Original subtitles

[dramatic music]

♪

Oh, yeah.

Dungeness crabs!

I love them.

Yes, that's number six!

Whoo!

Hi, sweetheart.

Whoo!

I've been able to catch so many fish,

I do not need more salmon.

We're gonna let you go today. Whoo!

- My surf lines caught me this today.

And now, my paiute deadfall is down again.

Bazinga!

- The kayak is finished, but it's very unstable.

Whoa!

I can help myself out with an outrigger to stabilize my boat.

It's working fine.

Now we're talking.

- Who are you when everything's been stripped away?

[bleep].

[yelping]

- It's scary out here in these woods.

- I have not had a serious meal in a week.

- If I can't get a fire, then I can't stay here.

- It's always in the back of your mind,

"Well, Ild tap out."

- Putting up with this filming bull[bleep]?

- Running into a predator, it's not an if.

It's a when.

Get the hell out of here.

I see you. Get out of here!

- I'm living a hand-to-mouth existence.

Yes! Ah!

- $500,000 is a lot of money.

- It's just gonna keep getting harder.

- It's not the world that needs to change.

It's me that needs to change.

[moans]

♪

♪

- Oh, finally out in the water.

Very, very happy the boat is working as well as it does.

The outrigger is a success.

It stabilizes the boat.

It's basically right now quite difficult to capsize it,

even if you tried, so maybe I'll

cross to the river and check out to see if

maybe that the salmon are running

and hit that salmon run.

But still, it costs energy to get there and back.

I only have some food for the day,

so I have to find those salmon

and have a steady income of food from the ocean.

♪

♪

Yeah, there's like an inch and a half of water in here already.

In half an hour, that's not good.

I think I need to go back rig♪ now.

Can't have that.

Yup, there's water in here.

♪

I don't even know how or where, but on the side there,

she got punctured.

[sighing]

Every time, there's another [bleep] problem to solve.

Oh, God, yeah, there's a hole.

There's a hole there, and that's probably it.

That's all it takes.

♪

I'll do some tests,

but I think I could try to patch it.

This tarp is very heat sensitive,

so you can't really do it very hot.

But it is repairable.

The black plastic I have here

was just the right amount of heat.

Can seal a little hole, as long as it's not too hot.

♪

It set me back on my plans a little bit, though.

♪

♪ This is my limpet song

♪ This is my limpet song

♪ Making fun of Lucas is wrong

♪ But this is my limpet song

♪

I am very, very happy that I discovered

that I can catch crabs with a hook and a line.

And I can't tell you how much that means.

To have a tangible, visible, repeatable

source of food gathering.

I'm gonna grab my fishing pole, and I'm gonna see if

I can get some crabs and some fish today.

And...

I'm pretty sure the tide is still going out,

which is a good thing.

All of this fishing has reminded me

of my dad, you know?

And our family had a house at the beach

on the Jersey Shore and Point Pleasant.

And, you know, we would go down there ever summer

and my dad was an excellent fisherman.

♪

Those early childhood memories

are coming back to me really strong.

♪

I get to eat tonight!

♪

I caught a fish.

It's not a big fish, but there's other ones down there.

I'm gonna try and catch some more of them,

'cause I get to eat fish stew today.

I'm a happy man.

♪

Boy, that's not much of a landing pad right there.

I'm just so afraid of falling in.

But that water is frigid.

I have to be really, really careful.

could very well come down to how well

you can walk on slippery rocks.

♪

Yes!

♪

No, come on, get the line.

♪

Yes, and he's bigger than the other one.

Yes, look at that.

That's two large fish, and I'm not done.

I am not done fishing.

So I'm gonna leave these guys over here.

I think I'm gonna move on.

I'm gonna go back there and try to get another--

yet another one of these.

Come on...

You love the limpets.

♪

Got him!

And look at this bad boy.

That's gonna be a good meal.

Time to pack it up.

♪

[birds cawing]

Oh, come on!

This is a tragedy, people.

♪

I get my third fish over there,

come back to put 'em on the stringer,

left the stringer with my tripod up here on the flat,

up on the flat part of the rocks up here.

Stringer's gone.

With both my fish.

It's just not here.

It is gone, gone, gone.

♪

There is no way that fish wiggled all the way from here

up on the flat all the way down there in the water.

I'm thinking something came by, swooped down, and grabbed him

while I wasn't looking.

Man, I can't believe that.

♪

I have one fish now.

Rather than a three fish stew, it's a one fish stew.

And I still don't know if they got back in the water,

which, to me, is inconceivable.

"Princess Bride" reference there, anyway...

Or if some giant bird of prey swooped in--a raptor, that's it.

A raptor came in and swooped in and took off--

A bald eagle!

That's what it was.

Yeah, when I wasn't looking, a bald eagle came in

and took my fish!

Both of 'em!

♪

'Cause up here, they're not the national bird,

you know what I'm saying?

They have no--they have no love for us Americans.

American eagles, now, down South...

American eagles said, "No, that's an American,

"I'm not gonna steal his fish.

"'Cause he's a patriotic man, he's proud of his country,

and I'm his symbol."

Up here, these Canadian eagles, they just--

they don't know who they are, that's what it is.

They just don't even know who they are.

And they'll do things like that.

They'll swoop in and steal your fish.

♪

♪

- It's a beautiful day right here.

I'm just watching the tide go out.

Oh, the sun-- the sun came out,

which is really nice, so I'm just gonna sit here.

♪

Got a couple sit spots here.

A sit spot's a place that you go every day

and, well, you just sit.

If you don't have a place in nature,

it could be your front porch or your backyard,

as long as there's birds around and trees around,

or something like that.

Then animals and everything around that,

they all get used to you.

Then you become part of that nature-scape.

Part of that ecosystem.

♪

I haven't heard any salmon going up this river

since that one I caught with my hands,

so I think the salmon run's just about dry,

so this is like the last chance of catching fish.

♪

My friend the seal is out here.

What you doing, little seal?

Huh.

The harbor seal seems to be fishing at my fishing spot.

I wonder if there's not something in that gill net.

And that seal is fishing it.

Or maybe it's just there randomly.

I mean, it's been there before.

See, it's not up yet, it could just be hanging out there.

It seems to like it right there.

I need a fish today, you know?

♪

So to try and redeem myself

from my dismal performance yesterday of losing two fish,

trying to get something to eat again today.

I am really, really, really stoked about the possibility

of getting a large crab.

I mean, some of these crabs, these big Dungeness crabs,

they have claws that rival lobster claws.

They're huge.

They rival lobster claws.

You know, just giant...

So yeah, that's what I want to do today.

♪

I have caught crabs out here.

I can do it again.

So, yeah, getting crabs, crabs, crabs--

that is the thing I want to do.

They are so delicious.

They're better than big limpets.

Now, being able to crab also is contingent upon

having dead fish.

I need a fish head or two.

It's not like you can just go down to the fish market

and say, "Hey, do you got any fish--fish heads for crab bait?"

And they'll, like, "Yeah, here."

I'm gonna try everything I can think of

to get food out of this bay.

Basically, that's what my job is right now,

is to experiment with new food-producing

devices, methods, or game plans

for getting protein seafood

out of my bay and into my body.

♪

Yes!

Got ya!

♪

When I was a kid, we used to get blue claws,

or just take a fish head and tie it to a string

and drop it in the water, and then you just wait.

And if you had two blue claws on the same fish head,

you could just pull them up.

♪

Yes!

Here you go.

Fish number two.

I'll eat one, and I can use the other for crab bait.

♪

Crabbing, that's the order of the day.

See if I can get some crabs the old-fashioned way

with a fish head.

It's an experiment.

And if it pays off, I got a giant crab in the pot.

So, yeah, I'm gonna try it.

Now, the idea here

is to tie on the fish head.

All right, now...

whole idea of this thing is

the crabs will grab on to this thing,

and then you can pull them out of the water.

Really not that complicated.

But they've got to sit there for a while...

♪

So that the crabs can...

figure out that they're there.

♪

I lost my line.

Dang!

♪

Oh!

[grunting]

Oh, I just fell in.

Oh, my goodness.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

Oh, I lost my line.

Dang!

Oh!

Oh, my...

[grunting]

Oh, I just fell in.

Oh, baby.

Oh, slipped on the rocks.

Oh, baby.

♪

Oh, my goodness.

I just took a dunk.

♪

Ugh!

[panting]

♪

Ugh.

I just went in up to my waist.

Oh, my goodness.

All right, all right, all right.

Yeah, I get to go home now and make a giant fire

and dry everything I own o

I lost my heavy monofilament line

when I got dunked.

I'm not happy with that situation at all.

But hypothermia is a very real threat.

I mean, I'm feeling the cold right now.

And I'm not gonna risk my life out here

for any personal goals or any amount of money.

I'm gonna get in my sleeping bag, 'cause I am cold.

I'm really getting the chills, body chills right now.

♪

My clothes are all still slightly damp.

I can feel that.

And I know if I stay in here long enough,

that they'll dry just with body heat.

But I got to get warm.

All it takes is one stupid decision on my part,

and I could be out of here,

because there is no backup for me.

There is no one to help.

♪

The most amazing resource you have in a survival situation

is that other person who's there.

Therefore, the people in life.

You know, they are the most valuable asset you have

for getting through life.

I don't have that right now.

I am alone.

I don't know.

And it is possible that I could tap out.

I could.

I mean, I really don't want to.

[rain pelting]

What a bummer of a day.

If I can't get warm, if I really am

at risk of hypothermia, I'll tap, I know it.

So I've got to, got to, got to keep warm.

Good night.

[tense music]

♪

♪

Well, I know I caught a fish.

It's, uh, low tide, and I'm gonna go

check my gill net, but I was out at the point,

and I saw this chum salmon swimming in the shallows,

and there was nothing in my gill net that I could see.

And I saw this chum salmon swim, and I really almost wanted

to jump into the water and grab it.

[laughing]

And then, it got caught in my gill net.

I watched the whole thing.

Probably about a couple of hours ago, it got caught.

I just had to wait for the tide to go low enough

for me to grab it.

So it's in there, and I'm gonna go get it.

♪

Oh, my God, are you kidding me?

♪

Sugar.

Ugh.

This is a bummer.

So I had a lovely salmon,

as you can see here.

Just part of the head is in my net.

Not even enough that I could, like,

pick part of the head off and eat it.

Like, the seals ate every bit of this thing.

♪

See, they really-- this is all that's left.

♪

I've got competition now.

The seals know that I've got a gill net.

♪

I need protein.

Fighting those seals for food is gonna be bad.

♪

♪

- Last night, I spent a lot of time here

by the fire repairing that hole.

Uh, she is stable, which is fantastic.

Everything here takes longer than anticipated.

The boat took 19, 20 days to build and patch and fix.

She is a good boat.

We'll just be extremely careful putting her into the water,

taking her out.

Still stubbornly wanting to go out around the corner,

check out that creek, catch the salmon run.

I'm just wanting to find big amounts of food.

♪

If I can reach a salmon run before it's over

and harvest the greatest number possible of salmon,

however many-- the more, the better.

♪

I'm very happy to see the boat

finally, really sea-worthy.

♪

As far as sailing, she goes beautifully well.

It lifts a little bit to the side.

♪

Hopefully get to places and find some abundance.

I'm starting to really need it.

♪

I've gone around the corner.

I'm seeing a lot of sea birds over there.

That is exactly the sign I was looking for.

[birds cawing]

♪

Okay, here we are.

I did reach the fabled river.

I see just a few salmon carcasses here on the banks.

I don't see any salmon going up the water.

♪

I don't see any black bear sign, either.

Which is...

would be another thing to be expected

if the run was happening.

And yet, there is a bunch of seagulls here,

and there's a bunch of eagles.

♪

This right here is the kind of shallow place

where it would be ideal to just stanre

with a gaff hook like this and grab them.

But...

I don't see them.

♪

Here is one of the carcasses.

♪

I could have missed the whole thing.

♪

♪

♪

- Well, I haven't been filming much today.

There really hasn't been a whole lot going on.

♪

The boredom is starting to set in now.

It's pretty boring to just sit here and tend the fire,

which--it keeps me busy.

I mean, it's less boring than other things I could be doing,

which is basically nothing.

♪

Now it's starting to rain.

I just need to find something to do, man,

'cause I'm bored.

There ain't nothing-- ain't nothing going on.

♪

Well, I'm on my way to making a spoon.

We'll see how it works out.

I'm not the most crafty guy

that never walked the face of the Earth,

but I'll do the best I can.

♪

The hard part here is the calorie gain.

I could be doing a lot of things,

but you want to try to not do very much,

but on the other hand, you're just bored out of your mind.

♪

Oh, there's a knot right where I--jeez.

Oh, whiz, man.

A freaking knot.

Damn it.

I'm at the point now where I'm gonna have to

really start conserving energy.

I've still got energy to do stuff,

but it's gonna take its toll on me before too long.

I got to just focus

and make sure I don't hurt myself.

I don't know, man, it's tough.

It's tough without the calories.

♪

All I'm doing is just taking the point of my knife

and just trying to slice little slivers

out of this bowl of this spoon.

♪

I feel pretty good doing these little minor tasks,

because I'm not really doing anything.

All day long, I'm not really doing anything.

Keeping your mind busy really affects your emotions.

Even with the lack of calories, it keeps your attitude up.

I like it, man.

Hell, yeah.

♪

It's not bad for a few hours' work.

♪

I got limpets and periwinkles and stuff.

They'll be boiling in no time.

♪

Gosh, I like this spoon.

I'm happy with this thing.

These are the dog days, man.

I mean, I've done everything I came out here to do,

and now it's just trying to suffer through.

If there wasn't that big prize at the end,

I'm not sure how many people would have

stuck it out this far.

I know I'm not sure I would've.

♪

'Course, that's kind of key right there, is having a fire.

Having something to do.

My mind is totally occupied by keeping this fire going.

And it was occupied earlier by building my spoon.

If I'm just sitting here, looking at the rain,

it makes it tough.

♪

This is the stuff that'll pull me through here, man.

If I can keep my freaking mind busy,

this is the stuff that can pull me through.

♪

You did good, spoon.

[tense music]

♪

- Well, it might start raining.

♪

I was able to look at my net,

because the tide's low enough,

but hopefully, knock on wood, I'll catch something.

[geese honking]

Let's see, did I catch something,

and the seals stole it, or did I catch nothing?

[geese honking]

Oh!

The seals got into my net

and ripped a huge, gaping...

hole in it.

Oh, man, those seals.

Yep, there was something here.

Then the seals got in

and tore my net apart.

This is a hard net to break.

The fish can't break it.

There is just no way.

Oh, those seals.

What am I gonna do?

I'm in a battle with the seals.

Like, I can't get my fish.

♪

I'm gonna have to try and repair it.

This net's kind of, like, one of my lifelines, you know?

I really rely on this net to be able to get me food.

The seals are taking that directly out of my mouth.

So...

if I'm not able to get food on this line,

well, that's not good.

So I'm moving it up.

Taking this whole thing out

and moving it up.

That's a big deal, moving the gill net.

It's gonna expend a lot of calories and time.

But it needs to get done.

I am not happy with the seals today.

I'm not happy with you, seals.

Wherever you are.

♪

Boy, we're competing, that's for sure,

these harbor seals and I.

You know who's winning?

They are.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

♪

- Thinking through my situation.

What it is.

Yesterday, it was frustrating to reach that creek

and see the salmon carcasses there.

I missed my big window of opportunity

while I was building the kayak to reach

that window of opportunity.

♪

I've had a good talking to myself about the options

of this place and the resources and where the abundance is,

and the salmon are hit and miss.

I certainly was hoping to hit.

I don't think I want to put all my eggs in that basket.

And I've been too stubborn about that,

I believe.

♪

I've been using an approach that I tell my students not to use,

which is trying to push my idea on the bush.

♪

The thing is that, the waters here,

just judging from the amount of seals around

are very, very rich.

I want to try and learn how to fish offshore

and spend more time right here in these coves,

near my shelter, minimum energy expenditure,

and try to see what I can-- what I can catch.

♪

Today, I want to concentrate on making a proper jigging stick

to fish from the kayak.

Years ago, I spent the winter with

Inupiat Eskimos in Northwest Alaska.

Wonderful people, the Inupiats.

I have very fond memories from that time,

in the native village of Kotzebue.

I saw a type of jig they use.

Just a bent branch, basically.

It lets you store lots of thread on it

and deploy it easily.

So it's the next best thing to a modern fishing rod.

I spent quite a bit of time in the forest

just looking for the right stick.

♪

So, after a lot of searching,

I found one that I think can do the trick.

♪

I just try to make things beautiful, besides useful.

Scratch out some beautiful lines,

make it a little bit animal-like.

Make it so that the objects that you use,

everyday objects, become meaningful.

These little things that are emotional assets,

they can carry you.

If it's a rough day, that can be just the difference

between wanting to leave or willing to go another day,

maybe another few days, and then conditions get better.

Who knows?

There we go, this guy is ready for traveling.

Got about 50 meters of line on,

which should be plenty of.

♪

Missing this darn salmon run is frustrating and discouraging,

but it made me realize that maybe I was being

too stubborn with just one plan.

So I want to diversify a little bit more

and listen-- listen to what the bush,

what this place, has to say.

Maybe there is an extreme abundance

right here at my feet in the cove.

♪

There is other ways to get food here

and it's maybe right in front of my door.

♪

And I'm learning bits and pieces every day.

Every day, there is some new thing

that I'm realizing about...

the tides, about the winds, about the currents,

about the forest.

♪

Each day has its own rhythm dictated by the land,

and I just try to adapt to it.

♪

Holy cripes.

And big, it is.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[mumbles indistinctly]

Stay there, stay there, stay there, stay there.

Look at this fantastic fish.

Oh, my God.

Finally, things are happening for me.

Finally.

♪

Come on.

Get this in the bag, at least.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you-- finally, all those efforts.

♪

I'm so glad.

Make a big difference.

♪

If the fishing continues the way it was today,

I don't see a reason to leave.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

♪

Good morning.

Um, today...

What's on the agenda for today?

♪

I'm gonna start cooking...

early afternoon.

I've got a bunch of limpets to add to my stew.

So that's gonna take a little bit of a fire,

'cause I was to boil it for about an hour.

Boil some of the liquid down just a tiny bit,

thicken it up.

Nothing really to do for a few hours,

so I'm just gonna cut some wood.

Keep my mind occupied.

Every day, I've done the same routine.

Wake up in the morning.

Process firewood.

♪

Check my lines.

I'll check my traps.

If I catch food, I process them.

♪

Make a fire,

get me a rolling boil,

and then I'm cooking.

♪

Eat dinner.

♪

I have my tea.

And then waiting and waiting

maybe three, four hours for darkness.

♪

Then just crawl in your sleeping bag

and go to sleep.

♪

Every day that I spend here,

nothing's different.

It's boring.

♪

Soon as I get bored, I start wanting to work.

And as soon as I start wanting to work,

I start cutting wood again.

Exerting myself a lot, burning calories.

I got enough freaking wood here for ten days, probably.

♪

The length of the days are really starting to get to me.

I'm just trying to get the day over with.

They're really lasting a long time.

I am wore out.

You look up "wore out" in the dictionary,

my face is right there, just like a mug shot.

Just wore out.

♪

It's a struggle to get out of bed in the morning.

♪

I just don't feel like getting up.

♪

What's really irritating me is time.

Every minute is dragging by,

barely moving.

Tick...

tock.

♪

Tick...

tock.

♪

I don't know what to do with myself.

Just sitting...

sitting here, watching the world go by.

♪

After a while, there's just not very many

redeeming qualities about this place.

♪

I just feel like I want to crawl up in bed

and not get back out again.

♪

All I do is go to sleep, dream about food,

wake up, and be like,

"Oh, that's right, I'm [bleep] here."

I'm still here.

♪

How many more days, man?

How many more days of this?

♪

How long can a person go out here?

It's getting tough.

But I still don't want to go home.

I want to stay out here.

I want it to be over, I don't want to suffer anymore,

but unfortunately, I might have to suffer a lot more.

♪

So here's the deal.

I finally did break down a little bit and start crying.

And I'll tell you why.

Um...

yeah, it's hard out here.

Not for the alone thing.

It's--I thought maybe I'd get in my head with my demons

and my own issues back home,

but that's not the case.

It's just freaking hard, man.

It's freaking hard, eating a freaking sea snail

and calling that dinner.

And doing it over, and over, and over again.

♪

I'm trying not to think about tapping.

And I'm thinking about tapping all the time.

You have to keep freaking plugging away,

keep plugging away.

You always have to just give it your all,

give it all you got, man.

And that's what I'm struggling with,

is giving it all I got, 'cause...

there damn sure ain't a lot left,

I can tell you that right now.

♪

[sighs]

♪

♪

So I moved my gill net.

The seals are still eating my fish

off my line and off my gill net.

♪

The calories, definitely, these last couple of days,

have been down, without having any fish

and only relying, really, on the limpets.

I've cut my energy expenditure down.

Just trying to conserve calories.

Feeling just a little bit off.

♪

And I'm a little spacey.

Feeling really light-headed.

The salmon run's almost over.

Now, anything left...

It's this sort of game, like the seals have their niche,

and the bears can also eat it in the river,

and they can also eat it in the higher intertidal area

when the tide is out.

So the bears and the seals aren't really competing.

They don't really overlap.

Well, I am right in the middle.

So I'm competing with both of them.

♪

Yeah, very empty net.

Nothing caught in it.

I need to eat to sustain myself.

It's--well, you know a good survival strategy?

Scavenging for food.

If the seals weren't stealing my food,

I'd be fine.

Scavenging's a great survival strategy.

Lots of people use it.

Maybe not in our culture, but it works.

♪

All right, I'm gonna go check out where the bears live.

Maybe they come here, but their main river.

See if I can, uh...

steal some food from the bears.

'Cause, you know--hey, if they're done with their carcass,

I'm cool eating it.

Yeah.

See the path to the--on the right side of the screen?

That's a bear path, right there.

That's how the bears get down.

How 'bout I take their path?

See you later. Wish me luck.

Maybe I'll scavenge some food.

I'm gonna go take this bear trail.

♪

Look at that.

Someone's been eating well.

♪

If there's anything left that the bears have been eating

that still looks decent enough that I can chop it up

and put it in my frying pan,

I'm eating it.

♪

Hello!

Human coming!

I'm, like, on their trail, so I want to let them know.

'Cause it's the mom and cubs.

♪

I just want to let them know

so I don't surprise them, you know?

Want to make sure they know you're coming.

That's when they do things like charge.

♪

We're on their trail-- oh yeah, there's salmon.

♪

I'm not gonna eat that piece.

Tail. It's not big enough.

♪

Hello!

Human coming!

[shouts indistinctly]

♪

I got a weird feeling-- a cougar over here.

♪

Huh.

♪

I just feel like...

Back in there, there's...

Really strong feeling of mountain lion.

♪

I have pretty good senses.

Right in here, somewhere.

♪

All right, yeah, I feel like I've gotten far enough here.

I'm worried that the predators

will keep stealing my food, and, uh, I'm hungry.

I need to eat.

♪

- ♪ All I'm doing is suffering ♪

♪ Why are you suffering?

♪ I'm trying to make life changes ♪

- My green food sources are freezing, I think

with with the weather.

It's not looking very good.

- There's ice falling out of the sky.

The wind is bone-chilling.

Yeah, it's weather like this that makes people tap out.

- Oh, man, look at all these mussels.

They may make me sick like a dog.

But life is risk.

♪