Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Life certainly had its down times and its tragedies and its black moments But also has its great times, you know? You have awesome seasons where you come in number one.
You know, I mean, it makes you feel good.
If those kids stick with crab fishing, you know, and stay on a decent boat, and they learn something, yeah, I think that they'll have a good life.
I mean, it was great for me.
The old man wanted his ashes amongst the Bering sea.
Then the tides will carry him to wherever he wanted to go.
Love you, Phil! Phil Harris, baby! We miss you.
Yeah! The old man smiling down on us right now.
For our good buddy Phil.
I'm gonna miss him.
Love that man.
Safe journey, man! Light the fire! For you, buddy! R.
I.
P.
, brother! Time to go fishing.
Yeah! Watch out! Just put it right here.
Over here.
Tie everything down securely.
Let's the get the lines off there, okay? Here we go.
Here we go! All right, guys, get all the lines secured, all the fenders secured.
Let's get out of here.
On the bone-chilling waters of the Bering sea Let's go fishing! Let's go fishing! Battle-tested skippers Back at it.
Let's do this thing.
King crab season 2010, baby.
And the fleet's rising stars You can call me a new-age caption.
I go down on the deck.
You don't see any of the old guys doing that.
Steam toward the elusive King crab grounds.
All hail I'm gonna be a hero or a zero.
It's a numbers game.
The red crab quota's getting smaller every year, and so is the amount of boats that are fishing.
Yeah.
This season, strategies are more important than ever.
On the Northwestern In the hole and down below that's all crab.
I bet you money there will be crab all in there, all down below.
But I think that most of the fleet's gonna be in there.
Okay.
What are you thinking? The deep hole? Or somewhere around there.
That's, uh, not what I'm thinking.
We're gonna go up above, not the hole.
And on the surveys, there was crab farther up than there's ever been.
My bet would be from there to there and from there to there Right in here.
Right? And just try to stay a block above everybody, if we can.
Does that make sense? Oh, clearly.
While captain Sig seeks out new grounds Survey shows a mix of crab everywhere.
But the males will separate from them.
On the Time Bandit I've been thinking about it hard, man.
I know we shouldn't do it, but I'm thinking about going back to the same spot.
What?! No way, dude.
Skipper Johnathan Hillstrand dusts off last year's plans.
We're trying to find our scallops and our crabs.
You can't go to the same spot.
Yeah, I can, bro.
We're gonna.
- We're gonna do it.
- Bad move.
We're gonna try it again, buddy, so No guts, no glory, baby.
You're the captain.
Just 250 miles from Dutch Is the Wizard.
I've been poring over these chart surveys.
but we're seeing a concentration of crab coming in between black hills up into the deep hole.
Captain Keith has already reached his Southern grounds There's crab on this beach here.
And is putting his strategy into execution mode.
I'm gonna follow my instincts instead of following the herd.
Let's go get this gear off there.
All right, guys, gonna be fishing a place called black hills.
I've never fished here, just so you know.
Everything I'm reading, everything I'm seeing is telling me the crab are somewhere around here.
Let's get this gear off.
We got a big, nasty storm coming our way, so let's try and get this gear off before we get our *** kicked.
Stay safe, stay smart.
Don't do anything stupid, all right? One more time.
Let's go kick some ***.
We getting ready? We're ready, man! We are ready! It's coming in a little bit quicker than anticipated.
We're already starting to take green water over the side here.
Next 48 hours, the weather's not gonna be our friend.
With reports calling for seas of 25 feet Don't forget your flotation device.
Keith needs to get the stack off fast.
You ready to roll, mouse? Okay! You may take a little Over.
I've never fished this close to the beach here near black hills.
My entire career, I've never been down here.
Even when the old owner used to fish, he wouldn't come down here.
It coming over, back up.
It seems like I've got my back against the wall, and I poured a lot of money into the boat.
It makes you a lot more uncomfortable when you leave home and you know that the bank account's empty.
Hey, Lynn, it's coming right at you.
Stay over that way.
But everything's telling me this is the spot to be.
Everything.
Go! Let's do it.
the southwest in Dutch harbor is the Cornelia Marie.
Coming into the circumstances of me running the boat, whole new captain.
Eight months after captain Phil Harris passed away Think it's all gonna come together.
We got a lot of work ahead of it.
His two heirs, Jake and Josh Harris, carry on his fishing legacy.
What do you say we get on board the old girl and fire her up and get her alive again, get some life back on board? Gonna do whatever it takes to get the boat going.
Got an awesome skipper.
We got the best crew.
Let's just get out there, kick some *** and take some names, make the old man proud.
For the last 20 years, captain Phil was the driving force behind prepping the boat for launch.
Now it's up to the boys.
Everything's been sitting for a while, so stuff may be broken.
Really get this thing kicked into high gear.
We got limited time.
We need to get done fast.
In the captain's chair Phil's old buddy Derrick Ray.
This season's gonna be full of challenges, 'cause I got to get this boat out fishing.
I'm the captain.
That's the job I got to do.
We're working on getting it looking like a crab boat again.
Derrick said he was surprised if we get anything done today, but we're gonna make him proud.
They got spirit, baby! That's my baby brother.
Yeah.
'Cause last year, the Cornelia Marie's had a rough time.
And we want to make sure everything comes together pretty good for us, is what we'd like to do.
'Cause we've been through way too much the last year.
Before the season Now, we have to keep the boat running.
We have to keep our guys employed.
We need a captain, man.
Jake and Josh approach Derrick about running the boat.
I am available, but at the same time, I need you guys to step up, and things are gonna be done my way.
The captain's first priority? Oh, yeah, look at that.
Too much power.
Getting the old girl seaworthy.
These guys are getting things dialed in, and we're gonna be ready to go when it's time to go.
Can start bringing crab pots down.
And we can start rigging them, hopefully, tomorrow.
Two boys stepping up awesome right now.
I mean, they are just going.
They made their list, and they are attacking it, which I'm very proud of.
But it's not just the boat that needs to be shipshape.
He looks like he's doing pretty good, you know? Doesn't have any of the obvious signs of a drug problem right now.
The captain has to make sure that deckhand Jake Harris is at 100%.
I think he's doing fine.
We're hoping he is, anyway.
He says he is.
He's acting coherent, so Why are you so sick? Nine months ago Huh? I'm an addict.
Jake Harris was battling with drug abuse.
I don't want it to be like this at all.
Then go to treatment.
I will, I will.
That's the only mother thing that's gonna save your ***.
Keeping his word, Jake went to rehab.
My sobriety's been going great.
Just got to deal with it one day at a time, you know? Just realize what's more important to you.
But with lives at stake That's it, bottom line, whether he passes or not.
The skipper will need hard proof.
Then, if he fails, we got to come up with plan "b.
" At that point, he's not gonna be able to go.
Exactly.
I guarantee, if my dad was here, he'd be saying the same Thing.
Jake, I want you to meet Ken Reeves.
He is here to test your urine right now.
Okay.
How's it going, Ken? How you doing, Jake? I'm doing good.
What we're gonna do is, I'm gonna need a picture I.
D.
And we'll just go from there.
Okay, yeah.
Let me dig my I.
D.
out.
Okay.
I just barely tinkled.
I think we'll just see what happens here.
That's all.
Just wait and see how the test comes out.
So what this device does is it draws up urine, and it's screening for any drug metabolites.
It takes about 30 seconds.
So, they're all negative.
He's clean.
What I got at school today, guys.
Okay.
Thank you.
Hang it right here.
Andy It's gonna be pain in our future.
That storm's ripping through fast.
Only 36 hours into the season, a 600-square-mile arctic storm is descending on the red crab grounds.
A lot of people think because where we fish King crab is called Bristol bay, it's just a nice little putt out into the bay.
Bristol bay is probably one of the biggest bays in the world.
It's also a gigantic funnel.
The Aleutian chain goes all the way to Japan.
Basically what happens is these storms and the currents travel in like this.
The current travels back out like that.
So, what happens is we get these huge southwesterlies that come all the way up the chain, pushing, pushing, pushing, pushing.
And then you have some of the biggest tides in the world opposing that this way, and when they collide, boom! northeast of Dutch harbor, on the Northwestern So, tomorrow's gonna suck.
Tonight's gonna really be bad.
We need to get these pots off quickly, so I need for those guys to be focused down there on deck.
Hold on, norm.
I don't know when it's gonna happen.
But it's gonna happen soon.
You know, the day that I got to walk away.
When do you say "When"? You know? Who says you have to say "when"? Who says you can't? Where, oh, where is my little brother? Can I come out and play now? Edgar's like a broken record.
At the end of the season, he says he's never coming back, and he's always back.
After three years threatening to leave.
.
Ugh! Deck boss Edgar Hansen returns for his 23rd season.
I honestly don't want to talk about Edgar anymore.
My concern now is just get the pots off safely.
You know, this will be farther west than we've been in the last couple of years.
We're gonna set straight up against it.
That will save us time running to the next spot.
And then we're gonna start slamming some gear.
Before the first pot can splash down You guys bite your herring head? - Tradition.
- Tradition now.
We bite the head off for good luck before we set the first pot.
It all started with a gross-out contest years ago.
Now it's turned into a season-starting tradition.
This year, the new guy, will do the honors.
He was here as a teenager Oh, yeah! Let's hope that there's luck in Mark this year.
High five! Now we can go fish.
This lollipop tastes like a dead herring.
That's a greasy lollipop.
First one's about to go over.
Here we go.
Here we go.
With his clan reunited First pot of King crab season this year over the side.
Sig drops the first of his 250 pots.
I think we will be okay here, but there's only one way to find out, you know? He'll let the gear soak and see if his old, tattered maps pay off.
Hope there's crab here.
I'm 36 years old.
I'm still the new guy, always warning.
to the northeast is the 109-foot Seabrooke.
Compared to a lot of these old, salty dogs, my technique is just such a faster pace.
I'm always on current information, be checking stuff on supershort soak.
Captain Scott "junior" Campbell is muscling forward You can't just have the mind-set that "this is the way I've done it for 30 years, and that's the way we're gonna do it.
" And challenging the old guard.
You got to be able to adapt, adjust, overcome, then try something different.
The second-generation fisherman is staking his claim on a punishing area of the red crab grounds.
You know, it's a huge gamble coming up here, with the weather, with the currents.
That's where you got to have a boat with a lot of horsepower to be able to maneuver around in this kind of stuff.
We're that boat.
They call this the gullies, because there's a lot of deep little ravines that drop down about 100-foot difference in depth, and then it'll go like that for a mile, and then it'll shoot right back up.
Got to have big cojones to come this far up.
You got to put your big-boy britches on and get her done.
Scott's crew is a mix of salty vets I'm ready to tear it up.
I don't know about young, but I'm ready.
And two unproven greenhorns.
Captain's brother Chris Welch.
You know I'm ready to get this show on the road, get these in the water, start making some money.
And Kyle Babb Deck boss Bob Perky's son.
Well, having my son on the boat really doesn't change it all that much.
It doesn't.
I treat him just like I do the rest of the other guys.
But I really don't go about it that much differently.
Hopefully, we're landing the mother lode right off the get-go.
Wouldn't that be sweet? Get down tonight.
Yeah! All right, they're ready to go.
Before he sets Okay, come over here, horns.
Junior hits the deck for a safety ritual, honoring a fallen comrade.
At some point this season, you guys will be setting shots.
The problem that we had when we lost moose is that this surge line was laying down on deck.
Grab your buoys.
Make sure your feet are down.
The most important thing is never raise your foot up when you're setting.
So, go ahead and set it.
See? It's going over.
Everything's clear, off.
Grab this.
Throw it.
Step back away.
But never raise your foot up, and then we'll never have the situation happen like we were in.
So, let's be safe.
Do a good job.
Moose is gonna fill the pots up for us.
When we come back, they'll be loaded.
Let's get her done, boys.
Almost two years ago, Seabrooke deckhand Keith "moose" Criner Got caught in the bite and was lost to the Bering sea.
Being up where I was and having the full visual, you know, I'm 60 foot away from it and I'm inside the house, and by the time I grabbed the Mike, it was already over.
I blame myself because I was the captain.
You know, you hear about this happening to people.
When it happens to somebody close to you, you know, then it just makes it seem so much more real.
Really good guy, really knew his stuff.
You see little reminders around the boat everywhere he was.
He was there.
He was just living with us.
What could have been different? There had to be a logical solution for what had happened, but there wasn't, you know? It was a pure accident.
But the thing that we have to remember is that this is the most dangerous job in the world.
of Dutch harbor We keep finding schools of crab out here every year.
On the Time Bandit.
We're trying to find our scallops and our crab.
Wherever those scallops are Scallops swim under the water like this.
They actually swim, and those crab are chasing them.
Skipper Johnathan Hillstrand is taking a gamble Last three years, it's been working great for us.
Returning to the same grounds for the fourth year in a row.
We're trying to see if lightning strikes again.
My brother Andy told me not to do it.
"Don't do it.
No one ever" "No one ever gets away with that.
" But I did it anyway.
And they'll do what I say.
Got to do what we got to do, brother.
Must be crab season.
Got a damn good crew here.
Hopefully around some damn good crab fishing.
Got a new guy named Justin Tennison Good kid, hardworking.
He's Eddie Uwekoolani's cousin.
So, how many years it's been since you been doing this, Justin? Not a greenhorn.
I'm just new bat.
Just green, yeah.
The storm hasn't even hit, and the boat's flag is already shredded.
Who's going out to get the flag? Noes goes! Look at this flag, dude.
That's less than a day Split like three fingers.
Mikey and Scotty are going up there to put the flag back up.
This is good.
He's going up on the shoulders.
No, this is badass.
Okay, as soon as they get down, we'll dump our first pot.
Nothing's easy, man.
With old glory flying It is time to fish.
Yeah! Right now, the weather is gonna kick our *** first.
Mother nature's gonna spank us a little bit, and we're gonna spank her and take some of her crap.
Ha ha ha.
Fishing! Officially fishing.
Solid white caps.
Solid 40-knot wind.
When weather comes up like this, you got to watch your guys.
It's majorly important to get all these top pots off.
We don't need to be coming from on top.
It's coming up really fast now.
It's not getting any friendlier out there.
Only 40 pots into the King crab season, and the Time Bandit is in full battle with a 600-square-mile storm.
Starting to take You can look at the sky water behind me.
I'm rolling around.
I'm getting a good stomach exercise right now.
Part of what we sign up for.
We are a glutton for punishment every year.
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Oh, yeah, hang on boys.
Wow.
This is about what I expected for opening day.
I never expected anything less.
Look at this flag, dude.
Flag doesn't last very long out here when it blows 80, 90.
Split like three fingers.
Wow.
Don't make stuff like they used to, do they? We're gonna run out of flags.
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! The final pots are being launched on the red crab grounds.
Now, for each skipper, it's a waiting game By this time tomorrow, you'll know that I really screwed up or we did really good.
To see if their strategy Pays off.
Season starts now.
We got 300,000 pounds of crab to catch.
Let's do this thing.
But back in port Ohhhhh! Elliott Neese It's kind of a special time here on the Ramblin' Rose today.
Ls only just getting started.
It's my first day out at sea running a crab boat.
A lot of responsibility for somebody who's 28.
Helming the rusted is Elliott's first shot at the big time.
You know, I never went to college.
I went to BSU Bering sea university, school of hard knocks.
Usually, you know, I go out, do my job on deck, and, you know, you make money.
Now, if I don't make money, there is no money.
I got five guys' lives at stake.
I love my kids, love my family.
The reason why I'm out here.
My decisions and what I do affect the lives and families of my crewmen.
Elliott's steaming far north of the rest of the fleet Yeah, we're gonna be 2 1/2 days from anywhere you can get help from.
Nearly 500 miles to the harsh and remote blue crab grounds.
You're pretty much essentially still in the middle of nowhere.
The nearest mainland is actually Russia.
A high-risk plan that could either make his reputation A lot of eyes on me right now.
Or crush it.
If I hurt anybody or nobody comes back safe, then I will probably never get a boat to run ever again.
So, there's a little bit of pressure there.
While captain Elliott prepares mentally, the crew is in deep preparations For a party.
It is Kado's birthday.
He's turning the big 30 today.
So we've got a cake for him.
We're gonna have a little birthday bash.
That's the way I like it, and that's the way I'm gonna keep it.
- Surprise! - Surprise! Happy Birthday, Kado! From your family on the Ramblin' Rose.
After seven years on the Bering sea, it's a miracle the young deck boss made it to 30 at all.
There you go.
Kado's birthday! Oh, you got to be rock it! The first pod of the season.
Come here, Happy Birthday Kado! After seven years on the Bering sea, got to be crazy, man.
It's a miracle the young deck boss made it to 30 at all.
Kado's lucky to be here.
He had a hell of a run on boats.
He broke his ankle one time.
Oh, God! Oh! Oh, shoot! The worst one yet, his first year crab fishing, he went over the side.
Somebody was watching over him.
I got to keep an eye on my guys at all times.
There's a fine line between driving them too hard and not driving hard enough.
in Dutch harbor It's 3:30 in the afternoon.
The season's already started.
We're still sitting at the dock.
We need to rig 110 pots on board to go do this blue crab fishing we're gonna go do.
The skipper needs a big push to ready the boat for launch.
His work plan called for all hands on deck.
God only knows where the two of them are.
But two of the five crew members are awol.
Jake's disappeared with Steve.
Been gone for about 45 minutes now to go get a key for a post office box.
Everything that takes a half an hour on anybody else's time takes an hour and a half around here.
Okay.
Enough.
Enough.
Enough.
After standing by for more than an hour The new captain goes on the hunt.
Steve obviously is with Jake somewhere for two hours.
I'm gonna run up and see if he just pulled up to the crab pot stack and left the car sitting there.
Where are the two at? I'll tell you what, man.
The kid owns 1/4 of this boat with you.
It's unbelievable.
- I'm not his keeper.
- No, I know that.
I'm used to working with professionals, guys that want to do their jobs, not run around like a bunch of With each passing minute, Derrick's anger rises.
What the after No, we were only gone for about an hour.
No, more like 2 1/2, man.
We were busy.
It wasn't like we were mooching.
Okay.
Where's Steve at? Well, 2 1/2 hours later, the mechanic went to lunch.
I don't even want to hear it.
Don't even want to hear it.
We ain't been gone no 2 1/2 hours, either.
two.
You know what? You know what? What? You want to be here or not? Huh? I've had enough of your Well, too bad.
You want to be here or not? You.
Huh? I don't Need you.
'Cause I left I don't Need you here.
You want me to leave? I'll leave.
You don't have enough self-respect to stick around for these guys.
Hey, we both left our gear.
You got zero Huh? What the Is your problem? You.
You got no respect for anybody or yourself.
It goes both ways, you Have a little you know? Have a little what, Derrick? We left for an hour and a half.
Why don't you let me know so the mechanic, when he walks off, he goes, "we need to put another head on here.
" Well, good.
When I left, everything was good.
"We'll do it tomorrow.
" That's the way it always is.
"We'll get it tomorrow.
" I want you to treat me with some respect so I can give it in return.
Phil's not here.
He's dead, okay? I got hired to run this boat.
Did I take care of you last year? I'm done with this.
I'm done with this.
No.
This isn't for the camera.
I'm tired of this What are you tired of? Don't start shoving me around.
Come on, guys.
Go yourself.
of Dutch harbor is the Wizard.
We're gonna go up and spot-check the top end of this string, then grab these other three prospect pots, and then drop down to this end of the string.
Skipper Keith is steaming towards his gear on a 14-hour soak.
Take a 20 average in a heartbeat.
You give me a 50 average, I'd shave my head, go running down main street naked or something stupid.
Over.
What's going on? Hang on.
It's some giant container ship with some guy that smashed his neck.
com-sta Kodiak.
Over.
A jayhawk rescue helicopter, patrolling the crab fleet on a routine mission Received the distress call.
Com-sta.
They set a course to the injured man's ship, All right, guys, about Roger.
You see that open spot down there? Yep, yep, yep.
Let me know what you Take a look at that.
The ship is the size of a small town.
We're gonna hoist at that small area between the containers.
But the only suitable landing spot is a tiny 10'x15' area near the bow.
Ratcheting up the danger and 40-knot winds.
The rough conditions and the sharp steel containers complicate an already treacherous hoist operation.
Due to the severity of the crewman's injuries There's no time for delay.
We're going to lower down a line and we're going to send down our rescue swimmer.
Copy.
The speed of trail on delivery of the rescue swimmer to the surface below will be enough at approximately 100 feet.
- Any questions? - No questions.
Swimmer's going down.
Swimmer's going down.
Hold position.
Swimmer's going down.
Swimmer's going down.
Swimmer's halfway down.
- And ease right.
- Roger.
Easy right.
Easy right.
- Hold, hold, hold.
- Roger.
Easy right.
- Hold, hold, hold.
- Roger.
Hold, hold.
Hold, hold, hold, hold, hold.
of the Bristol bay crab fleet A crewman on the 935-foot container vessel Ever Unique has broken his neck.
To reach the injured man, a coast guard rescue swimmer battles 40-knot winds.
Hold, hold, hold.
Hold.
Back.
Ease back.
Roger.
Hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold, hold.
Did he hit anything on the way down? Yes, sir, he went right into that evergreen container and the wind just kind of swept him right into it.
There was no maneuvering we could have done.
Rescue swimmer, 6015, request your status.
We saw you contact the box there.
Okay, Roger that.
And I am sending the litter out the cabin door.
Litter's outside cabin door.
Going down.
The swimmer, wearing a helmet cam, makes his way into the bowels of the ship.
Speak English? - Yeah.
- What happened? The crewman's leg was crushed and his neck broken by a fallen engine block.
Keep that back on it.
Keep it how it is.
Okay.
The victim will need to be hoisted in the same rough conditions that nearly took out the swimmer moments before.
Rescue swimmer, Our trail line's still on deck.
Let's not run out of trail line.
Okay.
Swimmer is off the deck.
Clear.
Left.
Come left.
And easy back and left.
Welcome back, Travis.
You all right? Yup.
The rescue crew sets a course to their base in Cold bay, where the patient will be transferred to a C-130 and flown to Anchorage.
We are en route to Cold bay.
Sounds like they got him off.
The coast guard does a great job getting guys out of here and getting them to Anchorage so they can patch them up, but it's an awful long ride.
That's a reminder just how far away from help we are out here.
There's this unwritten law between Fishermen and kind of the brotherhood of the sea.
It's anybody who works on the ocean, you have respect for.
When they get hurt, it's just always a bad deal.
Back on the red crab grounds Is the Northwestern.
Skipper Sig has arrived at his under water pot storage area.
We are going to pick these up.
They are empty, they just stay here on storage and it is almost 50 miles away from where we set our pots.
The plan is to move the extra gear to the crab grounds and boost the number of pots already soaking.
We are picking them up.
And the pots are boom, boom, boom, right in the line.
We have to run all way back to town together.
Just saved ourselves, I don't know, one hour.
A lot of hours.
That's going right over there.
This year, is taking on a bigger role.
Real busy.
I just spent the last year in school.
Spent thousands of dollars sitting in classes.
Jake has set his sights on the wheelhouse.
Jake's so ambitious, and he's been going to school.
He's trying to get his license to be a captain.
Back it up! So eager to do well, you know, but when he doesn't do well, he has more of a tendency to fall apart.
You're like, "oh, God! This sucks.
" For now, Jake's only new assignment I think it's gonna be chicken burgers and French fries.
is in the galley.
I don't want to be in the wheelhouse and not know when to cook or not know what to cook.
You got to have answers for everything if you're a skipper.
Just 'cause Jake's spending a bunch of money to get his master's license, you still got to cook.
Find the pace and do it.
Jake's mission is simple.
Ready for some food.
Cook a meal for five hungry crewmen before the last pot is stacked.
Oh, crap, my French fries have been in there for probably a half an hour.
I think, if you get good at this, you don't have to run around so much.
- Jake? - What's that? Are you taking orders here at the drive-through? God, this sucks.
Yeah, I'd like to have this ready by the time they get in here.
You can see the line stuck between the spool and the drum.
It's bound up.
If it snaps, the pot and everything will either go in the water or on the deck.
So we got to get it out of the spool.
Go down.
Problem is, if you can't get the thing out, you don't have a winch anymore.
You don't have a winch on your crane.
And no crane.
.
Aw, son of a ***.
Means no crabbing.
While the guys try to hang on Jake uses the repair time to finish cooking.
Yeah, I'm miserable.
Come up.
Aw Ugh! Edgar attaches the picking hook to pull the line taut You're gonna jerk! Come on! Yeah! and frees the snag.
Whoo.
That's what I'm talking about.
That's how you do it.
Something came loose.
Pretty lucky.
We're back in business.
Thanks to Edgar, the season will continue.
It's okay, Jake! I got it.
And all he asked in return String's over, and I did it.
Can't tell you that it's my most proudest piece, but it's on the table.
If we have Edgar's ability and Jake's ambition, I guess you'd have the perfect deckhand.
Jake pulled through.
Surprised he made it on the table in time.
Just saved yourself a kick in the teeth.
to the northeast of Dutch harbor We got 20-foot seas right now.
It's blowing 40.
The Seabrooke plows toward her first pots of the season.
It's supposed to get even worse here as the day goes on.
The weather kicking up is gonna be a huge opportunity for us, because the rest of the fleet's just gonna stop and soak their gear.
We're gonna push through the storm.
We're gonna be one step ahead of the game, so Junior has a reputation for working his crew long hours.
I'm the pace-setter, right here.
The crew has a way That ought to get us a five.
Of slowing him down.
They left me just Coffee goes quick around here.
They like to give me nothing or just a little bit left to where it isn't even enough to get a full cup so that it'll take me longer.
I'll have to stop, make a pot of coffee, and they'll get the little extra time before we get started.
Then it's just gonna *** me off and I'm gonna push harder, so Kind of a double-edged sword.
- Merry Christmas! - Merry Christmas! And a happy new year.
Ho ho Now it's payback time.
Oh, yeah! Ow-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! They're here to make money.
And we're gonna do it the old-fashioned way.
The hard way.
The first pot's in sight.
Money maker's starting, baby.
Got the money machine printing right now.
Just depends on how much it's gonna be, whether it's $1 bills or $100 bills.
Guess we'll see what we got.
Oww, oww, oww! That's pretty good fishing.
Pretty good fishing.
Are you fricking kidding me? What do we got? What do we got here? Oh, baby! Yeah, this is awesome! Right out of the gate, man.
Right into crab.
Yeah! Oh Ho-ho-ho! Oh, yeah! Whoo! Whoo! Yeah! That is fricking unheard of In 17 hours.
Oh, yeah.
There we go.
That's what we're looking for.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah! Good average right there.
If we can keep that, shoot, man, we'll be Full.
I like that.
With each fat pot of crab, spirits soar With one exception.
Chris is looking a little green around the gills.
The skipper's little brother, whipper.
Whipper's giving it up.
Looks like he hasn't quite got his sea legs yet.
That was good chum, puking all over the deck like a sea gull.
It all good.
It all good.
to the southwest It's pretty ugly out here! The vets of the Time Bandit are still battling the tail end of the storm.
I have a good hunch that there's a lot of crab in this area.
I hope they're the right kind.
This is a scallop-bed area.
There's scallop beds scattered out over in here.
Captain Johnathan took a risk, setting his gear on the same grounds for the fourth year running.
I'm hoping we're gonna be okay here.
We just got to find the crab.
Now it's the moment of truth.
Getting ready to haul some gear.
It'll be the first pots of the season that we're gonna haul.
I'm hoping for some crab on top of the pot, some riders that are clinging on the outside.
It'll be a good sign for us.
Say a little prayer to God.
Uh-oh.
Ouch! Uh-oh.
Uh-oh.
And pretty much if the first one comes up blank, you pretty much know they're all gonna be blank.
No King crab.
Johnathan's trusted scallop grounds Have run dry.
All good things must come to an end, they say.
I bombed out.
I haven't done that in a long time, brother.
Obviously the sun did not shine on this dog's *** four years in a row.
This ain't no way to start a crab season, I'll tell you that much.
There s nothing here Nothing.
of Dutch harbor Good morning, Bristol bay.
Good morning, black hills.
The storm has finally moved north of the crab grounds.
I can't believe I'm fishing here.
Sometimes I even scare myself.
On the Wizard, captain Keith is nudging up on his first pots of the season.
Good time of day to start Right at daybreak.
Let's get a nice, good, long day in today.
I'm sure we'll see the sun come up again.
This is the first time I've really, really trusted my instincts instead of going back to what I've always done.
And you know what? They're around here somewhere.
The first guy to find them is gonna be a hero.
I'm freaked out now, you know? We're 36 hours into this season.
This fleet moves so fast that if there was hot fishing here, there'd at least be a few boats here right now, and there's nobody.
Come on, at least have a few in it.
Nice, clean, bright crab.
It's a sign of life.
Few females and smalls mixed in.
But it's also a mixed bag of keepers and juveniles.
One-four! but 14 crab is not bad.
Now we just got to find a way to make some money.
Which means getting on a little bit stronger numbers soaking the gear, and going from there.
Okay, guys.
I can't hear you.
Could you project You swung your rotor and all that? I am.
Which way is it leading? As the pot splashed, Keith drove over the buoy line, causing it to become tangled in the propeller.
If he can't free the line, the prop shaft could freeze up, and the Wizard will be dead in the water.
We got to back off of it.
Do we have the diver bag on it? The nylon is hooked to the diver bag knot the eye.
The captain's solution? I think I'm just gonna put this In gear and go and see what happens.
I'm just gonna put it in reverse and hope we back off it, and, hopefully, it's in the rudder.
Brute force.
- Clear! - Roger! Just keep your eyes peeled for that bag Any sign of anything? Nothing! I think you are clear! With the line cleared, the crew returns to fishing.
Breathing a little bit easier.
Not a lot, but a little.
Well, this is not the start I wanted.
The lost pot cost Keith $1,000.
But the strike-out on the black hills means he'll have to move Oh, God.
Costing him precious fishing days.
Sometimes it's easy because the pots are loaded with crab.
You just throw them right there.
Sometimes there's a little bit of information, and it's like, "I'm not sure.
" Right now, those first pots are telling me to get the hell out of here.
We're gonna rename this the dead hills instead of the black hills.
in Dutch harbor Got about 20 pots left to do here.
The men of the Cornelia Marie are finally loading pots Now we're looking like crappo, baby.
And moving on.
Yeah, I'm fine.
Everything's good.
It's been 24 hours since the skipper and engineer went toe-to-toe.
Steve and I are doing okay, I think.
We had dinner last night, didn't really say anything.
I'm just gonna let it go.
I'm gonna let him do his thing in the engine room.
He'll probably never respect me, you know? But that's okay.
Let me do my job, and I'll let you do your job.
That's what we're supposed to do is go catch crabs.
After five days in port Get this show on the road.
It's finally time for the Cornelia Marie to shove off.
Are you ready? You untie from the dock.
That's when your world begins.
That's the happy place.
We're Fishermen first.
That's what we are.
We're Fishermen.
That's our job.
We're gonna kill them.
I hope we get them.
That'd be awesome.
With quarrels set aside for the good of the boat, Derrick steers into 500 miles of open seas.
We got a great opportunity here to go up and, you know, set a new standard.
We really do.
The final destination The notorious blue crab grounds.
Go do something that very few guys are gonna go try and do and something that I know that Josh and Jake's dad would've tried doing.
The Cornelia Marie will be one of only four boats fishing far north at the edge of the world for the elusive blue King crab.
This blue crab fishery is a very viable fishery, and I'm glad these guys are getting on board with me.
We're gonna go up and make it happen.
The Ramblin' Rose steams north towards the blue crab grounds.
Wind's picking up a little bit.
It's going 25, maybe 30.
The arctic storm that plagued the Southern crab fleet is now tracking north.
This really tends to rock real bad *** 28-year-old skipper Elliott Neese.
Especially with a full load of gear on the boat.
It's not a lot of fun.
That's our plan right now.
With a towering pot stack, threatening to destabilize his boat, Elliott takes safe harbor in Saint Paul.
Hopefully we can get out of here Listen to the weather again in the morning Maybe try to get out of here tomorrow night or Monday.
We're definitely gonna wait till it calms down.
A night off in port means the new skipper isn't catching any crab.
It's kind of a lot of pressure.
I got guys that count on me for paychecks to feed their families.
I'm hoping to go out there and prove myself to anybody that has any doubts about me.
As the brooding skipper hits the rack His young crew takes advantage of the downtime.
Nine hours later Ridiculous.
Elliott wakes up to the aftermath.
Don't do that.
You guys get drunk When we're in town, make a huge mess.
You make messes around here.
The mess is a challenge to captain Elliott's authority.
- Who did it? - Not me.
Well, then, who in the did? Find out who did when we get back That's unacceptable.
Make a huge mess in the galley, go out and get more beer, and get drunk on my boat when we're in town.
That's not the operation we run around here.
Hey, Kado, how about you and the cat Here I go.
What's up? Somebody's going home.
I want to know who did it.
I already called.
I got a plane ticket.
- I washed my dish.
- Me too.
I didn't make a mess.
I cleaned up after myself.
Who went and bought the extra beer? It wasn't you.
It wasn't any of you guys.
I don't have any cash.
I was right here the whole time.
UmNaiuli went to the store.
I guess.
I'm gonna fly him out of here today.
What's up with that mess you left in the galley today, dude? nightmare down there.
Food all over the place everywhere.
And you just take off to go watch football? So, I think I think we got to get a plane ticket to go home.
The attitude around here I talked to all the other guys about it.
Everybody said your attitude's And we don't need a guy around whose attitude's gonna be like that.
All right, that's cool.
All right.
It's like the phone rings.
"Don't answer it.
Don't answer!" Your girlfriend "Shh! Don't answer.
Shh!" So, I guess I'm the one that left the galley mess and I went to sleep this morning at 9:00 A.
M.
That's what the skipper's saying that the crew informed him of.
Is that what it is? I don't know who did it.
So, yeah, I just want to confer with everyone else.
He said that's what the crew said.
So We could all go the same way.
That's the thing.
So, we're off.
So, we're back to four guys, and we're gonna go out and we're gonna catch crab.
It's the beginning of the season, and junior, on the Seabrooke, is way ahead of the game.
For the first five days of the King crab season Whoo! Not very pretty out here today.
Crews fought a fierce arctic storm Sea starts getting chaotic and it's just all green and white, and you're pounding through the waves.
To get their pots on the crab.
Here we go.
Feels good to get started.
King crab 2010 over the side.
But when hauling started There ain't a crab that we found yet.
Most of the veteran skippers Struck out.
Right now it's looking like I just bit myself in the *** in a big way.
Blank after blank after blank.
The whole first set sucks.
We're throwing the hail Mary.
We're going way up the hill.
But 400 miles to the north This is a spot right off of pinnacle island.
The Cornelia Marie has just arrived on their grounds.
Just getting ready to get going here.
Got to go down and get the guys squared away.
It's about time to start on blue crab season.
Hopefully they got the coffee on.
Boys, boys, boys.
We got about an hour.
Time to get up.
Harris brothers Are you prepared to go fishing? It's time to go to work.
Let's do this thing, boys.
Holy smokes.
We got to get some coffee made.
Looking a little blustery from the east right now.
Got about easterly 25 Not bad.
Good way to start the season.
Get their sea legs working good.
Hydros are ready to go.
To start the season out with a pop-tart.
Good to go.
Raspberry.
Breakfast of champions.
It's good to see them in a good mood.
That's huge.
It really is.
Putting a smile on my face.
They're all in a good mood.
They're ready to go.
I know they've been bored stiff traveling, too.
It's just a lot in time.
They're getting ready.
We're getting close.
This season, the Cornelia Maria is fishing for blue King crab in the far northern reaches of the Bering sea.
Coming up right here.
And we're gonna start right about in here, about 45 fathoms.
We're gonna set straight to the west out here to about this 52 to 55 spot, a pot a mile.
This is only the second time the blue crab grounds have been open in more then a decade.
fishing King crab this year in the Bering sea, and there's only four of us taking a chance on blue crab.
This is a big gamble, but it's gonna pay off.
We're gonna have a great season.
I don't think these crab pots have seen any blue crab in them for, like, the past 12 years or something.
I've never seen any blue crab in these pots, so Okay, you guys.
We're just gonna ask a little help from the old man right now.
Dad, I hope you're looking out.
First pot of the year! Keep it up.
We're gonna be fine.
Just need that first pot to come up with some crab in it.
It's our job to find them.
And we will.
We got some albatross flying around the boat Good luck birds Good luck to Fishermen.
They travel a long ways to come to the Bering sea to see us.
The old man's smiling down on us right now.
That's good luck.
That is good luck to see albatross.
So We'll find the crab.
That's what we came to do.
of Dutch harbor Finally made it out of Saint Paul.
We spent a day and a half there.
The Ramblin' Rose joins the Cornelia Marie on the blue crab grounds.
The young crew prepares to splash their first pots of the season.
No, not me! Kind of a cluster right now.
Get some of these pots off.
We'll have a little more room to work with.
Taking the chains off the boat, hanging on the side when you got waves slapping you and the boat's rocking back and forth.
Unusual for a skipper Elliott climbs onto the stack and gives a hand.
Here, I'll put this back up.
You go stretch that chain.
See? Go back inside! And I know what I'm doing.
Yeah, that's perfect just like that.
Hey, Kado, you got me? I can't bait her too heavy.
You got to leave room for the crab.
First pot, boys! Perfect spot! This is the money pot right here.
All right, go ahead.
Let them go when you're ready.
Whoo-hoo! Yeah! First pot of the season just went over the side.
Everybody's pretty excited.
I'm excited.
the sun rises on the Cornelia Marie.
Right now, we are at the beginning.
Sink or swim, right here.
We got a little weather today.
I don't think the Bering sea's gonna give these crab up very easily to us, for some reason.
The weather's all right for me.
For the guy at the rail, like this guy wet! It's blowing about 35, northeast.
We're not making ice, but you can see your breath out there.
The temperature's dropping down into the mid 30s, high 30s, probably.
We'll just deal with it.
Sweet.
Phil Harris, baby.
We miss you.
Sweet.
First pot of the season, baby! First pot is in.
This is for you, boss! Watch out! Heads up! Once you've been a fisherman for so long, you get used to that lifestyle.
It's hard to walk away.
It just gets in your blood, like a cancer.
Grow the Up and get over it and just do your Job! Get out of my face! Just want to run a boat.
Everybody on this boat, who's the captain?! Whoo! yeah, boys! Boom! For 20-plus years, all I did was fish.
You didn't complain.
You were a soldier.
Dreaming about the old man lately, hoping that I don't fail.
Bunch of damn lights up in the sky.
It's like a ufo or something.
It's gonna get in a hurry.
Four-story buildings will be coming at us.
Whoa! What the was that?! We're Fishermen.
That's just the way it is.
Hold on! Hold on!