[man speaking over radio]
[coast guard speaking over radio]
[man speaking over radio]
[coast guard speaking over radio]
Somebody's in pretty tough shape right now.
Just hope it turns out all right.
The Bering Sea is a wicked place.
And the problem we've got is these storms keep coming in
with this super El Nino.
Every conservative part of my nature says,
stay close to Dutch.
But every bone in my body is saying,
go to St. Paul.
[Monte] But I myself would prefer to go
to the other side of St. Paul.
I know it's twice as far, which sucks.
But I've been fishing western bairdi
for a long time.
And we've seen crab out there.
[Keith] It's a long way to travel.
There's a lot of things that can set us back.
I understand. I'm just...
[sighs]
[crew member] You got it?
[crew member 2] Good to go!
All right, guys, get ready to throw lines.
-[crew member shouting indistinctly] -[crew member 3] Here we go!
[crew member whooping]
[Keith] You know what?
Roshambo to see where we go. Ready?
[Keith] I believe in luck.
[crew member speaking]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
[Keith] But at the end of the day,
[crew members clamoring]
It just [bleep] died.
[Sig] Mother nature makes a lot of decisions for us.
[crew member] Look at 'em.
Get it over the side! Get it over the side!
[crew members shouting indistinctly]
All right.
That's it.
Stay close to Dutch.
[opening theme music playing]
[crew member] Let's go! Let's go!
-[thudding] -[Keith groans]
Are you all right?
Bro!
Are you all right?
[Sig] Lo and behold...
[narrator] 46 miles below a southbound Arctic cyclone...
[Sig grunts]
Boy, oh boy.
A lot of rolling around.
You let her go when you're ready.
[crew member] Away she goes.
[Sig] There's an Arctic blast from the northeast.
We're going to have to be on our toes.
We just got done with our bairdi season.
We are now on the golden king crab grounds.
[narrator] Raging out of Russia's Kolyma Mountains,
a 250-mile-wide low-pressure system barrels southeast
to the Bering Sea crab grounds.
With forecasts predicting strong easterly winds,
Captain Sig Hansen sets 40 pots
perpendicular to the approaching weather,
betting the risk is worth the reward.
These crab are three times the size of a bairdi
with three times the price,
and it's a derby-style fishery.
We're trying to get in this and get as much as we can.
We're fishing right on a cliff here.
Very steep edges,
very deep.
That's where these golden king crab like to hang out.
Basically, I want to us to try to stay in this contour here.
[crew member shouting indistinctly]
So our job is to try to keep these pots
on that edge.
The only way to do that is to go up against the weather,
you know, to protect the guys.
The weather's getting worse by the hour.
It's pretty [bleep] out, I'm not going to lie.
[Sig] Oh, watch out, guys.
It's building more and more.
We were...
going downwind,
and now the wind's already...
coming around?
Could it have come around that fast?
I guess so.
Watch out.
[crew member] Whoa!
This is nuts.
That weather just turned over 30 degrees like that.
[crew member speaking]
[Sig] It was supposed to be coming
from straight ahead, man.
So we had it lined up right on the edge here.
And now...
This isn't going to work.
You're going to wipe somebody out.
[Sig over PA] Watch the rail.
We've got to turn.
We've got to turn a little bit.
It's not going to be where we want 'em.
That's all there is to it.
Ooh.
Ah!
I wanted to set...
this way. I had the dog leg.
I mean, I kind of doubt there's any crab there.
It's right on a plateau.
That's typically not where we're fishing for browns.
But the way this is going,
the storm leaves me no choice.
Mother nature is in control right now. I'm not.
Bottom line, we just got to get them off the boat.
And then cross our fingers and hope for the best.
[narrator] 76 miles northwest
on the Titan Explorer.
[Jake] We knew with the Super El Nino streams
that this was gonna be a hell of a year
but I didn't think it was going to be every day.
[crew member] All right. Here we go!
[crew member] I'm on the rail! Let's see what we got.
[crew member 2 grunts]
[crew member] Nothing!
Man!
[crew member 3] Where's our crab at?
[indistinct]
[crew member] I don't like anything I'm seeing today.
These last pots here aren't doing so hot.
[Jake] There's no chance of me staying.
This string here is 62 fathoms
from the northernmost end of my gear.
There ain't nothing here.
It's a lot deeper here.
72 fathoms.
[narrator] First to breach
the southern edge of the storm,
Jake Anderson hauls and stacks all 150 pots
to relocate his gear
to deeper, nutrient-dense waters
where the crabs seek shelter
from the violent currents above.
[Jake] Weather's starting to pick up right now,
and I'm just going to keep...
hauling a pot at a time until I can't do it anymore.
Hey, tell Felipe that my port engine is not on.
[crew member] Let's go!
-[crew member 2] Coming up! -[bleep]
[bleep] It just [bleep] died.
[Jake on radio] Stay away from the rail.
I have no throttle. I have nothing.
Be careful out there. I got nothing.
I don't know what's going on right now.
I hope I didn't blow up my engine.
Just stay away from the rail, Shy,
'cause I got no control yet.
[crew clamoring]
[bleep]
[crew member 3] So let's see what...
Felipe says.
I need a report
-as soon as possible from him. -[phone ringing]
[phone ringing]
Hey, Jake.
I gotta talk to you.
[Jenna speaking]
[Jake] You okay?
[Jenna speaking]
[Jake] What happened?
[Jenna sniffles]
[Jenna speaking]
[Jake clears throat]
Tell Shyanne to get up here fast.
[Jenna speaking]
[Jenna sniffles]
[Jake] Damn it, man.
[breath trembling] Tom was my best friend,
and he was my...
[exhales]
Him and I rebuilt the [bleep] Saga.
All right. Strike your arc here
and attach...
[Jake] We rebuilt the bow, we rebuilt the stern,
we rebuilt the bathroom, we rebuilt the floors.
It's a blessing. He's taught all of us
how to weld and fit.
And he's one of the best cutters
in Washington state.
[bleep] why?
[narrator] On the Titan Explorer...
[Jake whimpering] Tom was my best friend.
[crying] I call him every night.
[sniffles]
Especially now when I ain't catching [bleep].
[sniffles] [bleep]
[exhales sharply]
[Jenna speaking over phone]
We're going to hurry and try to get home, okay?
[Jenna speaking over phone]
[exhales sharply]
What the [bleep]?
So many more people that should [bleep] die,
not him.
Not [bleep] him.
I can think of [bleep] five people
within a hundred mile radius.
Not [bleep] him.
[Shyanne] Are you going to be okay?
[Jake] Probably not, but I'll make it through.
I'll stay focused on the task at hand.
[Shyanne] Okay.
-[phone ringing] -[Shyanne] All right.
-[Jake] Yeah, let's get back out there. -Yeah.
Uh, so did it just shut down due to low oil pressure?
But there was oil in there?
Okay, good.
[sighs]
Oil pressure's back up. There's oil in the engine.
I thought I blew the [bleep] engine up, dude.
Well, I'm just starting to wear on me.
Currents are running hard.
The storm's not letting up.
January is just a tough month.
My dad went missing on January 6, 2010.
My sister Chelsea was in her mid-30s.
She died in February, Friday the 13th, 2009.
And...
so I don't like January.
Now I just lost my best friend of the last eight years.
[crew member] Nothing.
[Jake] To add insult to injury,
I'm not haulin' crab and I don't know where to go.
I got to move this gear somewhere.
I don't know. I don't know what to do.
[narrator] 83 miles away,
south of the storm...
[Monte] The weather kicking up here.
We're about halfway up to St. Paul.
[narrator] ...aboard the Wizard.
We talked about this, kind of wavering,
and all of a sudden he says he wants to go to the line.
Well,
I want to go up to St. Paul.
My brother doesn't fish these things much.
Give it to somebody who's done it as much
or more than anybody.
I just think we have a better chance
of finding what we need in a timely manner
going up here.
[narrator] 18 hours after losing a game of Roshambo
that was supposed to have
the brothers Colburn heading just east of Dutch Harbor,
Monte instead bets $10,000 of fuel
on grounds west of the remote St. Paul Island
in the path of the approaching Arctic storm.
He's probably not going to be happy
that I basically steered the boat way out to the west.
When he went to bed last night,
we left town.
We'll worry about that argument later, I guess.
This weather's a little more wind
than called for.
Been thrashing around here.
The stack is not happy here all of a sudden.
I see that. I see that.
Yeah, we need to get outside right away.
We're going to need a bunch of chains.
Let's get out there right away.
[crew member] Roger.
[crew member 2] Let's go.
[crew member shouting indistinctly]
What's up, Mouse?
All of a sudden, the stack is just going nuts.
That one pot looks like it's trying to fall off the boat.
Um...
well,
where the [bleep] are we?
[Monte] We're going up to St. Paul.
Um... [sighs]
You know what? I'm not even going to worry about that right now.
-So... -[Monte] Whoa, that one's moving.
Now, let me hop in there.
-[crew member 3] Go! -[crew member 4] Wake up!
[crew member speaking]
You guys, heads up on the starboard side.
[Keith over radio] I am in the ditch, okay?
So be careful with the rail.
Get her secured.
[over radio] We need at least three chains.
The stack aft of the launcher looks like
it's shifted about a half foot at least.
[crew member speaking]
[crew member 5 speaking]
[Keith] This is ridiculous, man.
They only chained it for a 12-hour run,
not a 30-hour run.
We've got five chains on a stack.
We normally have ten.
[Keith] [bleep] Mouse.
This would have never happened
if we were [bleep] going to fish on the east side,
'cause we would have already been set and geared.
[crew member] You got it?
[crew member 3] All right, let's go, guys.
I mean, we're fortunate these guys...
are able to do what they did.
So I guess we're going west.
We're going to the... [indistinct]
[Monte] We're going up to the island.
[Keith] You are the bairdi guy,
and I hope you're right.
[Monte] Oh, I hope I'm right, too.
[Keith] You've got the con.
Next time you lose a Roshambo,
just make sure you stick with your loss, all right?
No. Next time I lose a Roshambo,
I got to immediately say "Two out of three."
[Keith laughing]
We haven't done the other two yet?
[Keith laughs]
Are you kidding me?
[narrator] 30 miles northeast,
along the low-pressure system's southeastern edge...
[Sig] Ready for this one?
Weather just keeps coming up and up and up, man.
[Sig] El Nino, it's--
everything that they said is happening.
So this one's going through right now,
and then bang, there's the next one.
So I feel like we can't-- we've got to just do it.
[Clark] Get this done and get out of here and get home.
[Sig] Right.
Be safe.
[narrator] ...on the Northwestern.
[Sig] Right now... [grumbles]
everybody's a little skittish hauling in this stuff.
It's not letting up.
But the reality is,
you know, we got to haul pots to make money.
Set up against it,
along that edge,
that's where we are now.
Where we had to turn, make the bend...
we didn't lay it out the way I wanted to.
So...
we'll see how this does.
[crew member 5 whoops]
[crew member 6 laughing]
[Clark] You ready?
These first couple are in the ditch.
Watch out the rail.
-[crew member 2] Yeah. -[crew member 4] Roger.
[Sig grumbles]
[man shouting indistinctly] Yeah. Hey, come on, come on.
[crew member 2] Get some...
You really got to pay attention here.
[crew member 5] First pot!
[Sig] First pot's up.
[crew member 4] Nothing.
[Sig] No.
I don't see anything moving in there.
When it's rolling around like this,
nobody's happy.
It wears you down.
[crew member 4] No.
That's not doing it.
[bleep] irritating,
to say the least.
Now we're on the pot where we had that dog leg,
I had to switch 30, 40 degrees
on my string. So...
the whole terrain just changed
all of a sudden, you know?
Probably going to come up
empty, I imagine.
[crew member 4] There we go.
[crew member 6] Yeah, baby!
Oh, there's some life in there.
We're starting to see a few now.
[crew member] We've got some keepers in there. That's life.
How many you get out of there?
[crew member 4] Fifteen!
All right. Good.
[crew member 4] Whoa.
-[crew member 2 shouting indistinctly] -[crew member 3 whooping]
Yeah, baby!
[Sig] That adds up fast.
Might be able to scratch on something around here.
[crew exclaiming]
[Sig] Hang on!
[bleep]!
We just gotta fish through this weather, that's the problem.
[crew shouting indistinctly]
[man 2] Oh!
Here we go!
-[Sig laughs] -[man 2] Got 'em!
Let's bring it home.
Well, there's something to this spot here, obviously.
[crew whooping]
[man 2] Power down!
Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
[man 2 shouting]
[man 1 speaking]
[narrator] On the Northwestern...
Well, there's something to this spot here, obviously.
[man 1 speaking]
Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
You okay?
Roger!
That was close.
That thing went sailing.
Glad nobody was in the way.
Our pots are seven by eight.
They're eight feet tall.
You know, it'll cut you in two.
[man 2] Just accidentally no dogs on.
If you want to empty the pot
and the dogs aren't wrapped around it,
it can fall right over.
That's why it's so dangerous around that table, man.
You guys know not to stand behind that sorting table.
The only good news about this is that
we landed on crab.
We can get more gear in here.
Get ready. We're gonna turn around and get them back in the water.
[Clark] Yeah, roger.
[Karl] Let's go, baby!
I wouldn't have bet on this spot,
but I'll take it.
We need to be aggressive.
Set it right back on the same spot.
Is it one-hit wonder?
Or is there more volume down there?
[narrator] 45 miles north...
[Jake] Shy, this storm is big here.
Right now, we're at 20-foot seas.
But it's just gonna get worse.
35-footers.
[bleep].
[narrator] On the Titan Explorer...
We're gonna want to be quick getting this gear off.
Set on the bank.
Here? I don't know what's here.
And I think this just gives me a perfect opportunity
to commemorate Tom through a string.
I'll let you guys know what's going on.
[Shyanne] Yeah, I'll go down and talk to 'em right now.
-[Jake] All right, love you. -[Shyanne] Love you.
Tom and I had a special friendship.
We would...
go the extra mile for each other,
and we would be grateful for that.
[sighs] I'm just ready to...
get this crab on and go home.
Get a pot in the rack, I'll be coming down.
I came out here 'cause I want to
dedicate a string to my friend Tom.
So he taught me how to fit, fabricate, weld.
He also was a marksman in the 82nd Airborne.
Out of respect,
we'll give him the last flag
that sailed on the Saga.
Tom taught me how to fish halibut
for the first time,
my first season on the Saga.
So I got my first fish, it was like 30 pounds.
And then Tom went around
and caught a [bleep] 70-pounder
right after.
Rest in peace, Tom. This string's for you.
[Jake] Love you, Tom.
-I love you. -Love you.
All right, here you go, guys.
Drop it.
This is Tom's string.
So this guy is the guy we're fishing for right now.
He's been my best friend
for quite some time.
Hopefully Tom gives us some crab.
Come on, Tommy.
[narrator] 120 miles northwest...
[Keith blows raspberry] It's gonna be a long day.
Monte always leaves [bleep] lying around.
I got ashtrays, cigars,
coconut water,
bottles of pink juice.
God knows what it is.
Everybody should have a little brother
just to torment you in life.
[narrator] On the Wizard...
[Keith] The weather's so wicked.
Monte took us on a joyride west of St. Paul.
I'm trying to keep my temper intact.
I don't really like it when somebody goes against orders.
But, uh, you know...
As soon as that gets better, I better name any.
[Monte] I'm not gonna bitch about not being at the line
until we see what's here.
All right, they're all geared up, ready to go.
Get around.
All right, guys.
The weather sucks out there.
And there's also a lot of ice on this gear.
Keep an eye on each other.
I'll try to do my best to hold the boat
so that you're not taking any weather.
But we're up here because my brother
doesn't seem to honor his bets.
-He's a squelcher. -[Monte laughs]
[laughs]
[Keith] All right, be careful.
Ooh, wee, this storm is nasty.
[Keith] Ouch.
That's nasty there, man.
Did the ones on the front of the stack
look that bad, too, Roger?
[Roger speaking]
[Keith] They were worse than that. Holy crap, man.
They got to bang ice just to get to the door ties.
Bang ice to bait the pot.
The shocks are gonna be frozen solid.
They got to beat on those
just to break them apart.
Oh, man, I am gonna be one happy camper
when I get this gear off the boat.
[Roger] Going over!
[Keith] I can't see anything.
I mean, [bleep]!
I can't even see the next wave right now.
I've got to really try and stay on this
and keep these guys [bleep] safe.
[Roger] Going over!
[Keith] This is not the kind of conditions
you want to set gear in right here.
Come on.
Here comes one.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[Roger] Whoa, whoa, whoa. Watch out!
Head's up, guys. Get it over the side!
[Roger] Holy [bleep]!
[Keith] This is not the kind of conditions you want to set gear in.
[narrator] On the Wizard...
Here comes one.
[Roger] Whoa, whoa, whoa. Watch out!
[Keith] Head's up, guys. Get it over the side!
[Roger] Holy [bleep]!
Be careful. Be careful.
Watch your feet in the ice.
All right. Okay. Good job, guys.
Auto launch is not what we like up here.
Holy crap. That was terrifying.
Got wiped off the deck by a wave.
Watch out. We've got one coming right now.
Starboard side. Boom.
[Tyler] [bleep]!
[Keith] All right. Let me get turned here, guys.
I'm not setting on that course anymore.
[bleep] that course.
So now I'm setting on a course I don't want to set on.
But you know what?
I have no choice. I just have to set on
the safest course possible.
And even the safest course
is not safe.
There is no safe set in the Bering Sea right now.
We're gonna find out if Monte's gamble
is gonna pay off.
We shall see.
[narrator] 118 miles southeast,
in the heart of the Arctic storm...
[Jake] This storm is not making it easy
for me to drive this boat,
nor is the current.
I can't haul it from the other direction.
Otherwise, I'm gonna take a big fat wave
and kill everybody.
So I'm clenched to the steering wheel.
I'm clenched to the throttles.
I'm just trying to hang on for the ride.
[narrator] On the Titan Explorer...
The fishing's been bad, but I'm excited.
At least I'll get to remember my friend for a while.
I'm gonna haul Tom's pot first,
for good luck.
Hopefully he'll set up the string.
I need a little of it.
I need a lot of it.
Ready to go, guys?
Tom's string.
We're getting ready to haul Tom's string.
I'm hoping he brought us some good luck.
I'm excited to see the flag and the torch.
Here it comes.
[crew cheering]
There's something in it!
Yeah!
There's crab in there!
Oh, my God, there's [bleep] crab in there!
[exclaims]
Holy [bleep]. It's a seven by eight, too.
Thank you, Tom!
72!
[Jake] Oh, my God!
Tommy.
They're all giving us some better numbers, finally.
-Whoa. -[Shyanne whooping]
-[bleep]! -[crew cheering]
Holy [bleep]!
[crew cheering]
That is awesome.
This is definitely the best fishing we've seen.
-[crew cheering] -[Jake] It's the most consistent.
[exclaiming]
Oh, man!
Nice! Nice!
Look at that pot!
[laughing]
I'm coming down, dude. [bleep]
[laughing] I'm coming down.
Oh. [bleep] gonna get violent!
[bleep]
[whooping]
Yeah!
[all cheering]
[Jake] Yeah, Tom!
[man screaming]
[Shyanne] Get the [bleep] out of my face now!
[Jake] Good job, guys!
-Good job! -[man] Yeah!
[all cheering and whooping]
Thanks, Tom!
Tom, you missed it.
You should have been there, bro.
That's the high pot of the season right there.
Love you, Tom.
[narrator] 116 miles northwest...
[Keith] The wind's definitely kicking up now.
We're pushing 45-50 mile an hour winds,
and the tops of these waves are starting to get blown off.
It almost looks like smoke on the water.
[narrator] On the Wizard...
First pot...
opening set west of St. Paul.
It's hard to say what we're gonna find.
Anybody's guess at this point.
I'm optimistic it's gonna pay off, but at the same time,
you know, Monte's the one that made the call here,
kind of against my better judgment.
Rolling the dice.
[Monte] Oh, it's gonna pay. It's gonna work.
[Keith] I hope so.
If I don't make my crew money,
I'm not gonna have a crew.
Come on, baby!
-Come on, baby! -Here we go, baby!
[narrator] Coming up...
You have no [bleep] clue how to run a crew!
-[Monte] Okay. Perfect! -Period!
[bleep] you, Mouse!
-[thudding] -[Keith grunts]
Are you all right?
Bro.
Are you all right?
[Jake] Tom was my best friend for the last nine years.
He taught me everything I know about boats.
[Tom] You guys stay safe, huh.
[Jake] He was always there,
always helped out
whenever anybody needed him.
I was grateful for that.
You finally out of here, Tom?
[Tom speaking]
You got it. The rest of it's all yours, man.
He had a hell of a smile.
And a hell of a mustache.
[woman] Take care. Keep in touch.
[Jake] I think I'm a pretty lucky guy to have
Tom as a friend.
All right. See ya.
[man] Bye, Tom.
God, I loved him.
[narrator] On the Wizard...
[Roger] Rolling the dice.
[Keith] If I don't make my crew money, I'm not gonna have a crew.
Come on, baby.
[man 1] Yeah, dude.
[Keith] This is not what we want, man.
I'm seeing snails, Mouse.
[man 2] Zero on that one.
[Keith] Good job! Good job!
All right. Careful, guys. Be careful.
We got some [bleep] weather here.
[Keith] [bleep]!
[bleep]!
[sighs]
[man 1 speaking]
That's a non [bleep] starter.
Obviously, we're not seeing enough to fish here.
Ouch.
We got a long ways to go.
It's difficult enough to hold downwind
and down current.
Numbers aren't helping us any.
This [bleep] area sucks.
Yeah, it sure is.
[Keith] Monte can take his
bairdi guru [bleep]
and shove it up his [bleep]!
Oh, whatever.
My brother and his harebrained scheme
to go west of St. Paul
burned $30,000 worth of fuel
in the process.
To go haul nothing.
Absolute nothing.
[Monte] Just got to be positive.
It's easy to look in the rear of your mirror and... [chuckles]
[Keith] Son of a [bleep]!
[Monte] Okay, you want me to take you over?
You sound pretty [bleep] irritated.
[Keith] I'm [bleep] pissed.
[Monte] I'm trying to figure out what the [bleep] we're doing here still.
It's not an easy task.
Stop using the word "we."
This is not a plural situation.
[Keith] I'm tired of your [bleep], Mouse!
I'm tired of your [bleep], too! Everybody's [bleep]!
Go [bleep] find some more blanks.
And when you're done [bleep] hauling goose eggs,
let me know and I'll [bleep] find some crabs. Okay?
[Monte] Don't [bleep] rag on me.
[Keith] You set on the west side.
[Monte] Which is where you said we should go.
-Dutch harbor. -We're gonna start calling you Sahara desert!
-You said we were going... -Sahara desert!
-You said we were going to St. Paul. [bleep] you! -[bleep] you!
You have no [bleep] clue how to run a crew!
-[Monte] Okay. Perfect! -Period!
-Yeah. -You said we're going to St. Paul.
And who's paying the fuel?
Who's paying the bait?
Who's paying the freight?
Who's paying everything?
You lost the [bleep] roshambo.
That had nothing to do with...
-[Keith] And then you went... -[bleep]! Oh, whatever.
-Then you went west! -I'm so tired of this.
I'm not arguing with you right now.
-Go [bleep], Mouse! -[Monte] Usual [bleep] bull [bleep]!
[Keith] And guess what? You know what?
I'm not talking to you right now.
[Keith] [bleep] you, Mouse!
-[thudding] -[Keith grunts]
Are you all right?
Bro.
Are you all right?
Hey, bro?
Talk to me, bro.
Are you okay?
Cody, come on in. I need a hand up here.
-[Keith retching] -[Monte] How we doing?
[retching]
[Monte speaking]
Hold on. Let me turn it up here.
[Monte speaking]
[coast guard speaking]
What happened? Did he [bleep] die?
Okay. Here comes a [bleep] wave.
Hang on. Hang on.
Heads up. Heads up.
A big wave. Watch out!