership
was actually working in my favor.
I'll give you an A for effort
and a D-minus for your delivery.
Screw you.
We know you a little bit too well, buddy.
Oh, God.
All right, Jake. Just call me when you get them, hopefully.
All right. Bye-bye.
All right. I'm out.
He's gonna run into that line eventually.
It's there. It's always there.
Instead of us finding it, he go find the edge.
That's a real partnership, isn't it?
As long as the end result is what you're looking for.
We're just doing it in a roundabout manner.
It is kind of fun, though.
Hey, brother.
Hey. What's going on?
We're going fishing.
Roger. I'm coming.
I'm sure the cannery is gonna be blocked up.
Come down to the boat 'cause we're grabbing bait today.
Okay. Sounds good.
- Bye-bye. - All right. Bye.
Finally, everybody got fed up enough where we can go fish.
I'm excited and I'm anxious,
and I'm scared.
You know, first time being the boss lady.
I just need to prove to myself
that I can get crab in the pot.
But just gonna do what I can.
Thank you, God, for bringing this food
onto our table and letting us catch enough raw crab
to feed our bellies for the night.
- Amen. - Amen.
Yeah. Let's dig in!
This is about a $12,000 dinner.
But now, we know, you know, I don't have to kick myself
years from now and go,
"I wish I would have done that.
I wish I would have went there."
Yeah.
But we don't wanna tell nobody
'cause we'll make them earn it.
- Yeah. - You got to find out
for yourself whether it's crappy or not.
Oh crabby!
Pow, pow. Right on...
Now that we got OJ back,
we got a solid five-man crew, which we need.
...1,500 pots to get 60,000 pounds.
OJ.
Nice little pot here.
Feel pretty good.
Whoo!
Yeah!
Things looking good, now.
We're catching cod, thank God.
That's a good feeling.
Go for it, boys.
I really got a great opportunity
to run this boat.
Prove that I'm the captain once and for all.
Frozen.
Okay.
Lift!
We've got the bait on.
We just need to get the deck squared away,
and then we're off.
Get the hell out of town,
go catch some [bleep] crabs.
Good?
One hurdle at a time.
Your best learning is when you're out
of your comfort zone.
That's what my dad used to say.
I would like to say that he's proud.
I hope so.
Couldn't ask for anything better.
Go get some crab.
Whoo-hoo!
Yeah, baby.
Oh, [bleep].
No, no, no, no.
Stop.
Looks like hell.
Whoa. Whoa.
Oh, we got a fire.
Oh, God.
Yo, watch out. Watch out. Watch out!
Oh, [bleep].
Whoo!
Well done. Well done!