Original subtitles

13 miles from the [bleep] gear.

Get the guys up. We're going to start stacking.

Mr. Hillstrand.

I'm right here by the canyon.

And it looks like the ice is going to cover me up.

[bleep].

We've got to get the [bleep] out of here.

And it's not going to be fun.

Three weeks into the winter season, the first Arctic ice

floe descends onto the northern fishing grounds,

forcing captains into an all-out sprint to catch

the remaining $50 million of the fleet-wide quota,

before over half a trillion tons of hull-piercing ice

drag their pots or sever their lines,

stranding their seven-figure paydays on the seafloor.

I hope we can get these pots.

Whoo!

Let's go, let's go! Let's go!

Hang on.

I've been having some mild discomfort in my [bleep] chest.

And you've been holding out on me on this?

25 miles south of the 900-mile-wide ice pack,

on the opilio grounds...

All right, hey, it's going to be [bleep] nasty out there, OK?

There's like 30-footers coming right now.

It's going to be ugly, OK?

...aboard the Wizard.

How's it going, Mouse?

What's our plan here?

30-pot strings, because we've got to get them off, all right?

Right up those contour lines there.

Make sure we don't miss any depth.

- We don't have time to juggle [bleep] around. - Yep, I get it.

- Yeah. - [bleep] coming around [bleep] hard.

I know how to do this. Don't worry.

All right.

Ah! Ha-ha!

We've got to boogie to town.

Go in, deliver our opies,

and switch to bairdi as quickly as possible.

The ice is coming down.

When it occurs, man, you don't want to be anywhere

near where we're going to go fish.

Whoa!

Yeah!

Man, I'm just getting pushed around here like

nobody's business.

The thing is, I've got to really throttle up

and go into it.

That just opens up more possibilities of taking

a big wave, either through the workstation

or right over the bow.

Whoa!

Hang on!

Going over!

So far, so good.

We're getting them off in a timely manner.

We're getting there.

It's slow.

Um...

Oh, [bleep]!

Ah!

Oh!

[bleep]. Everybody still standing?

All right, we got about 30 more.

Let's get them off.

Tides are gonna get worse

in the next couple of days as we get...

Let's just get these pots off of here safely.

Hopefully...

on solid numbers.

46 miles south of the ice edge...

You'd roar too you had crabs on your bottom.

My granddad used to tell me that one.

He-- my granddad thought that was funny as...

I did, too, when I was five.

...aboard the Time Bandit.

Anyways, I just thought I'd check the ice report.

But I can tell it's close.

Here's where we're at, right by the islands.

It's going to be here.

We've got to really catch these crab

in the next four or five days.

I got one up here.

Facing an Arctic floe

careening south at 10 miles a day,

Captain Johnathan Hillstrand bets the 90-fathom canyon

can fill his tanks with a final 100,000 pounds of

opilio before the ice covers the surface and his pots below.

Opilio pot coming up!

We'll see. First pot coming up.

You can only hope.

We're gonna eat some opilio today.

Oh, yeah.

Phew.

Yeah.

That's big numbers. Wow.

Dude, I'm going to have to do it.

I can't help it. I got-- I got a feel.

- Whoo! - Whoa!

Wow.

Oh, my God, dude. Aye, aye, aye.

They look like bairdi.

So a bairdi, if you look,

has red eyes and an M-shaped mouth,

where an opilio has green eyes

and a straight mouth on the top.

We got a lot of bairdi here.

That's what's going over the side.

Even with sea ice heading for his location, John can only

harvest one species at a time,

meaning even the buccaneer captain must cast

every bairdi back to the deep

or face fines larger than his profits.

That's something.

Hopefully we get cleaner crab here, less sort.

Coming out.

Seeing a lot of sorting still.

Takes so long to sort through, there's no way I'm going to be

able to run from this ice when it comes.

Aye, aye, aye. I got to figure something out.

OK.

You know, Aleutian Lady's not far away.

I know he's fishing bairdi.

If I tell him what I'm getting here, maybe I can entice him to

come over here just next to me.

Maybe we could help each other, maybe.

38 miles northeast...

just three miles from the forecasted ice edge.

All right.

Here we go.

I haven't seen ice yet, but I got 112 pots.

And I was planning on hauling them and just

setting them back.

But right now,

my main objective is getting my gear away from the ice.

With up to $350,000 in steel and crab soaking

500 feet below,

Captain Rick Shelford races to haul his northern set

before an ice field three-feet thick drags

or destroys his gear.

If I lose 50 to 100 pots,

I just ate into all of our profits for the winter.

Whoa!

No way in hell, that's just a reflection.

Oh, OK.

You can see a break on the horizon up there where

there's white and then there's blue.

We got an ice floe up in front of us.

[bleep] me.

I am going to be digging pots out of the ice if we don't get

this gear on board now.

Aboard the Aleutian Lady...

Yeah, this is just a massive floe.

And I see it everywhere.

It's coming fast.

- Roger. - Roger.

I think I see our first pot over there.

And now I got to navigate through it.

[bleep].

All right, guys.

These pots are a couple grand a piece, and that comes out of

our pay, so hopefully we can find them.

Let's go fishing, baby.

Nine. [bleep]-- ah.

- Yee haw! - Stay right here.

That thing looks like a boulder.

All right.

Roger.

- Whoa! - There it is.

Whoa!

I mean, that is a true full-on iceberg.

I mean, that's at least 5,000 pounds.

I'm going to have to move really slowly

and hopefully not poke a hole in my boat.

I mean, this can sink us if I'm not paying attention.

Definitely not triple digits.

Next one is right there.

We gotta hurry up and get through these pots.

I gotta get out of the ice, and--

Hey, John, how you doing?

OK, I was just checking in to see how the battle's going

with you over there.

The ice came down on top of me,

and I'm trying to pick out as many pots as I can,

Actually, I was calling you up to tell you I might have a spot

for you down here.

It'd be nice if I had a bairdi boat next to me.

Then I wouldn't have to, you know, throw some bairdi

over the side, because you'd be taking all the keepers.

Yeah.

...string I got up there is...

...set them down by you?

The fact that he's willing to drop what he's doing

to come up and help us get the rest of our gear,

it's pretty epic.

It'll help me, it'll be an easier sort.

It'll help him, because his pots will be safe from the ice

for about three or four more days.

18 miles southwest of the ice edge...

OK, buoy, where are you? It's got to be over there.

...on the Wizard.

Tides are taking the bags down, especially at a gear down

below that's deeper.

110 to 120 fathoms.

After setting their gear in strong five-knot currents

nearly 700 feet below...

- You see it yet? - I do not.

It should be right in front of us there.

Captains Keith and Monte Colburn scan

the surface for 37 buoy setups that,

if not hauled in the next two days,

could be sealed by the advancing ice

for the next two months.

I wonder if we ought to just go to the other [bleep] end.

Yeah, I don't know if it's my [bleep] eyesight

or I'm just getting tired.

It's giving me a headache.

Mouse, I'll take over, all right?

All right.

10-minute break, max.

Oh, come on.

My brother

is what's holding me back.

He's worn out, beat up, and tired.

Well, right now is when we've got to [bleep] put

our [bleep] best effort forward and get the hell out of here.

Let's see if there's a bag up here.

I can't either.

We're going to be zipping around.

Ugh!

Oh, there it is. All right.

The bags are starting to pop up, folks.

Roger.

All right. Crew's ready.

That's what I like to hear.

OK, here we go. Let's go to war.

Inside, for a captain-approved cup of coffee,

greenhorn Damian Kerr opts for a more substantial and,

in the Bering Sea workplace, less efficient breakfast.

Roger.

This is [bleep] ridiculous.

He has no motivation.

Need to get you out there, Damian.

OK, I'm just trying to--

No, no.

Your idea of scarf it down is bull[bleep], OK?

You've been here for a half-hour.

The rest of you guys are taking 10-minute breaks.

Right now, I'm short-[bleep]-handed.

Mouse, yes, really.

You don't need to start on me.

I need a bit of respect from you, buddy.

- OK, all right. - All right?

OK, I understand that there's yelling going on outside.

- OK. - But these guys are taking 10-minute breakfast breaks.

- OK. - That kid's been in here for 30 minutes.

- OK. - The first thing out of your mouth can't be

right in my face-- "Oh, yeah, really?"

That is just disrespectful to me.

OK, let's go upstairs because we have--

No, get up there and [bleep]. You just get up there.

I'll be there in a second.

[bleep] horse [bleep].

- Where are we at? - Let me just sit down.

I'll explain everything to you.

OK, and I'm gonna explain something to you.

Oh, you get... Move.

- Because I've got a problem. - OK.

Well, you got a problem. Let me know what it is.

I've been meaning to tell you, but the way things have been

going, I've decided it's best to wait.

What's up now?

Ever since this trip started, I've been having

some mild discomfort in my [bleep] chest.

I'm short of breath.

My arm feels like somebody's got their [bleep] hands

wrapped around it. - Which arm, Mouse?

My left arm.

And you've been holding out on me on this?

On the Wizard...

Ever since this trip started, I've been having

some mild discomfort in my [bleep] chest.

Monte, here's the thing.

I want to try and get this boat to town.

And now my sense of urgency has gone up 25,000%.

- I know. - All right?

Mouse, you know the drill, man.

You report an injury, you report something, OK?

- This is ser-- - There's nothing we can do about it out here.

No, what we can do about it out here is get you to

the [bleep] beach where you belong. - No, [bleep].

We're [bleep] busier then [bleep] up here.

I know, Monte-- I don't want to argue about this.

I want to tone it down, but...

At this point, I need to make a medical assessment.

- All right? - Yeah.

Let me slide in there. Let's get this over with.

I'm going to go get the blood pressure gauges.

Well, I should have told my brother a long time ago.

We've just really had our hands full out here,

and I didn't want to burden him with that.

Let's go ahead and give this a try, Mouse.

Relax.

Does it go on your wrist or on your [bleep] cuff?

It's right here.

Right there.

Just put something under your arm here.

No, I just, just...

Well here, no, you gotta...

I just go like this.

Yep. All right, yeah.

And then...

158, 159 over 80.

OK, I'd say that's a little high.

That's just from being out here doing this,

stressed out about the buoy, stressed out

about everything going on. - Yep.

Yeah, go over there and just take it easy.

OK, hold. Let me by.

I'm upset with Monte for not saying anything.

That's not acceptable.

The older we get, the more susceptible we are to

things like miniature strokes,

bruised kidneys,

heart issues.

If anything ever happened, I'd have to live with it.

Hopefully...

you know, we can haul 60, 70 pots,

then get to the dock, get my brother into the clinic,

and have 'em take a look at him.

140 miles southeast,

on the ice edge...

There should be another pot.

Well, our next pot's hit by that floe.

Right over there.

Now we're gonna have to slowly make our way that way.

...aboard the Aleutian Lady.

What's crazy is the longer it takes me to haul this string,

the more ice that's gonna be over my next string.

Just a mile and a half out,

it looks like it's a massive slab of ice.

But with the Time Bandit,

we'll be able to haul a couple of them.

Every little bit helps.

Just eight miles northwest...

Oh, God.

It just does not look good here.

...on the Time Bandit.

OK, guys.

Roger!

Approaching the Aleutian Lady's northern bairdi string,

Captain Johnathan Hillstrand launches his rescue

of Rick's 36 buried pots,

picking his way through a minefield

of hull-crushing ice.

We got the wind blowing us down, too.

[bleep].

OK, I see it. Thanks.

Roger, Cap.

Coming around.

We're just going real slow.

Ice is not a good thing, but we did wrap our bow

with the skirt.

Don't tell anybody the Time Bandit's got a skirt, ice skirt.

Here we go.

So we have over an inch of steel up there.

It's good for, you know, three, four-foot ice.

Hold on.

My props are so shallow, I gotta worry about it hitting

the-- clubbing the ice with my prop,

and then that'll take me out of business.

I don't think I'm gonna hit this one.

I'm gonna drift right over it.

[bleep].

Lost the pot. Ice is a couple feet thick.

It'll just rip your buoys right apart.

Now we're [bleep].

Oh, God, help us.

On the Time Bandit...

Lost the pot.

Very disappointing.

Ice is no joke.

It'll just rip your buoys right apart.

From what I'm seeing, I think Rick's gonna have no gear left.

Poor guy.

Sucks, but I hope we can get these pots.

This one drug right over here.

Shh. I just-- Feel that bob?

See, the whole boat's shaking now.

OK, this might work.

Yeah, go for it.

Hell yeah!

Oh!

Well, he's caught himself an iceberg.

- Oh, [bleep]. - Oh, man.

Mm!

Buoys just snuck away from him.

Damn.

Aye, aye, aye.

Yeah.

Roger.

- Roger that, Cap. - Roger!

Just do it slow.

Yeah, Roger!

Ready. Coming over.

Roger!

That's good.

You ask me if I have a fancy plan? No.

Careful!

Look.

I might be able to get that back if we use the crane to

move some chunks around.

Yeah, boy!

Good!

See if we can push the ice, push it away.

Watch out for the boom.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

No!

Be careful.

- Yeah, Roger! - Roger!

Come on baby!

There it is, right there.

It's right under the block, Freddie.

There it is.

Come on, baby.

Woo, yeah!

Back to business.

We can do it.

We can do it. Come on, Freddie.

- Come to papa. - Oh yeah!

- Oh, yeah. - Got it.

Woo!

Oh, thank you, God. There it is.

Thank you, God. Pull it slow, guys.

Whoo!

Yeah.

Holy [bleep]!

It's going to take a while to do these, but we're going to

have to do it really quick before the ice gets us.

Just got to keep trying until I get them,

or not.

Ten miles southwest of the advancing ice edge...

Man, this is for you.

...aboard the Wizard.

We just need to get them,

now.

Get in,

regroup,

get my brother in the clinic.

We got 24 more pots.

We're gonna get through them first.

My blood pressure, it's 140 over 90.

- [bleep] arm hurts. - All right, Mouse.

You need to follow up on this now.

We're going to call our insurance doctor here.

Hi, my name is Keith Colburn.

I just have a few quick questions.

My brother's been having some, uh,

some symptoms with chest pains and numbness.

Yes, hello.

First name of Montgomery. Last name of Colburn.

I'm suffering and experiencing chest pains.

I've got some shortness of breath.

It's just like a sensation in my chest that is

a stinging type of pain.

Uh, 62.

Huh.

Aboard the Wizard...

Thank you for that.

All right, sir. I guess all duly noted.

- Thank you so much. - Yeah.

Bye.

Let's go straight to the [bleep] clinic.

We're going straight to the clinic.

We're not [bleep] around.

When you start talking to a doctor in Anchorage, um...

and you start hearing about cardiac markers and taking

X-rays and EKGs...

you've got to take it serious.

Basically, the doctor said, "Get Monte into the clinic

immediately to a professional cardiologist."

There's nothing else on this boat I can do,

other than give him baby Aspirin and nitroglycerin,

and have the [bleep] paddles

ready to put on his chest if I need to.

160 miles southeast

and 30 miles south of the Arctic pack...

Hey, you got me here, Rick?

Hey, John.

...out of the 36.

This last floe was so thick, Rick.

It's like three miles wide.

I can't go into that...

Thank you for grabbing them.

And then I'm going to set them down next to me,

Amazing.

OK.

- Thank you so much. - Bye.

All right. All right, guys.

Hell yeah.

We're here to have him fish bairdi,

clean the bairdi up for us.

To weed out bairdi from his opilio pots...

...John baits the salvaged Aleutian Lady gear with chopped

calamari, a delicacy that should keep bycatch out

and his target species in.

Going over.

Let's go, let's go!

Let's go fishing, baby!

All right.

Over!

If he cleans up the bairdi, I clean up the opilio,

then this helps both of you.

Less sorting for him, less sorting for me.

We fish in the same area.

Fish on, baby!

We'll see if it works.

I'm hoping there's a little something something here.

- Over. - Going over.

And it'll all work out.

- Yee-ee-haw! - Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!

How much room?

OK, keep me posted.

Let him have it.

In Dutch Harbor...

All right, hey, you guys sit down.

...aboard the Wizard.

For the majority of the last trip, I've been having some

chest pains and some numbness in my left arm.

Unfortunately, I have to go to Anchorage and see

a cardiologist before I can go back out.

He's on standby first thing in the morning.

So we're going to rotate.

We're going to have five people.

So I just, I want everybody to know that I'm really sorry

about having to leave here, but I don't have a choice.

Let's take care of it.

If you can't come back, or if there's any questions

whatsoever, we'll get through it.

OK, I'm going to go make a couple of phone calls,

because I know there's other people that are concerned that

don't really have the full story yet, so...

You know,

Monte's got some issues, and right now he can't go fish.

Let's hope he's in good shape.

Let's hope that the cardiologist gives him

a clean bill of health.

I just lost the best relief captain

in the Bering Sea.

We helped Rick pull some pots out of the ice up there.

And we're fishing side by side.

So hopefully, it'll just be straight opies for me

and straight bairdi for him.

Hopefully, I'll just get pure opilio, whoo!

Come on, baby, come on!

Let's go, baby!

Oh, dear Lord, please, please have bairdi.

Pots coming up!

What do we got? What do we got?

Whoo!

OK!

- Oh, my God! - Yeah!

Oh, yeah!

That is what we're looking for.

Whoa, it's getting better.

There it is. Boom!

There it is! Right there.

This info from John, it's paying off huge.

I mean, freaking huge.

It's a lot cleaner sort with your gear next to mine.

Almost all opies. It's working great, man.

Yeah, we're seeing some good numbers, too-- I mean,

Yeah, yeah, definitely, my friend.

Hillstrand Bank, I love that.

Thank you.

I'll buy you a drink when we get to town.

Oh, man, as long as it don't have ice in it, I'm down.

I've had enough ice.

Shaken, not stirred. OK, buddy.

I love it when a good plan comes together.