Original subtitles

- Ready? - Yeah.

Overhead.

I was talking to the guy from the cannery and he was saying

that in addition to your bairdi quota,

you would get an additional 30% of hybrids.

Clear?

- Part bairdi, part opilio. - Yeah.

Down.

- Really? - Yep.

That's a third more money in our pocket.

That area can be a very dangerous place to fish,

that's for sure.

We're talking bigger waves and sub-zero temperatures.

Scary.

The ice is already coming down.

So guys are gonna hear about this,

and they're gonna want to roll right in.

Wow. These are all hybrids.

Ooh!

You want to put the hybrids in the back tank.

Whoa!

Crab are leaking out of the pen.

- The guy's got to go down there. - Hold on!

Time Bandit's going in.

I'm gonna go through this one

and try to head toward the gear.

You know, this is how the Titanic sunk.

Go, go!

- Are you OK? - up.

- That's a tough one, dude. - We've created a slack tank.

At this point, we're at God's mercy.

Whoo!

Let's go fishing, baby.

200 miles north of Dutch Harbor...

Oh.

Hang on!

Yeah!

...on the Aleutian Lady.

This is not fun right now.

But I have an offload

that I need to try to get as many pounds

as I could possibly get.

Let's go, let's go!

This area is normally where the hybrids and bairdi mix.

Historically known for some of the worst seas

in the Bering Sea.

Targeting 60 fathom depths along the border

of the opilio and bairdi fishing grounds,

Captain Rick Shelford gambles he can pluck

$180,000 of hybrid crustaceans from their habitat,

a steep continental slope

where Arctic and Pacific currents collide,

creating wave heights

twice that of the surrounding Bering Sea.

- Come on, come on, come on! - - Come on crab!

Here we go. Let's find out what we got.

- Come on, baby. - Looks good.

- Oh! - There we go, baby!

- Yeah, baby! - Whoo!

That is what we're looking for.

Yeah!

All right.

See how the mouth is, like, it's not quite an M,

like, in the middle?

It's because it's a hybrid.

It looks like an opie,

but it doesn't have a perfect M mouth.

Just a huge biomass of hybrids, opie-bairdi.

- It's just a slight, subtle thing. - Yeah.

Eyes and mouth. So that's your main tells.

They've mated together. They've intertwined.

There's a lot of 'em.

Whoo!

Yeah, baby!

OK, watch the starboard rail, everybody.

Rock and roll!

- Whoo! - Wow!

Crab!

I got my head on a swivel up here,

but I can't see everything.

- Oh yeah! - Whoo-hoo-hoo!

Wow.

- Whoo, we got crab! - Oh!

Oh! Oh!

You OK, dude?

Oh, I got nailed.

Ugh, you're gonna have a bruise, bro.

The farther south, the better it looks.

So I'm gonna move this string a little bit farther south.

- Come on. - Whoo!

Every time I look at the weather,

it's worse and worse and worse.

- Whoo! - Oh!

But there is no stopping.

200 miles northwest...

on the opilio grounds.

What's it forecasting for the next five days?

Really?

If I can't rescue their gear, then we're in trouble.

OK, that'll be my third miracle.

Then I'll be a saint.

Saint John, they'll call me. Saint John.

Hey man, thanks.

Thanks, Andy. OK.

We're out.

Aboard the Time Bandit.

We've got 96 pots to stack on.

and finish this opilio season.

But this ice is gonna keep moving.

It's gonna be more and more and more in front of us.

Racing to kick off his winter golden king crab fishery...

all that stands between Captain Johnathan Hillstrand

and finishing his first opie season in four years

is 35,000 more pounds

and the 900-mile-wide Arctic ice pack

threatening to engulf 200,000 worth of gear alone.

What's up, brother?

How you doing? What's going on?

What?

OK, guys, let's get ready to haul.

Back to work!

I know.

Gonna keep going. We're so close.

Morning, guys.

Yeah.

I lost my pops.

Freddy lost his dad, so...

It's part of a...

We'll all have to go through this.

It's not easy, though.

How old was your pops?

Seventy.

He had a good life. That's a good age.

Yeah, I'm so sorry, buddy.

OK.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

- We'll get you home. - Roger.

But God loves you and God's your father too.

- Thank you Captain, thank you. - Sorry.

- God bless you, OK. - God bless.

- Well, that sucks. - Love you, Captain.

- Thank you. - Thank you, Cap. Thank you, Cap.

- Thank you uso, thank you, Freddy. - Yeah.

That teared me up, uh.

That's a tough one, dude.

I lost my dad.

The worst thing is the sound of that dirt

when the dirt hits the top of the coffin.

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

But at the end of the day, we're family.

We're gonna send him home.

And come back and try to save these before the ice hits us.

It's gonna be really close.

240 miles southeast...

on the hybrid grounds...

aboard the Northwestern.

We're gonna see if there's any luck in you.

Yeah.

There's only one way to find out.

Biting the head off a herring.

One way or another.

With 20,000 pounds of opilio in his tank, Captain Sig Hansen

targets a new species, opilio-bairdi hybrids.

At Mandy's request, hired Bob.

She's been doing a great job.

And then moving into the hybrid season,

I want to finish strong.

With Captain in training, Sophia "Bob" Nielsen

ensuring a safe and profitable new fishery

by performing a sacred Bering Sea ritual.

I'm gonna make up a special treat

for our little guest here.

What, you got to find the biggest herring

you can find? - Yeah.

- Oh! - Yeah!

- There you go. - Bleh!

Bleh!

Ugh, it's in my teeth.

Hell yeah. All right.

No, that was gross.

No, that's good luck.

We need it.

Our hope is that we see those big half-full pots

with these hybrids.

We want a thick school

so we can really make some fast money.

I think we can get ahead of the weather here

if we're lucky.

Whoo!

I'm gonna set this in the ditch right

on the starboard side.

Bob, if you see any waves that want to sneak up...

let me know and I'll let them know.

I'll be the eyes in the back of your head.

- OK, set it when you're ready. - Let's go!

We have a northerly wind coming at us about 20 degrees,

north to south.

Look out. Here comes a wave.

Here comes one.

The guys are getting wet out there.

Whoa!

And when you get the roll of the boat just right,

it kind of washes their feet out from under them.

- Here comes a wave. - Here comes one.

Watch out.

Whoa!

Oh!

- Whoa! - Oh!

Beh!

All right?

Try to keep the boat as safe as we can.

We're getting some combers coming over the rail.

Oh, my--

No, I get it. I can...

I understand.

All right, pal.

I'm out.

We're gonna have to start splitting these tanks, you know?

We got to get the hybrids in a different tank

than the opilio.

The canneries want them separated.

It's a big fine.

Well, we're gonna have to figure this out quick.

140 miles northwest...

just outside St. Paul Island...

Standing by on channel 16 for any concerned traffic.

...on the Time Bandit.

The harbormaster called and said the ice--

the harbor's froze over.

Coming in, so, leave it to our own discretion to come in.

OJ's dad just died.

So we're gonna let him go home.

All kinds of stuff trying to stop me here.

But, uh, we're going in.

We're going in, that's all there is to it.

This ice ain't gonna win.

With 96 opilio pots marooned in the path of Arctic floes,

Captain Johnathan races to drop

bereaved deckhand OJ Ganuelas on St. Paul Island.

Life doesn't wait if you hesitate.

But encircling the harbor, eight-inch-thick pack ice,

capable of puncturing the Time Bandit's two-inch

steel-reinforced hull.

Oh. OK, here we go.

That big plate is the size of the boat almost.

It's a big , that's a heavy chunk of ice there, my friend.

They're running down the side of the boat right now.

Ooh, that was a good chunk.

Ooh, that was a good one.

Watch the out.

I'll break my way in, Neal.

Power's stuck.

I gotta, like, pull over there and then back up.

I gotta back up far enough so I go straight in.

It's crazy.

All the way back out.

I'm gonna smash this right straight in here this way.

I'm creating the Northwest Passage.

- We're going in, brother. - OK.

Nothing easy about this season, is there?

Now we're clear. Whoo-hoo!

Spring first, this one first.

We gotta get out of here.

Roger.

Sorry, brother.

- Get home and have a safe trip. - - Thank you, brother.

OJ's flying home.

So, now I got to get our ass back up there

before that ice eats our lunch.

110 miles southeast...

on the hybrid grounds.

The weather's still picking up.

We're in a huge biomass of hybrids.

I want to be able to stay in front of it.

So we moved all of our gear down south.

We've got an offload coming up.

So this whole thing is about

hauling gear as fast as you can.

...aboard the Aleutian Lady.

So I think we're just trying to get by the string

and see how we do.

Sometimes they're coming from the port side,

sometimes they're coming from the bow, and then we get

a random creeper coming from over here

when I'm looking over there.

It makes it so hard to drive.

Roger!

Here it comes.

- Whoo! - Yeah, buddy!

Boom! There it is.

We like those numbers.

Yes!

That's what we need.

Now all we got to do is just keep pushing, keep hauling,

and keep grinding.

Oh!

Oh!!

Ah!

Oh!

Ah!

Sorry, that wave came and I...

Ugh!

I mean, we can't just back down and go into offload short.

So I'm gonna be jamming on these pots

and hope and pray I get enough crab

to make my offload.

32 miles southeast...

...aboard the Northwestern.

I don't know what to do

I mean, the cannery is gonna want to separate

the crab, you know? - Mm-hmm.

A web?

Oh...

So what do you want to do?

Go from the top and over, or what?

That's pretty nifty.

I see it. Do it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, do it. That's good.

- Try it. - OK.

That's a great idea.

We got to separate the different types of crab,

the hybrids and then, of course, opilio.

They're talking about using the bunch of web they got.

It's just going to make like a little pen.

I like that idea, keeping the crab separated.

Well, I think we got a plan here.

- You know, hopefully it'll work. - Going.

There you go.

To keep the opilio in his tanks apart

from the hybrid crab in his sights,

Captain Sig drains all 40,000 gallons of water

from the aft hold to build a barrier

using 1,000-pound wooden planks

and nets scavenged from below decks.

Anytime you press a tank up or down and it's sloshing,

that's when all that pressure is going back and forth with

the weight of the crab.

That's dangerous.

That's how boats can turn over and capsize.

Yeah, Roger!

We kind of came up with a plan with this net.

Put the net over 'em, stapled that to the bin board.

This is the first time I've ever done it,

so see how it works out.

Essentially, it's like three boards high with some webbing

over top and nails to secure the crab.

Hurry up!

Yeah, Roger.

He's pressing the tank now.

They're starting to press.

We'll see how well this contraption works.

Whoa!

Now it's moving.

Ugh.

I mean, we're just trying our best to keep a slow speed

and just go with it, but it still rolls.

Water builds up one side, goes the other side,

back up.

It just starts building momentum.

At this point, we're at God's mercy.

Whoa!

You know, as soon as the tank was empty, the guys got down

there and just got on-- oh,.

Oh,.

How we looking?

- The board's out. - What, it broke?

Here, pump.

Are you serious right now?

- I'm serious. - damn it.

The board is so close.

The water was almost to half, and that board gave way.

Hey, uh, the guys got to go down there

and try to fix that bin board.

And we've got to pump out the tank again

and try it all over.

Ah,.

I came up with the idea to separate the hybrids

from the opilio.

Everything looked good.

Pumping up the tank, and then the weight of the crab

in that bin moved, and it was just enough

to break the top bin board.

Hopefully, we can get this to work.

Old ass bin board.

We got to get the board out of there and, you know,

try to just put the web across.

- Got it? - Got it.

Hope we got enough nails to strap it down.

Ah,.

They're gonna start filling the tank up.

OK.

Let me get the boat turned here.

Now, my job is just to keep the boat nice and straight

downwind so we're not sloshing around.

Look.

That water level needs to come three feet,

four feet and get up above those boards, then you're fine.

It's almost three quarters of the way full now.

Get it less violent.

Now you just have a little slosh.

Well, we did it. The tank is pressed.

Well, that's good news..

No, I think it's gonna work.

Right now, we'll just run up to the gear in the water

and see if we can find something in there.

Fingers crossed.

230 miles northwest...

on the edge of the Arctic ice floes...

OJ's dad died, so he's flying home.

But now we gotta just keep hauling.

Ninety-six pots.

Try to save these before the ice hits us.

...aboard the Time Bandit.

Oh, yeah, that's a big flow there, my friends.

That's a thick one there.

It just does not look good here.

We're going in, brother.

Time Bandit's going in.

I don't like this one bit.

It'll kill you, it'll just crush your butt like a little tin can.

I think we got an all stop.

We're going through.

I see my pots.

Perfect string right there.

There's no ice.

We got to get these up quick, guys.

Yeah, baby!

- This is it. - Come on crabs! Come on crabs!

Yeah! Come on, come on, come on!

- Oh yeah, oh yeah! - There's crab!

Look at that son of a bitch, there's crab!

- Whoo! - Baby, baby, baby!

crab!

crab, big ones!

Oh, oh!

That's enough crab to feed, like, 400 people

with one pound each.

That was a good one.

We'll see what the next one has.

Hey, boss!

Oh, no. I think I got it on the wheel.

Bring the grapple back real quick.

Go, go, go, go, go, go!

That's putting undue stress on the motor.

It's just the last thing we needed right now.

Forty hours to delivery.

aboard the Time Bandit.

Oh, no. I think I got on the wheel.

He missed it and then,

I thought I put this in neutral, but I left it in reverse.

So when it rolled on the end of the boat,

it went right in the...

So I might not get this one back.

With three-quarter-inch nylon

bound in his starboard-side propeller,

Captain John directs the crew to use a separate line

and his hydraulic power hauler to pull the tangle free

or limp 360 miles back to Dutch Harbor

on his port-side engine.

OK, roger!

Be careful.

That's where everyone falls in right there.

Yeah, you got it. Freddy's got it.

Start pulling it towards the block.

All right, good job!

Have to get the line, and we put it in the block

and put some tension on it, hoping we can pull it out.

- OK. - - Look at your line, now you should.

Oh, let's go!

- Whoo! - That's how you do it.

- Look, there it is! - Let's go, baby!

- Bring the pot in, land it. - Roger.

Loaded!

Jackpot!

They're here. Ha-ha!

Don't count us out.

We'll see.

Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye.

240 miles southeast...

Let's pick a name for this string.

Bob!

- I call it 2.0. - What's that mean, 2.0?

It's the better refined version, because I did it.

Oh, OK.

...on the hybrid grounds.

Here we go.

Come on, baby. Come on, come on.

OK, first part of the hybrids coming up, 2.0.

Right on. Well, the tank is pressed.

It's looking good.

Hopefully we can get our crab,

and hopefully the boat will hold together.

Come on, baby.

Come on.

- Oh! - Yeah, baby!

Yeah!

Well, that was a pretty good pot.

That works.

- Let's go! - Whoo!

- Wow that's good. - Whoo!

Pot's coming up!

- Oh, yeah! - Yeah!

Yeah!

Oh, yeah. We're in 'em now!

Oh, my God! Look at that pot.

- Better? - Oh yeah!

We're adding up, fast.

Whoo!

Just want to really keep up the tempo

so we can make it in, OK?

- Yeah, baby! - Let's go!

Hopefully, we have enough hybrids in all this gear

to wrap this season up.

- Damn, that is full. - Yeah, it's hella full.

All right, guys. Noah, good job, Nico, Steve.

For all the we went through,

I'm thankful that we got that.

All right.

We got 30,000 pounds of hybrids.

That is a huge blessing and makes me very happy.

Yes, sir.

Hey, guys.

- Sexy, yeah. - Big boys, big boys.

We made it through all those ice floes.

We just got to offload them.

We're blessed by God, and we got some nice-ass crab

down there, 1.5-pound crab.

Done with opilio.

Just need to get back out there.

We're going to go fishing. Golden crabs.

Gonna keep my little head, nose, to the grindstone,

whatever the that is saying.

Why do I have all these sayings?

Bob, it's on the bow.

At the end of the season, we got a flaming hook.

We've been doing it for years.

I don't know how it even came about, to be honest.

If you miss on the last pot in the season, it's bad luck.

OK.

Hi-yah!

Hey!

Yay!

Get over here.

A little luck goes a long way.

Dude, I was gonna throw up if I missed.

Bob did everything we asked of her, and then some.

You know, for the first time, it's not easy for anybody.

Thank you so much.

- She did a good job, I thought. - Thank you.

So I think in the future, opportunities will come to her,

and so...

all she has to do is grab them. - Thank you!

- Whoo! - Last pot coming up!

It's been one of my favorite seasons so far.