[Sig] Winter season is upon us.
And we have Super El Nino that's been forecast.
It's almost unheard of.
[reporter] Okay, folks, here comes Super El Nino.
A weather anomaly on the horizon that threatens
to bring increased pressure low systems
to the Bering Sea fishing grounds.
Experts project increased precipitation,
strong tides, and a surged wave height.
[Jake] We're gonna have bigger storms down in the south,
right on the bairdi ground.
Which means a lot of wind, which means a lot of waves,
which means a lot of danger.
But I know exactly where I'm going right now.
That's my own secret.
[Keith] All right, guys, good.
Roger!
Going 30 hours north to catch our crab
is a huge gamble and a huge risk.
So try and get as quick as they can,
and then get to town.
[Rick] It's gonna get ugly.
But you knuckle up, then you just keep fighting,
no matter what happens.
Oh, baby.
[OJ speaking]
[bleep]
This is it! This is it!
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
-Whoa! -[bleep]
Whoa!
What up, what up, what up?
Go, go, go!
[indistinct]
Are you all right?
That hurt so bad.
[grunting]
Watch the rail, watch the rail!
[bleep]
Ah!
♪♪ There once was a ship That put to sea ♪
[narrator] Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
Abort the Aleutian Lady.
-[alarm ringing] -Wake up, wake up, wake up!
This will be fun once he gets up here.
[Jacob] Yeah, the sense of urgency is lost being at the dock.
You got your suit, Breedlove?
[Rick] Your suit.
Go get your [bleep] suit.
Okay.
We were gonna make this quick, but I'm [bleep] pissed.
It's a [bleep] general alarm!
You get your ass up here!
That was bull [bleep]
You're my chief!
If this was an emergency,
and you took three gosh damn minutes to get up here,
it is not okay.
This is about safety.
We are gonna have some [bleep] weather coming.
We need to be on point.
So, I want everybody to get your suits on.
I'm gonna time... Do you have your suit?
-[man] I'll go grab it. -Go grab your suit.
Sorry to be pissed, man.
For what?
He was up here getting everybody up.
Okay, Breedlove, do you want to get off
the [bleep] boat and not be here?
-Do you? -I'll...
[Anthony speaking]
[bleeping]
Well, that's fine.
I got many people that want to take your spot.
[Anthony speaking]
When you're doing a drill, you have to be professional.
It's when you find out who you can count on.
You can't always just be joking and clowning around.
Nothing productive comes from it.
As it is right now,
bairdi is our next battle.
I have to produce,
and we're gonna have these massive lows
bring cold air, high winds, huge seas.
So, we have to be on point.
We have to be safety conscious.
But I can't go out and fish if I don't have a chief.
[man speaking]
[Rick] There's a lot of unknowns now.
Let's hope we can pull these pieces
back together, but we shall see.
[narrator] Across the island.
[Sig] It's not the old Dutch harbor I know.
Times have changed.
We just got done with our king crab season,
and the fact that there was a lot of crab,
you know, was a lot of fun.
Now we're gonna start our western bairdi,
and with the younger generation involved,
it's starting to look like we're gonna have
some boats out there,
which means a lot more competition.
[narrator] With the western bairdi crab price
spiking to $7 a pound at the dock,
and over 50 bucks at your local grocery store,
new vessels flood the now $8.6 million fishery.
It's a big span of real estate that you gotta cover,
and I want to try to keep my expenses down.
[narrator] Captain Sig Hanson is looking to avoid canvassing
the 75,000 square mile fishing grounds.
At least on his own.
I know Jake Anderson was fishing
western bairdi in the fall.
He's already taken a whiff,
you know, he's already got that scent.
Information is key.
It can fill boats if you're working right.
[narrator] Across the Bay.
[Jake] ...sand this, that drives me nuts.
If I had the choice, I would like my boat
to be built by Lamborghini or Ferrari.
[laughs]
You know, suede everywhere.
We're gonna go out for 140,000 pounds of western bairdi.
There's a lot of crab, but I know exactly where
I'm going right now.
I gotta prove to these owners that I got what it takes.
[narrator] The only captain to sleuth out the western bairdi biomass
this past November was Jake Anderson.
Now he's looking to catch 140,000 pounds
in the upper latitudes, showing bosses who's boss.
[Sig speaking]
The hell is going on?
[Sig speaking]
It's cold!
[Jake] What does he want?
[Sig] Hey!
Do you want to come down?
No, I don't want to come down.
It's [bleep] cold out here.
Yeah, well, I'm not jumping on that thing.
I'd have to use a crane to get on it in the first place.
-[bleep] -[laughs]
What do you want?
I'm just picking brains, just trying to get some info.
It is not gonna be easy.
Well, did you get west of St. Paul?
I've been everywhere.
[Sig] West of St. Paul?
I'm not gonna say yes or no.
Did you get on the west side of the bar?
I'm not saying any more.
[Sig] I get it, but you're talking to me.
Yeah, I know.
I'm just trying to decide
if I should stay close to the beach
or just head for the hills.
-That's all I'm doing. -[bleep]
I don't need a bearing.
I just want...
You know how this is.
You just gotta find that above average and grind, baby.
All right, I'll see you out there.
You know, I've learned a few things myself.
Young man.
[Sig] All right, boy.
[Jake] Have fun!
[exhales]
[Sig laughs] You know, the funny thing about Jake
is he doesn't get "I know people."
I've been here a long time.
I know every damn Norwegian, Icelander,
everybody that's been in this town before he was born.
There's more than one way to get information
if a guy wants it.
Hey, buddy.
[laughs]
No, it's been too long.
I was just on your boat.
She looks good.
Your new captain, by the way,
said that you might have some information for me
on how things went in the fall.
[narrator] 360 miles northwest of Dutch Harbor.
Aboard The Wizard.
[Keith] All right, guys.
Gonna be a pain in the ass.
Top of the stack is completely covered.
Up forward, the mesh is all sealed in.
The seas are up.
Don't worry about scrambling to get one over if I be.
Just get it over when you can.
Just be nice and safe out there, okay?
Stay warm!
Just overnight here, we've
definitely taken some ice on board.
And, you know, just to make the work area safe,
we've got to chip a bunch of ice
and get all that off of there.
Heads up, son. Rice coming your way.
[bleep]
We need to find something to run out of the gate
and then get to town.
I'm gonna just try and get as quick as I can.
[narrator] Racing a parade of Super El Nino-fueled
low-pressure systems and a super-sized fleet,
Captain Keith Colburn prepares to set
his first pots of the winter season
80 miles north of traditional grounds.
[Keith] We are definitely the lone ranger out here.
-[OJ speaking] -[bleep]
It's too early for this [bleep]
It's too hold.
It's locked in.
[man] Okay, let's go.
All right, so we're...
[man] Okay, we're gonna... Okay.
Then we'll get in place
to start setting these pots off, okay?
[man speaking]
[OJ speaking]
[Keith] Hard enough working up there to begin with.
Now everything's frozen solid.
You're colder than hell,
and your body's just fighting to stay warm.
[indistinct]
Days like today where you contemplate life decisions.
Okay, guys, let's go ahead and get
this first one off here, okay?
[man] Ready!
[Keith speaking]
[OJ] Going over.
[Keith] Right on.
Oh, there's another big swell.
Stay sharp. There's some big comers out here, okay?
[man] Yeah, all right.
[Keith] Oh, man, I'm gonna be one happy camper
when I get this gear off the boat.
Whoa, hang on, guys. Coming on the port side.
Just hang on for a second.
[man] Whoa!
-[bleep] -[man speaking]
Whoa, whoa, whoa. What happened?
[man speaking]
On this deck.
[man] OJ!
[bleeping]
[narrator] On The Wizard.
[man speaking]
Take this, will you?
[bleep]
All right, I'm on autopilot. Get us into the weather, okay?
[indistinct conversation]
[Keith] Can we get out there real quick?
Feet first here.
All right, ready?
[bleep]
Slide him around.
[man] Slide him around nice and easy. Get his upper body.
Nice and easy.
When you lower him down there.
[Keith] Get him down. I'm going all the way to the deck.
-Ready, Gary? -[Gary] Yep.
You guys got him?
[Keith] Keep his neck secure.
Keep his neck secure.
Right over here. Just get him right here real quick.
Is he even blinking or anything? What the [bleep]
What's going on here?
[man speaking]
Put one guy under his neck right here.
[man speaking]
[Keith] Okay, let's go do it.
OJ, don't move! Don't move!
All right, guys.
You're going to have to wrestle him through here
and get him into the house, all right?
[man] Ready?
[Keith] Keep coming straight.
You got another beam coming right now?
Right now, right here, okay?
Take it easy. Just make sure
you don't let his head move, okay?
Get him in, get him in.
Get him in.
Nice and easy. All right.
[bleep]
[man speaking]
[OJ] All right.
[Keith] Just sit right here, okay?
On three. One, two, three.
Um...
OJ, where are you right now?
[Keith] Okay.
[man speaking]
[all laugh]
[Keith] Let's get the rest of this gear off him.
Okay, here we go.
-Ah. -Oh, whoa, sorry.
Will you take it off yourself, then?
Oh, all right. Um...
[OJ speaking]
[Keith] That's blood.
-Oh, wow. -Okay.
Just give me a paper towel.
-[indistinct] -I'm seeing...
Uh... All right. Okay.
No, OJ?
I can see a little nick, all right?
Don't worry. It'll look good
when you get your next mohawk, all right?
[OJ speaking]
[Keith] No. You're not good to go.
You're not going back out right now.
We've got to treat this like a concussion.
[OJ speaking]
All right, guys.
I'm going to keep an eye on him, okay?
[man] Okay.
We've got to get this gear off of him.
[man] Roger.
Nice and safe.
[man speaking]
[Keith] You know, I don't know if he's got
traumatic brain injury or not.
He seems perfectly normal.
But... He's too proud to show any sign of weakness.
He's not going to let anybody see that.
So I'm not taking any chances.
Get this gear in the water.
[indistinct]
And make sure everybody's in good shape.
[Johnathan] I love this place.
It's just beautiful.
Looking out my office window.
Look at this. I can't make this up.
I grew up on the end of this pin,
where we're heading right now.
My parents had a little cabin out there.
Most kids had bicycles.
We had skits and outboards, man.
We ripped this bay up.
So many memories.
We grew up like Tom Sawyer, man.
It was amazing.
[narrator] Two days after returning to his hometown...
We had a king crab season finally this year.
We did really well.
So now we're going to do golden crab.
That's Derby style, too.
Catch as much as you want till the quotas gone.
[narrator] Side-stepping the bairdi crab fleet
by hunting 130,000 pounds of golden king,
Captain Johnathan Hillstrand readies to pioneer
the remote fishing grounds north of St. George Island
for the first time in his 43-year career.
[Johnathan] The guys are out on the boat getting everything ready.
We'll pick our pots up on the way by King Cove,
and we're ready to go fishing.
Russell!
We got Heron.
We got Heron, yes.
-We got all the food. -We got food.
We got shots.
Mother [bleep]
I thought we had a line on something that fell through.
I don't wanna [bleep] think about it.
[Johnathan] Ah, okay.
Okay, I'm coming aboard.
I thought he was going to come through.
He said no problem, and then... well, now it is a problem.
[narrator] Forced to rely on cod to lure in crab,
John opens his gear to attacks
from parasitic crustaceans known as sand fleas,
rumored to infest the far reaches of the northern grounds,
devouring fish-based bait.
Hey, Russ.
[Russell] Well, I hear, John, that there's nothing
going on up there with the sand fleas,
so hopefully what I'm hearing is true.
[Johnathan] Really? There's no fleas?
[Russell speaking]
We don't go by other people's reports,
but you want to put your money where your mouth is.
Your bait where your mouth is.
[chuckles]
If there's sand fleas, you eat some bait.
I'll take your bet.
[laughs]
Freddy, I'm not sure what I just did right there.
Are you guys ready to get out of here?
Roger!
-[Russell] Right on! -[Johnathan speaking]
Cut her loose.
[Freddy] Roger, Captain!
Fish on, Captain!
[all cheer]
-[crew members exclaiming] -[crew member] Yeah!
I'm going fishing without squid.
I've never done that before.
Hopefully, there's no fleas.
We'll see what happens.
[Sig speaking]
We can throw the lines anytime.
[crew member 1 speaking]
[crew member 2 speaking]
[Sig] All right, here we go.
[crew member 1] Whoo! Get it, baby!
[Sig] We're heading to an area that Jake seems to think he's got figured out.
That being said, I did speak to the owners of the boat.
And we've got some intel of where to go,
see if we can, uh, get our share of that pie.
[Jake speaking]
[crew member speaking]
I just wanna get this boat off the dock.
Especially with Sig asking questions,
the competition's gonna start growing.
So it's... it's time to go.
I know exactly where I'm going right now.
Just gotta get the pots in the water.
We need to go start making money.
[Rick speaking]
[crew member] Right here. Okay.
[Rick speaking]
How you doing, man?
I get waking up to a general alarm
and then getting cussed out.
It isn't cool.
But it's a safety thing,
and I mean, I want you on the boat.
But if you're gonna be here,
I gotta have you fall in line
and actually do what I say, man.
[Rick] All right, dude, let's do it.
[Anthony speaking]
[Rick speaking]
Let's get ready to throw lines.
We gotta get out of here.
[crew member 1 speaking]
[Rick] After all of our drama this morning,
it's good to finally be making headway.
We've got a massive storm from... coming in.
So, we gotta get these pots in the water as quick as we can.
[Noah] Ah.
-What's up, brother? -[Noah speaking]
Hey, I'm gonna go look at it real quick.
Ooh! [bleep]!
Ah, hey, Breedlove.
[Anthony speaking]
[Rick] Wanna come here for a sec?
[Anthony speaking]
[Rick speaking]
[Anthony speaking]
[Rick sighs]
Damn! [bleeping]
[crew member] Okay, suck her up.
[Rick] Drop it.
[narrator] On the Aleutian Lady.
[Rick] Guys are working on the anchor winch.
If this goes, I can lose my anchor.
I can be in bad weather, trying to anchor up.
The anchor would not work,
and it's just a safety hazard.
[Anthony] So now that we've got the anchor
and the chain off the boat,
that relieves all the weight that's on the drum.
So now I gotta get it opened up
and start taking it apart
and getting down to the, uh, culprit parts inside.
[crew member] All right, you ready?
[Rick] I was not expecting to be in town right now.
I need to have this thing tore apart today
so we could try to flip around as quick as we can.
We gotta get out to sea.
It's time to fish.
This is not how I wanted to start this year.
[narrator] 315 miles northwest,
on the western bairdi grounds,
aboard the Northwestern.
[Sig] We're definitely getting close.
We're heading into an area right now
that Jake seems to think he's got dialed in.
The good news is, we're out here first.
This boat is a lot faster,
and, uh, I don't have my AIS on.
So you can't track me on the computer.
Gotta be strategic, a little tricky.
That's part of the game. Always has been.
Pull that shot out. Yeah!
Yeah! There you go.
You know, I did speak to the owners of the boat.
And, uh, you know, they gave me a general area of where to go,
and this could make the difference between
a good season or a bad one.
All right, let's set.
-[crew member 1 speaking] -[crew member 2 speaking]
[crew member 3 speaking]
[crew member 1 speaking]
Yeah!
This is not just fish, pull pots,
it's strategy,
and usually, it's the first guy out that has the best odds.
So we're gonna see what's going on in here
and, uh, keep our fingers crossed.
[narrator] Just three miles to the east...
[Jake speaking]
[crew member speaking]
[narrator] ...on the Titan Explorer.
[Jake] All right, this is it.
Top of the season, getting ready to set.
My deck is looking good.
The crew is looking good.
I think I'm gonna crush it this bairdi season.
We got Super El Ninos this year.
Storm after storm, it looks like.
So far, there's no boats, but soon there will be,
so I've got no time to mess around.
I'm sticking with my plan.
I like these areas west of Saint Paul,
so that's where I'm gonna start.
I know these crab are here.
I start prospecting in the fall.
And I just need to make sure that I'm the only one here.
[crew member 1] Yeah, we're ready!
[Jake speaking] Let's set 'em.
[crew member 2] Let's go [bleep] get 'em.
[radio beeps]
[crew member 1] Going over!
Whoo!
Catch some crab!
[Kevin retches]
-[vomiting] -[Jake speaking]
[crew member 3 speaking]
[crew member 1 speaking]
[crew member 2 speaking]
What?
[crew member 2] There's gear in the water.
[Jake] What the [bleep]?
[crew member 2] There's another one!
[Jake speaking]
...gear that is?
[crew member 4] Four-ten, four one zero.
Mother [bleep]! Pot for [bleep] pot,
right where I was gonna [bleep] lay.
[bleep]!
That's it, I'm calling Sig.
[narrator] Just two miles west...
aboard the Northwestern.
[crew members exclaiming]
[crew member 1] Nice, big, big crab!
Oh, yeah, that's what we're looking for.
-[crew member 1] Yeah! -[crew member 2] That's what I was talking about.
[phone ringing]
[chuckles] Oh, hey, Jake.
[Jake speaking]
There's no [bleep] way you could find this.
[laughs]
-I'm the only one that [bleep] knows-- -Well, I got my feelers out.
It's fishing. Come on.
I spent 50 [beeps] grand trying to find this stupid [bleep] crab!
You know, it only cost me a phone call.
[bleep]!
[bleep]! Damn it!
[Sig speaking]
[narrator] On the Titan Explorer.
[Jake] [bleep]!
[bleep]! Damn it!
[Sig speaking]
You there?
I guess he didn't like that.
[Jake sighs]
Stop everything down there, guys.
What we're gonna [bleep] do is, is we have all our longline stuff in the stern,
all our lines back there,
just grab one of those lines, open the longline door.
Run a line from the stern to that bag.
Tie it off, and we're gonna create a [bleep] fence.
It's a reverse longline.
[crew member] Whoo! Yeah!
-Roger. -Roger.
[narrator] To cut off Sig from the rest of the fishing grounds,
Jake sets an inverted longline string
so the drop line that normally sits on the sea floor
will instead float to the water's surface,
forming a two-mile barrier.
[Jake] You wanna set us up?
[crew member 1 speaking] Yeah!
-[Jake] Let's [bleep] do it. -[crew member 2] Yeah!
[Jake] Sig wants to play hardball,
that's [bleep] fine with me.
[crew member 1 speaking]
[crew member 2 speaking]
I'm tired of getting pushed around by Sig.
He thought he was gonna come out here and steal my spot.
He's got another thing coming.
[narrator] In Dutch Harbor...
[Jacob singing in French]
[narrator] ...on the Aleutian Lady.
[singing continues]
[Rick] Guys are working on the anchor winch,
they're jamming real hard.
We just gotta bust a move.
It is time to just turn this around.
I mean, I wanna be out there fishing.
I wanna be out there hauling gear and making all of us money.
[in English] That's French, concerto uh, Lydia. It's a French aria.
All right, guys, let's fire up the hydros and run that thing
and see how she sounds and looks.
The moment of truth here. Let's see if she hauls.
-[crew member] Hey! No. -[Noah] Right there?
[crew member] Yeah!
Oh, yeah, baby!
-[Noah] Nice. -[crew member] Yeah!
Oh, sweet.
Hell, yeah!
-[crew member] Whoo! -[crew member 2] Whoo!
It looks good, no leaks. All the seals look good.
[Rick] All right, we're out of here.
I wanna start jamming and getting product on the boat.
Time's ticking, and I gotta get it done.
[narrator] 340 miles away...
northwest of St. George Island...
on the golden king crab grounds...
[Johnathan speaking over radio]
Poke the [bleep] out of the tuna cans...
put one of those in every pot.
[crew member speaking]
[narrator] ...aboard the Time Bandit.
[Johnathan] We made it up to golden grounds,
and we're just getting the bait ready.
Just about ready to set our first pot.
And it's better if you have squid, but we couldn't get squid.
So I'm stuck with herring, which fishes
about eight hours, and it's gone.
Little bitty holes in it so that it'll leak out.
They make a timed release bait jars
that... that dissolve,
that will release the bait.
Then you can battle these sand fleas better.
I don't have any of that onboard.
Just have a bunch of tuna fish on here.
This would be sort of like the same thing,
a little strand timed release bait.
See if that works.
-[crew member 1 speaking] -[crew member 2] Yeah, let's go!
Go ahead and let her go when you're ready, Russ.
[Russell] Going over!
[Johnathan] Whoo-hoo! [continues speaking]
Hopefully, we're on to something.
[narrator] 126 miles northeast,
in the heart of winter's first Super El Nino-powered storm...
[Keith speaking]
[crew member speaking]
[narrator] ...aboard the Wizard.
[Keith speaking]
Take it easy.
-[Monte] How you doing? -[OJ speaking]
-You all right, huh? -[OJ] Yeah.
How does your head feel now?
Just press on it, and it should, like--
[OJ speaking]
[Keith] I mean, I didn't even put a butterfly on this.
And there's no swelling either.
[OJ speaking]
[Keith sighs]
I don't know... [continues indistinctly]
Yeah, I don't know.
[sighs]
All right, OJ, any change whatsoever,
you feel any feeling of getting sick,
nausea, vomiting,
you need to let me know immediately.
-[OJ speaking] -Okay.
[Keith sighs]
Stay safe.
-All right, uh-- -Throwing in here?
Yeah, let me dive in there.
I'll tell you what, it's been a lot of work.
The guys have done a great job.
But they are just beat up.
So it's good we've got OJ back
to work on deck for a little bit
at a reduced capacity.
OJ, well, how you doing, buddy?
[crew members exclaiming]
I'm working way too hard.
Get over here and help me out.
[OJ speaking]
[Keith speaking]
The first pot of the season.
[Gary] Here we go.
[Keith] We need to find something right out of the gate.
We're racing to go in early to get our crab off fast.
Come on, man. Come on!
Go make some money!
You land on big numbers,
this is gonna be over before we can even blink.
That's what we're trying to do.
[crew members exclaiming]
[crew member 1] Time to get us that crab, man!
Come on, something. Give me something there.
[crew member 2 speaking]
[narrator] On the Wizard.
Come on, something. Give me something there.
[crew member 1 speaking]
Hey! Yeah!
[crew member 2 exclaiming]
[crew member 3] Look at the size of these beauties!
Right on.
Whoo!
Oh-oh! Oh, yeah, they're big, too.
Looks to me like they're all good, clean, big bairdi.
We got a lot.
[Gary exclaiming]
There's some big ones in there.
-Okay, here we go. -[Keith speaking]
All I want is for you to make me smile.
[Gary speaking]
[Keith speaking]
We can live on that. No problem.
[Gary] Whoa!
[crew member 1] Whoo! Look what's on the boat.
[Keith speaking]
Those are the crab we wanted, so right on.
[crew member 1] Come on, bairdi!
-[crew member 2] Yeah! -[crew member 1] Whoo!
[Gary] They're big!
That's [bleep] bad-ass.
Oh...
I like that. I like that.
[Gary speaking]
Yeah, right on!
[Gary] Whoo! Whoo-hoo-hoo!
[bleep] yeah! 61, baby!
[Keith speaking]
And bang, we are in like Flynn.
[crew member 1 speaking]
Roger, roger.
Let her out.
[crew member 2] Going over.
I'm happy to have OJ out here fishing with us.
[Keith speaking]
[crew member 1 speaking]
[crew members exclaiming]
Yes! Yes! Yes!
And we're gonna get our crab off ahead of the fleet.
[narrator] 120 miles southwest...
on the golden king crab grounds...
[Johnathan speaking]
[Freddy speaking]
[narrator] ...aboard the Time Bandit.
[Johnathan speaking]
[Freddy] Thank you, brother.
[Johnathan speaking]
You remember the bet?
I like our chances.
So we have a chance.
[laughs]
We got the first pot coming up.
And see what we got, Neal.
Russell guaranteed me this is not a sand flea here.
[laughing] If... if there's sand fleas,
he's got to eat sand fleas.
So, I wanna see some crab.
I'm looking for the big score out here.
Come on, big crabber.
-[Freddy] Aw. -[crew member 1] Aw, man.
[Freddy] One last [bleep].
[crew member 1]
[crew member 2 speaking]
Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye!
[Freddy speaking]
-One. -[Freddy] One!
That does not pay the bills.
[crew member 3 speaking]
[Freddy] Damn it.
[Keith] Ah! Ouchy, ouchy.
That's sand fleas again.
[crew member 4] This is what some of these bait jars are coming up with.
Like, thousands and thousands of sand fleas.
[Keith speaking]
Get on up to the dinner plate, buddy.
[retches]
Bon appetit, Russell. [laughs]
-[crew member 1] Bottom's up. -[crew member 2] Let her go!
-Oh, Russell! -[Keith speaking]
[crew members exclaiming]
Oh, yeah. You gotta chew it up and eat it.
[crew members exclaiming and bleeping]
[Keith] Oh! [laughs]
-Yeah! -[crew members exclaiming]
[Keith] Dude! Yeah!
Okay, it's all forgotten, all forgiven.
-Hey! -Yeah!
Whoo! Russ is back!
Oh, my God, those guys are funny.
At the end of the day, we've still got a problem.
[Jared] This is not what we were looking for.
That didn't work out very well.
I gotta figure something out here.
[Rick over loudspeaker]
...helping us get out of here.
In your name. Amen.
Amen. Whoo!
[Rick] But right now I'm right on the border,
and we're running a little bit behind schedule.
Our anchor winch screwed us.
[Noah speaking]
There you go.
It's a good thing we were able to fix it.
[Anthony speaking]
[Noah speaking]
[Rick] But right now...
[Noah speaking]
[Anthony speaking]
,,,I got to set all this gear and start hauling.
You just got to do what you got to do.
[Noah] Tango four ready.
Whoo!
[Rick] We're actually fishing now.
Now all I got to do is hope and pray
that I put these things on a good spot.
We shall see.
I've been all over this canyon,
but I've never been on that little hill there.
It's a round mountain. Looks like it's an underwater volcano.
The right depth's on it,
and hopefully it's not sand flea like this spot.
[over loudspeaker]
...keep bringing them up.
[Freddy] Pull it over, baby!
Maybe they're out there having a luau by the volcano.
Who knows what crabs gonna do?
Maybe they wanna have a luau. I don't know.
[Russell] We're on the Pacific Rim.
It's the ring of fire, you know,
from Hawaii to Alaska,
all the way around the Aleutian Chain.
How do you know that [bleep], Russell? [chuckles]
When I just kid, my mom... I got whipped for playing with fire.
But I'm playing with fire, Mama!
[Jake over loudspeaker]
-Ready! -[man 1 whoops]
Let's get it, baby!
[Jake over loudspeaker]
Get ready to set a reverse long line.
[man 2] Going over!
[Jake] Seventeen years this guy's been jamming me up.
If I can hold Sig at bay, I'll hold the ground,
then I can fish the area that was mine!
[over loudspeaker]
Coming out, coming out, coming out, coming out, coming out, coming out!
[men whooping]
[Jake over loudspeaker]
I got my punch in!
[over loudspeaker]
[man exclaiming]
[grunts]
[Jake] He won't even know what hit him.
[narrator] On the Northwestern...
All right.
You got about a mile or so just till that first bag.
You want some coffee?
-Yeah. Do you mind? -Yeah. Gotcha.
Seems like it's coming up a little bit, isn't it?
Yeah. It's been getting worse the last couple of hours.
[grunts]
Turns out, [scoffs]
you know, I didn't have to talk to Jake about anything.
What the hell?
[Clark] Here you go.
You see that?
There, see it?
You see that?
Hold on.
There's a buoy right there.
[Clark speaking]
What, is it just a buoy floating with the line?
You know what I mean?
[Clark speaking]
[Sig] What the...
All right. Can you get closer and see?
-Yeah... -[switches clicking]
-What is that? [chuckles] -[chuckles]
Yeah, what is that out there?
[Clark] There's a big "T" on it.
-What, like Titan? -Yeah.
Ha!
I mean, it goes on forever. It goes all the way.
[Clark speaking]
[Sig] That's intentional, man.
That's crazy!
It'll get in the wheel.
Why is this guy... [bleep] damn it!
This looks like a long line of bags and poly.
Somebody is up to something.
I think he's trying to be a little smart guy here.
That's what's going on.
[Clark] Are we gonna do anything and get back?
We'll pick it up and just lace it through his pots.
Let him deal with it.
This is Jake's little...
[over loudspeaker]
If I'd have got that in my wheel,
we'd be out of business right now.
[Karl speaking]
[man 1 speaking]
[Sig] Give him a taste of his own medicine.
Just one and done.
Right there.
[over loudspeaker]
We are re-gifting.
Throw that [bleep] over the side.
All right, Jake.
You can have it back.
[over loudspeaker] Let's get through. Go do our business.
And see how he likes that.
[narrator] 234 miles southeast,
in the southern tendrils of the storm...
[Rick] Yeah, it's getting awful!
...on the Aleutian Lady...
[Rick] The weather keeps intensifying.
The super El Nino is kicking our butts right now.
I bet we get gusts hitting 100.
[over loudspeaker]
Whoo!
[Noah whoops]
But with us rolling in the turbulent water,
no more rest for the wicked.
I'm battling wind, I'm battling the waves, I'm battling the current.
We're all alone out here.
That's why I'm fishing right here.
I'm not sure what we're gonna see yet,
but we're about to find out.
[Anthony] Yeah, baby!
[Noah] That's a nice pot.
[laughing]
Yes.
There are so many damn crab in that pot.
[men whooping]
[Rick over loudspeaker] Yeah.
[Rick laughing]
Well, thank you, thank you.
[Noah speaking]
Yeah!
Hell, yeah. That's what we want.
We might have found the mother lode here.
All right, guys. Let's set it back. We're staying.
[Noah] Yes.
[Anthony] Going over.
[Anthony grunts]
[Rick over loudspeaker] Is everything okay?
[Anthony grunts]
[Anthony] Ugh! [bleep]
I took a spill on the deck, fell into the scupper.
And it definitely didn't do my back any favors.
I gotta take a break.
[groans]
[bleep]
Come on, cowboy up.
Yo, bro. What's up, man?
Uh... I'm not exactly sure.
I tweaked something in my back.
Like a pulled muscle or something.
But if it is just muscle,
man, relaxing and taking it easy
is about the only thing you can do.
All right.
All right, bud.
[Rick] I legally can't say anything.
I can't tell you to go back out there.
And I got a sneaking suspicion
he is acting a little over the top.
You know, I was just telling the other guys,
manage your expectation with someone like Breedlove.
He's too used to making excuses.
Nobody's gonna like it.
It's just so much more work for the guys.
But you just gotta do what you gotta do.
[Noah speaking]
[bleep]
-[rope snaps] -[men shouting]
[Jacob] What the hell?
[Noah] What the [bleep]?
What?
[Noah speaking]
The picking hook's in the water.
[Rick] Damn it!
How high up is it? Can we reach it?
So where is the line?
Oh, did it go all the way in?
-All the way in. -In?
Yeah, it parted, like, way up here, dude.
[bleep]
I mean, we got a bunch of extra line on that...
-Yeah, we have a line-- -We probably got enough.
[Rick] But to reinstall that line
all the way up to the top of the picking boom,
you have to hook somebody up in the crane.
But that's not an option out at sea like this.
-We can't. -Yeah, that's it.
-We're done. -That's the issue.
We got to go anchor up.
And...
[bleep] damn it!
Not mad at you, dude. I'm just frickin'...
It's always something.
[groans]
[Rick] We got a huge storm upon us.
Let's hope there's crab here
the next time we come to haul these strings.
Right now, it's just a race against time.
[narrator] 260 miles northwest...
[Jonathan over loudspeaker]
[narrator] ...on the golden king crab grounds...
Volcano set...
So we're gonna see what we get here.
Hopefully it's not sand flea
like all the rest of that [bleep] yesterday.
I mean, who knows?
There's a lot of damn crab on this volcano.
That could save us.
The clock's ticking.
I got to perform. I got a lot of pressure on.
A lot of pressure over here.
It's the hot seat.
Fifteen average today, that'd be wonderful.
[over loudspeaker] Come on, big boy.
[Freddy] Come on, big boy!
Come on, big boy!
[indistinct shouting]
[all cheering]
[bleep]
Yeah!
[chuckles]
[cheering continues]
Crab, crab, crab, crab, crab, crab, crab, crab.
Crab, crab, crab, crab, crab, crab, crab. Crab, crab, crab, crab.
Those are nice, big, big, fatty crabs, man.
[over loudspeaker]
Oh, my God, what's that on the table? A crab.
[snickering]
[blows raspberry]
Wow!
Twenty-eight!
Twenty-eight, yeah!
Twenties, we could make a living out here.
-Whoo! -Whoo!
See what we got in the next one.
[cheering]
Mother lode, baby! A mother lode!
Jackpot, yeah!
[bleep] jackpot!
[cheering]
Ah, thank you, God. That's a godsend.
Okay, so the next one should be down there.
[over loudspeaker] This is right where this one should be.
Hang on for a sec.
I don't know what the...
That's just the way the [bleep] mountain marks.
Freddy's going up on the bow and finding them.
[over loudspeaker]
[Freddy] Yo, right there!
-Right there! -[Jonathan] Whoa, whoa!
Right there! Yeah, baby!
Yes, that's our pot.
[over loudspeaker]
No problem.
[Freddy] Oh, yeah, oh, yeah!
Yeah, baby!
Get up, baby!
Ba-ba-baby!
[Jared] Yeah!
Put us on some crab, man.
[Scottie] Holy schmoly! What's going on?
Look at this pot here! It's got a big hole in the back of it.
-Got a hole in it. -It's got a hole in it.
[Jonathan over loudspeaker] [bleep] okay.
Go ahead and we'll double action off the launcher
and fix the [bleep] hole.
[Freddy speaking]
-Okay, you're clear. -Coming up.
Holy!
-Holy moly. -[indistinct chatter]
Let's fix that hole and get a good count on them crabs.
[Freddy speaking]
It's burnt?
-Yeah! -It's burnt!
[Jonathan over loudspeaker]
It got hot down there. Something got hot down there.
The [bleep] is going on?
[Scottie speaking]
[narrator] Aboard the Time Bandit...
[man] What in the world?
[Scottie speaking]
No, it's not [bleep] burnt.
It got hot down there. Something got hot down there.
The [bleep] is going on?
Is that crab cooked?
There was two or three in there that got hot.
We obviously sat on some kind of hydrothermal vent.
You know, where the tectonic plates separate
and the seawater goes in
and creates steam and hot water.
Hydrothermal vent?
[chuckles] It's a [bleep] is a hydrothermal vent, he's saying.
It's a [bleep] volcano.
Where'd you come up with all that [bleep]?
-Seventh grade. -[Freddy chuckles] Seventh grade.
[Jonathan over loudspeaker]
[in snobby voice] The tectonic plates...
[laughter]
[in normal voice] Well, let's fix that hole
and get a good count on them crab.
This is sort of a scary thing here.
I don't want my crab to cook and burn.
I mean, some of those can be too hot
and they can die in the tank.
Thirty-two filling that pot, baby!
Thirty-two.
They like that little bit of warm water,
you know, they just can't get too close to it.
They get burnt. They done get burnt.
Ai-yai-yai.
See this? It's deeper here.
It shallows up into this little
half a mile round thing.
The burned pot's right there.
There's a lot of crab there,
and I don't want to burn all my pots up.
Yeah, well, don't dump it.
We're not dumping it back here.
I'm gonna move it over...
Roger!
I'm taking a risk here.
[Freddy] Going over.
There we go.
Okay, send it back, guys.
We're gonna set all around it and see what happens.
We're creating our own ring of fire.
Darn right. Time Bandit style.
[Jonathan] I like that.
♪♪ It burns Like a ring of fire ♪
[Freddy] Going over.
[Jonathan] Hopefully we don't burn all our pots around the edge of this.
I'll record this volcano while we're doing this.
[narrator] 345 miles southeast,
just outside Akutan Harbor...
on the Aleutian Lady...
Akutan isn't the best place to anchor up.
Especially when you've got heavy, heavy winds.
But it's pretty much our only option.
We're gonna drop anchor and hope that we're able to hold.
[over loudspeaker] All right, let's do it.
Let's sling a guy up in the crane
and run the line through the cable guide
and then up through the trolley up on top.
But let's be careful, man.
Tie him down really good,
and please don't smack anybody's head into the picking hook.
[Noah speaking]
[narrator] On anchor in 40-knot winds and 12-foot swells...
Captain Rick directs the crew to attach a new picking hook,
threading a line through the boom arm 35 feet above the deck.
[Rick] We honestly can't waste any more time.
-We'll get going on it. -All right, man.
It's gonna be a bit sketchy.
It's gonna be tough not having a chief.
Having Breedlove in the bunk is gonna hinder us.
These guys are gonna have to pay attention.
I'm trying to take it easy best I can
and let the guys be my hands. And...
it is what it is.
We've got our friend Nico here,
hero of the morning,
to go up there in the basket and do it.
We're gonna have Nico get in the crane basket,
strap him onto the crane.
Would you like this tighter or is that good?
-That's good. -Okay.
We really need him to be careful.
But in doing this,
it'll make it so we can keep fishing.
All right, let's do this.
Okay.
We can be as safe as we can.
It just takes one "oops" to completely ruin somebody.
-Huh? -Go.
The crane's made out of steel, the picking boom's made out of steel.
If any part of Nico gets pinched between those,
the only thing that's gonna give is Nico.
Whoa. Whoa, whoa.
Wait, wait, wait. No.
-[Jacob] Hold on to it. -Wait, wait, wait.
Yeah, holding up.
[Jacob] Nice!
Yeah, Nico!
Bring me down. Bring me down!
-All right. -We're good.
[Rick] Now that we've got the line through,
we got to tie our backup picking hook on
and we'll be ready to rock and roll. So...
[man] Nico, you're my hero!
[crew cheering]
It's time to haul gear.
All right, guys.
Let's pull the anchor.
[deckhand speaking]
[Rick] We need to get back out there
and hopefully we can just start jamming
until we're full.
[narrator] 316 miles northwest...
on the western bairdi crab grounds...
All right, let's get it going.
...aboard the Titan Explorer.
A reverse long line is basically no different
than a regular long line,
except the line doesn't lay on the bottom of the ocean.
It floats. It's a fence.
This is my area.
He doesn't need my crab.
Let's see what we get out of it.
[crew cheering]
[Jake] There's some.
[Rolando over comms]
[bleep] yes!
[bleep] badass.
[Jake over PA] All right, here comes another one.
Let's see what's in this.
[man] Whoo!
Oh, my God!
[crew cheering]
Holy [bleep]!
We're in the meat, mother-[bleep]!
Whoo!
Here comes another one.
[Rolando] Yeah, baby!
Whoo!
Yeah, we're [bleep] in on 'em.
Yeah!
[Jake] I'm just happy we're getting crab.
It's a good start for the season.
[crew cheering]
[Jake] That's on.
Like taking candy from a baby.
[cheering continues]
[crew clamoring]
It's a line! There's a line! The line!
[crew panicking]
[Felipe] The wheel!
Is it in the wheel, Felipe?
-[man] Oh, hey! -[man 2] Come on! Come on! Come on!
-[machine beeping] -[bleep]
[bleep] Damn it!
[Felipe shouting]
[narrator] On the Titan Explorer...
[Felipe shouting]
[bleep]
I don't know if I should put it in gear.
I don't know what the [bleep] to do.
There's like 5 miles of line here.
[Felipe]
[Jake] Can you get a hook on it and see if the line's tight?
[bleep], Sig, dude.
Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!
If this thing is stuck in the wheel,
I could have to get a tow and be done for the season.
That's it.
Fired.
[bleep]
Okay, I'm not putting it into gear!
[bleep]
[bleep], it's in there.
I don't know.
I have line cutters on this boat,
but before I start torquing on anything down there,
let's go through the easiest, simplest ways
without trying to hurt the boat.
What we don't want to do is wind it up in the shaft.
Okay, I'm gonna put it in reverse, then cut it.
Tell me when.
Oh, [bleep].
We're gonna try to get the line to the portside now.
[Jake] Oh, my God. [bleep]!
Bonehead of the Year Award.
That's it. [bleep]. We're done.
guys get on the stern and look at it?
[Rolando] We got caught on our own [bleep] trap.
Bad juju, man. That's what you get.
[Jake] That's gonna slow me down.
And now I'm gonna kill the whole [bleep] day
trying to dig it out, hook, line and sinker.
And now I'm [bleep].
[sighs]
Sig just has to take me out.
I don't know what it is.
[narrator] 40 miles southwest...
on the golden king crab grounds
aboard the Time Bandit.
[Johnathan] Okay, it's coming up.
Here's our volcano set.
[over PA] First volcano pot coming up.
Geographical [bleep] bed.
-Hydrothermal, this pot. -Let's go.
We're above the pole, right where we saw the melted pot,
and I moved over a quarter mile
and then I set 15 pots around it.
So, we'll see.
Let's hope we see some crab legs...
this first pot.
-[man] Whoo! -[man 2] Think crab, baby. Think crab.
[man 3] Let's go! Let's go!
[crew exclaiming]
We got crabs!
Yeah, baby! Look at that!
[over PA] That's our volcano trap, baby!
Volcano!
[laughing]
[man] Yeah, baby! Oh, big dogs!
Forty-two!
-[crew cheering] -42 crabs. Big boys, baby!
[Johnathan] 42! 42!
If they hold out,
I'll have 'em all back in the water
and hopefully get another pick.
[man] Come on! Big crabs, baby!
[all exclaiming]
-[Johnathan over PA] Got crab legs! Got crab legs! -Whoo!
Whoo-hoo! Good job, guys.
Good job.
[cheering continues]
Okay.
We're gonna set 'em back.
We're gonna try one more time here.
[over PA] Pickin' and dumpin'. Pickin' and dumpin'.
Pickin' and dumpin', my friends.
I mean, we're having fun right now. We're making this work.
I hope we get another pick out of this,
and then I got to make a delivery day.
We pulled the volcano pot first.
It was a sacrifice.
A volcano. [laughs]
Unbelievable.
Whoo! Sometimes you just do the right thing.
Sometimes you don't.
I go, "This could be the stupidest thing we ever did
or the smartest thing I've even done."
[narrator] 264 miles southeast...
Right here is where the buoys should be.
So I'm looking all around,
seeing if it drifted with the current.
...aboard the Aleutian Lady.
I mean, bags going down is all part of fishing.
But we have so little time
to get this dialed in and get pounds on the boat
that we really need to catch a break.
Next pot has
We should be right on it.
And I don't see it anywhere.
Current's pushing towards us.
There is no pots up.
There's no bags.
The current's ripping.
It's just dragging everything down.
And now I've got a whiteout.
It's not helping at all.
It's going out. The visibility is really...
it's really slim.
I mean, I'm honestly just kind of...
I'm at a loss right now.
Something's really gotta change
or I'm gonna be in trouble.
[Freddy speaking]
-Cheers, baby. -Cheers, baby.
[Johnathan speaking]
This is gonna be funnier than [bleep].
It ain't easy to eat a whole can of tuna, dude.
Anybody want some mayonnaise and some bread?
Oh, my God. [laughing]
Freddy's [bleep] just kicking his ass, ain't he?
Yeah.
Did he win?
Yeah, baby.
-Love you, brother. -Love you too, man.
Could have used some mayonnaise and some bread on that one.
Tastes like some good chicken of the sea.
Yum!
[narrator] While the Time Bandit stuffs their mouths,
the Wizard stuffs her tanks
to the tuna $188,000.
[narrator] 120 miles north of Dutch Harbor...
on the Aleutian Lady.
It's going out. The visibility is really...
really slim.
So right here is where the buoy should be.
It should be right here.
Right there.
[sighs] Shoot.
The way it's looking,
I just can't fish,
the one thing I want to do.
The one thing I need to do, I can't do
[exhales]
All right, boys. That's it.
We're gonna call 'er quits, man.
[groans] Aw.
Strings being down, not being able to haul,
it's just like everything is against us.
Mother Nature, timing, the boat.
And Breedlove,
his back's still bugging him.
To be honest,
but I'd rather bring up a new chief
than have him hinder us.
So I gotta go to town.
I mean, when it rains, it pours.
[narrator] 230 miles northwest...
...aboard the Titan Explorer.
[sighs] [bleep]
You got an update for me?
-You have the buoy? -Yeah.
If you can get it up, then do that.
You know, we'll [bleep] a bunch, and spit the rest of it out.
Okay, sounds good, Captain.
[man yelling]
Oh, [bleep].
[yelling in foreign language]
[in English] Forward!
[Jake] Okay, I'm gonna try to cut it now.
Now, I'm just gonna go [bleep] full throttle.
Come on, bitch.
[whistles]
[yelling]
I got it out!
[bleep]
There's no line in the wheel.
Relieved.
And considering I have 140,000 pounds of crab to catch,
I definitely don't want to have to deal with Sig.
I just can't do it anymore.
We're just gonna keep moving to new ground.
[narrator] Just 3 miles west...
[man] All right! All right!
That's fishing.
I love it.
There's more meat on the bone.
Let's see what old Jake is up to here.
[Jake on phone]
I'm pretty sure I got my own line in my wheel.
I wasn't trying to be malicious, man.
No, I was trying to be malicious,
and I was [bleep] around.
gonna get you with that one, not myself.
Well, I mean,
I'm hoping you have a good season.
And, uh, you know, just
All right.
Okay. Bye-bye.
It's a dog-eat-dog fishery.
But sometimes helping somebody else
is easier to deal with than fighting.
[Rick] I get it, man, your back hurts.
But I can't have you on the boat
and these guys pick up your slack.
You've got to go home.
I understand.
I apologize for the way it's played out.
It's not been my best season.
It's not something I did to you on purpose.
All right, man. We'll get packed up.
I'm gonna call our office, get a flight lined up.
-All right, man. -[Anthony] Thank you.
Now I'm down an engineer.
I got to start making some calls,
get a chief up here in a day or two.
I got to get this crab caught.
And me waiting at the dock,
waiting on a chief
isn't going to cut it.
[man] Crabby, crabby, baby.
[man 2] Man, watch out! Watch out!
[OJ] Nice-looking crab.
Nice-looking crab there. Big one.
Nice and clean.
26,000 pounds, which leaves us about 14,000 pounds to catch.
And if the numbers look anything like what we saw when we left,
we should be in pretty good shape.
[spits]
[man] Holy [bleep]!
[crew cheering]
[Johnathan over PA] Aah! Look at that, baby.
-Holy crap! -[screaming]
That's a good pot!
Hail to real crab!
Couldn't get any better than this.
[man shouting] Hell yeah, baby, we gotta go back!
Thank you, Russell Newberry, for all your information.
[crew cheering]
[Johnathan over PA] These spots are on fire.
Now the Ring of Fire is on fire!
Forty-one!
Oh, dude! Hoo-hoo!
[laughing]
Oh, my God. I gotta call my mama.
I'm playing with fire, Mama.
[narrator] Coming up on the 20th winter season
of Deadliest Catch...
-[bleep] -[man shouting]
[groans]
-[man] Look at 'em! -[bleep]
Now!
[indistinct shouting over PA]
I have no clue how to run a crew.
[man whistles]
Watch the rail! Watch the rail!
[crew grunting]
[Jake over PA] Good job.
[groaning]
[Keith] We have the worst storms we have seen
in my 38 years.