A documentary series chronicling the real-life high-sea adventures of the Alaskan crab fishermen. This is the most deadly profession in the world.
Genre: Documentary, Adventure, Reality-TV
Cast:Mike Rowe , Sig Hansen , Keith Colburn , Jake Anderson , Jonathan Hillstrand , Josh Harris , Bill Wichrowski , Edgar Hansen , Monty Colburn , Matt Bradley , Freddy Maugatai , Andy Hillstrand , Casey McManus , Nick Mavar , Nick McGlashan , Mandy Hansen , Gary Soper , Jake Harris
Fifteen hundred fishermen have converged on Dutch Harbor, Alaska, for the beginning of the Alaskan King Crab season. Each man is here to stake his claim on the 14,267,000 pounds of crab and the chance to earn a year's wages in just one week.
After a long night of baiting and setting crab pots, the fishermen anxiously await the captain's call to begin fishing. The first pot pulled of the season sets the mood. The early losers agonize over strategy hoping to make up for a lost catch.
It's hour 42 of the season and every captain feels the pressure. The Alaskan Department of Fish and Game announces an early closure to the season. Each boat has 24 hours to pull the pots they have in the water out - and every one of the final pots count.
With half a day left in the Alaskan king crab season, the crews race against the clock to get as much crab as possible. As the race to unload begins, minutes can mean the difference between unloading immediately or waiting in the harbor for days.
It is the dead of winter in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where the days are a mere 6 hours long. The forecast for crab fishing is cold and dangerous. But opelio crab season is just about to begin and 171 boats begin the long journey to find them.
The 2005 Opelio crab season didn't start but stumbled! The Big Valley sunk and its crew are still missing. "Good Samaritan" boats help search for survivors in the frigid Bering Sea. Soon though, it's 170 boats left fishing, and then tragedy strikes again.
It's been a little over 12 hours since the Opelio crab season opened and the Bering Sea has already claimed 6 lives. Despite these losses, the rest of the fleet begins to pull the pots and hopes are high. For the first time this season, the seas are calm.
It's crab season on the Bering Sea. Unseasonably warm weather and calm seas have contributed to record catches for the fleet. Capt. Sig Hansen and crew landed on the crab early and cranked through their gear filling two of the boat's three holds.
The Opelio crab season is open and the hunt for crab is intensifying. Rumors of a possible closure prompt the men to push even harder. After many blank pots, Capt. Jim Stone of the Retriever decides to give up on the Northern fishing grounds.
With the deaths of the Big Valley crew, this Opelio crab season has been a rough one. As the last hours of the season tick down, a new race begins- the race back to port. Captains strategize and compete for the best spot in line to off-load.
October in Dutch Harbor means only one thing: king crab season. Bering Sea weather reports warn of some of the roughest seas the fleet has seen in years. A massive storm system is moving in. The captains must decide whether to shove off or batten down.
In the pre-dawn hours of October 17, the king crab fishing fleet are enjoying rare, calm weather on the Bering Sea. Though the weather is cooperating momentarily, there is word of an impending storm and the decision must be made to run or to fish.
One of the worst storms in years is raging on the crab grounds, but the crab fishing fleet must continue its hunt for the deadliest catch: Alaskan King Crab. In spite of a torrential downpour and a blinding snowstorm, the crews push on.
After a profitable offload on Akutan Island, Captain Sig Hansen and the Northwestern crew are back on the trail of the Alaskan King Crab. Meanwhile, the crew of the Maverick witness a change in command as their Captain stands down.
The Aleutian Ballad is knocked on its side by a vicious wave, stripping the ship of power and leaving the crew scrambling in the dark. Meanwhile, the exhausted crews of the Time Bandit, the Maverick, and the Rollo endure rough weather.
January in Dutch Harbor, Alaska finds the fishermen returning to their boats for the Opilio Crab fishing season. As crews return, they'll prep their boats, the bait, and the supplies and hope that this season will be even more productive than the last.
The arctic storm continues as the Time Bandit pushes on with a limited amount of bait and the Rollo and the Maverick drop their pots quickly to avoid rolling. With the frustrated Cornelia Marie stuck in port, the Northwestern sticks with successful Cod.
Bad crab and long days fray nerves and cause fights on the Maverick and Rollo. The trailblazing Time Bandit presses north into the arctic onslaught and Sig Hansen wakes from a short nap to find the Northwestern lost after Edgar sits on wheel watch.
The Time Bandit finds their ice pack as the Rollo fishes through gnarly weather. The crew of the Maverick must work through a shipwide flu epidemic while the Cornelia Marie has trouble finding their Opilio crab. Sig moves on from the Cod to Opilio Crab.
Freezing weather and severe icing claim its first victim on the Cornelia Marie when deckhand Dave Gilbert takes a spill. Also, as the Time Bandit navigates the northern ice pack, the crews on the Maverick attempt to jury-rig a shattered stiff arm.
Rollo and Maverick race back to the crab grounds after a heavy offload on St. Paul Island. The Rollo's Captain Eric is cross with his crew after miscalculation results in forty thousand more pounds of crab than scheduled.
Facing the end of the season, the fleet is scrambling to the deep and pushing the fishing into overdrive. But when the job is over, a new challenge awaits-getting back to port in one piece.
Welcome back to Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The largest fishing port in the United States is buzzing with life as 81 fishing vessels, including the Northwestern, the Cornelia Marie, and the Time Bandit, return to start the 2006 Red King Crab season.
After a fishing boat sinks, the fleet works with the Coast Guard to find survivors. Equipment failures plague the Northwestern & Cornelia Marie, and the Time Bandit & Maverick start fishing only to have one boat come up empty while the other fills pots.
After a deadly start, the Bering Sea is still claiming victims. Working in high seas, Deckhand Lenny Lakanoff of the Wizard suffers a crippling injury, leaving Captain Keith scrambling to shore. On the Northwestern, Deckhand Matt fears possible jail time.
Halfway through the season the grind is on. On all the boats the men are working 40 hours without sleep. Equipment failures, fatigue and bad weather are making fishing even more dangerous, and the men of the high seas must deal with repairs and rescues.
The end of the king crab season is drawing near. Captain Johnathan and crew start dropping gear. The Time Bandit is back in contention, Captain Sig hauls in huge pots of keepers and onboard the Wizard, the crew is struggling to make their final offload.
The grinding 2006 Red King Crab fishing marathon comes to a close -- Sig Hansen and the Northwestern crew finish a 30-hour grind and steam for port while Phil Harris of the Cornelia Mariem aka "the comeback kid" returns to Dutch injury free.
Only days into the Opilio season, a major storm system has arrived on the fishing grounds. High seas cause Captain Andy of the Time Bandit to call his men off deck, moments before a rogue wave hits the starboard side.
Busted buoys, broken pots, and a blown engine have put the Northwestern more than a week behind schedule. Captain Sig hopes Lady Luck will smile upon him as he drops all of his gear far north of the rest of the fleet.
Greenhorns are put to the test as the Bering Sea's harsh winter weather deteriorates. Guy, the Wizard horn has only worked three days and is already faltering; but the Northwestern and Cornelia Marie greenhorns step up to prove their worth.
The promise of a great catch outweighs the dangerous risks faced by the Opilio Crab fishing vessels.
Finale for the greenhorns -- some have succeeded in their quests to become Bering Sea crab fishermen, others won't be coming back. The 2007 Opilio crab tally's in and a winner is declared.
The Red King Crab 2007 season begins on the Bering Sea.
The crews are off to stake their claims on coveted grounds, but the sea is not going to give up its bounty without a fight. The Time Bandit pulls a prank. After only 48 hours, one Wizard greenhorn is already starting to fall apart.
A mechanical breakdown presses Northwestern's Edgar to make a dangerous repair. Meanwhile questionable counting makes Sig lose his temper. Hard work separates the greenhorns on Wizard. On Cornelia Marie, Phil's health is failing and impacts the crew.
Greenhorns, skippers, and family fishing dynasties begin to crack. On Northwestern, Sig and Edgar have a "last man standing" contest to see who can fish the longest without sleep. Time Bandit's Captn Johnathan has a brush with death.
Tempers flare onboard Wizard and Northwestern. Time Bandit has a dangerous electrical short. On Cornelia Marie, Phil's health deteriorates. Early Dawn runs headlong into high seas when its greenhorn falls asleep at the wheel.
With a few weeks left in king crab season, the fate of every deckhand's paycheck sits squarely on his captain's shoulders. Time Bandit's Capt Johnathan has had good fishing but a string of bad luck for crew and boat. The North American returns to duty.
As the King Crab season ticks down, mass amounts of stinging jellyfish in unfilled pots add insult to injury. The Cornelia Marie faces losing their captain for good. Crew mistakes onboard Northwestern could be costly.
As the king crab season comes to an end, a totally exhausted crew fills the Northwestern's crab tanks to the brim. Cornelia Marie has a blackout. North American does a "Hail Mary". Wizard and Time Bandit race for the "String of the Week" prize.
A routine Coast Guard rescue becomes a battle against nature. Cornelia Marie heads to land for repairs. Fatigue is causing mistakes on Northwestern. On the Wizard, Greenhorn Moi locks horns with Capt. Keith. Time Bandit heads for better grounds.
On Time Bandit, Capt. Johnathan joins the deck crew and promptly has an accident while showing off his skills. The Northwestern crew is irritating Capt. Sig. Lenny from Wizard barely escapes a huge wave. The North American greenhorn is hazed.
The captains and crews share their take on family, traditions, and a passion for fishing. They admit to rivalries and jealousies between blood brothers and to the love and respect that keeps them working side by side.
Capt. Phil heads for the hospital, so Murray struggles to take over the helm of the Cornelia Marie. The Northwestern strains its crane to the breaking point and destabilizes the ship. Wizard springs a serious leak. Greenhorn Moi gets the ax.
Greenhorn and veteran deckhands share their first crabbing experience, crewing under crazy captains, and their best pranks from the King Crab and Opilio Crab seasons.
Arctic ice pack descends as the fleet makes its final push. Northwestern's Capt. Sig and Wizard's Capt. Keith battle freezing spray. Cornelia Marie's crew suffers from "Bering Sea dementia" while Time Bandit's crew is at its breaking point.
The captains race to catch the last of their remaining quotas, battling ice and equipment issues. Time Bandit's Scottie makes a near fatal mistake working the hydraulic system. An ominous message comes across the radio as the men head for home ports.
Revisit the legendary moments from season four of Deadliest Catch and hear some new tales from the captains, their Gloucester comrades, author Spike Walker, and one of Catch's legendary cameramen.
The captains and crew recall some incredibly close calls and examine some of the missteps and mishaps that can lead to a life-threatening emergency. A Catch cameraman stationed with the Coast Guard shares his amazing rescue footage.
The King Crab 2008 season begins on the Bering Sea.
It's week 2 of the season, and boats are hunting down the elusive King crab. A vicious storm kicks up and a Mayday goes out. The Skippers are glued to their radios -- waiting to hear the fate of 11 brother fishermen in distress...
The fleet is still dialing into the crab, and already a typhoon has taken its toll. A boat has sunk - and bone-chilling accounts of the fate of its men relay around the fleet.
It's week four of King Crab Season. Seven souls have perished, but the fishermen soldier on, in the hunt for crab. Grueling hours and vicious hazing test the Greenhorns -- and some start to crack.
Crab pots still come up empty and the skippers are out of ideas. Low bait and long grinds take our crews to dark places -- the smallest infractions from a Greenhorn or fellow Deckhand cause tempers and even violence to flare.
A new deadline is set: an upcoming drop in the price of king crab has the skippers rushing to finish their season. But crew battles and a fierce arctic storm block the way.
The King Crab Season is down to the wire and skippers are desperate to top off their quotas. It's looking bleak as crews pick through bone-yards of fished out grounds. Some boats dig deep for an end of season sprint, --other boats just scrape by.
It's the start of the 2009 Opilio Crab Season. Anything the Bering Sea held back during King Season is now being paid out in spades. The skippers have their eye on the oncoming ice pack -- but it's a lethal, 40-foot rogue wave that's on the hunt. And the Opilio season opens yet another judgment day for Skipper Phil Harris...will doctors allow him to reunite with his boat and his sons? On the Time Bandit the men target the Greenhorn of the Northwestern for some sweet revenge. And on the Wizard, it's the boat itself that becomes a target -- of an angry Bering Sea.
The fleet arrives on the Opi Grounds and boats struggle with ice, big seas, and bad information to hunt down the crab. A skipper regrets sending his men out in savage weather to save the boat -- but there are no second chances on the Bering Sea.
It's week three of the Opilio Crab Season. Long hours and miserable conditions already have the crabbers turning on each other. Boat-crushing ice stands between one skipper and the safety of harbor.
After weeks battling freezing spray, forty foot waves, and sub-zero temperatures, skippers have begun plugging their boats with Opilio crab. As they lrace to St. Paul harbor for offload, the 250,000 square mile arctic ice pack stands in their way.
Halfway through the season, each skipper faces his own personal form of hell. Frozen crab, frozen gear, and a frozen harbor chill the hearts of the most callous of fishermen. On the Northwestern, Sig battles a fierce cigarette addiction-and a fierce storm
When the fleet gets word of great fishing by the ice pack, the chase is on to the ends of the earth! Hellacious hours and missing pots-a journey to the far north will push these men over the edge.
Weeks into the Opilio Season, the fleet is bone tired and desperate for home. As delirium sets in, deadly, rib-crunching mistakes are made. But for one fisherman, a tragedy on land spells gut-wrenching, heartbreak at sea.
For two decades the Alaskan crab fleet has been haunted by the legendary "Black Sunday" storm. Now history repeats itself when multiple maydays go out during a massive arctic storm. Most Coast Guard assets are deployed to save a boat from going ashore
It's the final 24 hours of the 2009 Opilio crab season. A savage arctic storm causes multiple vessels to send out maydays. The Coast Guard is in a race against the clock to save four men before their boat is pounded into splinters against jagged rocks.
As the fleet prepares for king crab season conflicts surface in a meeting between the ship captains. Two of the captains hatch a creative scheme to help their kids grow up. The fleet heads to sea and sets their traps in eerily calm seas. Then, the Guardian comes to the rescue of a sinking cod boat.
The fleet pulls up their first king crab string of the season and after some suspense most of the boats show good numbers. But the greenhorns are already feeling the strain and there be storms a-brewing; not just in the weather but in the families.
The storms roll in but the fisherman take them in stride except when it comes to mundane things like cooking. A bigger problem is bait shortages making tempers rise. After three weeks at sea the captains trade their kids back.
The captain's boys spend some harrowing minutes alone in the wide open ocean transferring back to their home boats. Then its back to work to close out the king crab season but there are troubles. One boat takes on water. One has dead crab and too many crewmen. Another has a crewman with a bad attitude and a nagging skeleton in the closet.
The boats unload and head back out to top off their quotas but the fishing is poor. Captain Sig takes the Northwestern on a risky excursion to the northwest for blue king crab. The high seas are fighting everyone.
Two storms converge in the the last week of king crab season. Time bandit, heading home, struggles to navigate a narrow channel, False Pass, in heavy seas. The Northwestern continues its pursuit of blue king crab while the Wizard switches to the lucrative baridi crab.
Getting set for opilio crab season the Time Bandit's crew has some fun with their new greenhorn. The Wizard is a little tougher on theirs. The Cornelia Marie starts the season in dry dock. The rest face ice.
The ice storm prevented the fleet from reaching their planned fishing grounds so thy have no idea what to expect as they pull in their first sting of opilio crab pots. What they find is ice, heavy seas, seasickness, injury and the wrong kind of crab.
After a poor start to the opilio crab season the captains head to their favorite fishing grounds. As crew members can't or won't pull their weight the rest of the crew gets down on them. Then the Coast Guard comes to the rescue of a crewman with heart trouble.
After last night's failed rescue a second Coast Guard team arrives to rescue the fisherman who suffered a heart attack. The fleet finds crab. Loaded, the Northwestern attempts a dangerous and tense night passage into St. Paul to unload. Serious family matters come to the surface on the Cornelia Marie.
On the Cornelia Marie Captain Phil comes to grip with his son Jakes's drug addiction. Phil and a couple other skippers contemplate retirement and who can take charge of their legacy. Captain Sig has to deliver some hard news to a deck hand. The fleet returns to unload and is reminded that bad things happen in port too.
Captain Phil is sent to Anchorage for medical treatment leaving no one certified to run the boat. The Hilstrands pick a new captain. A greenhorn gets called on his attitude. News of Captain Phil's condition circulates to the boats at sea.
Captain Phil's boys go to Anchorage and are briefed on his condition. But they turn against each other as they struggle to deal with the situation. Jake, deckhand on the Northwestern, is feeling the tension of his missing father. Three others are injured and Edger is thinking he needs some time off but Captain Sig is irritated he hasn't trained a replacement. The Wizard navigates an ice flow. The Kodiak finally finds a happy hunting ground but looses loads of crab to poorly set traps. The time Bandit battles hyper-cold.
In eerily calms seas Captain Andy juggles crew assignments with adverse results and the crew boarders on insubordinate. The Northwestern continues to grind it out with mediocre numbers. Edgar, who's just about had enough of crabbing, starts training his replacements. Captain Phil begins recovering faster than expected. After off-loading Captain Bill cleans out troublesome crew members. Then the fleet is battered by heavy seas in a massive storm.
Battling 30 foot seas Captain Sig calls a halt and heads for port. The Kodiak tests two new deckhands in sub-zero temperatures. The Wizard finds great fishing grounds but the captain is worried about ice and a sluggish crew. The Cornelia Marie remains in port mourning the lost of her skipper.
One hour celebrating the life of the great captain Phil Harris. Everyone from the Harris boys to the captains and crews of all the boats in the Bering sea tell there stories they had with Captain Harris.
Tension runs high on the Northwestern. Edgar Hansen is fed up with the 22 year marathon of pain, and confronts older brother Sig. Josh Harris returns to the Cornelia Marie and the Opilio Season ends with a harrowing mayday.
The 2010 King crab season begins with an infusion of fresh blood into the crab fleet. Challenging the veteran skippers are 36-year-old Scott Campbell Jr. who helms the Seabrooke, and 28-year-old first-time captain, Elliot Neese, on the Ramblin' Rose.
Across the Bering Sea crab fleet, bad fishing causes high tensions and low morale as empty pots whittle away profits and nerves among the men.
Jake Harris gets a sink-or-swim lesson on driving the Cornelia Marie as danger strikes the Wizard when a crewmember gets caught in the line.
A serious injury forces a crewmember to his bunk after the crane breaks on the Kodiak, while the Seabrooke's greenhorn has a mental breakdown. The crew of the Cornelia Marie must put aside their differences to seek cover from a massive Bering Sea storm.
Two crewmembers nearly come to blows on the Northwestern while a deckhand on the Wizard falls asleep at the wheel and sends the boat steaming blindly toward a fleet of nearby vessels.
In the midst of a rough King Crab season, a mutiny transpires on the Cornelia Marie while mental and physical breakdowns plague the crew of the Kodiak. A rogue wave threatens the Time Bandit and a Wizard deckhand summons the wrath of captain Keith.
The police are called in after a confrontation on the Cornelia Marie while a debilitating injury to a Kodiak deckhand ends his career for good. An injury onboard the Ramblin' Rose causes the rookie skipper to have a change of heart.
The King Crab Season closes with a fierce arctic storm, a spectacular prank on the Northwestern by the crew of the Time Bandit and the departure of one of the fleet's most revered fishermen.
Massive change strikes every returning boat as Opilio Season begins. Edgar finally says goodbye to the Northwestern, a new captain boards the Cornelia Marie and the entire fleet is shut down by one of the largest arctic storms in history.
As the fleet battles an epic arctic hurricane, focus shifts from strategy to survival. Ice and injuries have the captains considering desperate measures. With the fishing in question, only one thing remains certain: there will be blood.
As another winter storm rips through the crab grounds, the Ramblin' Rose makes an all-or-nothing gamble, the Time Bandit courts danger at the dock and a crewman on the Northwestern suffers a bloody, nose-breaking blow.
A loose pot turns into a half-ton wrecking ball on the Kodiak, while a crewman on the Seabrooke is nearly crushed by ice. On the Cornelia Marie, the new skipper courts mutiny with a move to untested fishing grounds.
A captain and deckhand clash on the Cornelia Marie over a crippling lack of bait, while skipper Elliott Neese attempts to fix a possible season-ending breakdown and the Time Bandit's soft-spoken greenhorn goes to the Hillstrands' Â'Pirate School.'
The treacherous waters off St. Paul Island make offloading crab in this barren outpost a terrifying necessity for several boats. A harbor surge snaps lines on the Wizard while another greenhorn walks off the Seabrooke in a cloud of shame.
As Opilio season winds down, two exhausted crewmen on the Time Bandit nearly come to blows. The skippers of the Seabrooke and Cornelia Marie both suffer debilitating injuries and the captain of the Wizard erupts and physically assaults an unlikely victim.
The Bering Sea fleet finishes the season with big pots and big paydays. The Seabrooke captain fights an agonizing illness and the Northwestern takes revenge on the Time Bandit. The Cornelia Marie comes home from what could be its final season of fishing.
Early October 2011 and the Blue & Red King Crab season starts on the Bering Sea.
With the fleet split, a tale of two fisheries emerges. On the Blue grounds, a captains' bet has the boats jockeying for position. On the Red grounds, a returning veteran quickly proves his worth, while another boat copes with a fallen deckhand.
As the fleet grinds through injuries and mental mistakes, the Bering Sea exposes soft spots and weak links in each crew. While the skippers wonder which deckhands have the right stuff, the Time Bandit says goodbye to a crewmate who never made it back.
Across the Bering Sea crab fleet, bad fishing causes high tensions and low morale as empty pots whittle away profits and nerves among the men.
Past the halfway point of the King Crab season, man and machine alike show signs of wear under the brutal hand of the Bering Sea. While repairs can be made to the equipment, the fishermen must dig deep to soldier on in a place where nature rules.
As king crab season nears the finish line, the crew of The Wizard faces a life or death situation as a deckhand collapses and struggles to hold on. Catching crab suddenly becomes secondary to a fight for survival on the harsh Bering Sea.
Midway through the winter crab season and the Bering sea is taking its toll on the boats and the men. The northern most boats are in a race to save their gear as the polar icepack descends onto the fishing grounds.
In the aftermath of an arctic hurricane, the fleet struggles to reach the finish line of a brutal king crab season. Poor fishing and quarreling crews make this final push a painful one for every man on the Bering Sea.
It's winter in Dutch Harbor and the fleet prepares to hunt Opilio crab. The season looks promising with the quota up and the price high, but tensions rise before the lines are thrown as one deckhand quits, two brothers fight and one goes overboard.
With unrelenting northerly winds bearing down on the fleet, every skipper steels himself for battle with the descending polar ice pack. And as temperatures drop on the grounds, tempers on deck flare up.
Across the fleet, captains battle the descending polar ice pack to save their pots, and it's a losing war. The Northwestern and Wizard struggle to escape St. Paul harbor, while the rest of the fleet scrambles to keep their opilio season alive.
The Captains explore their own legacies as they swap stories of the legends of the Bering Sea. Elliot squares off with his boat's owner. Jake and Josh Harris compare what they learned as deckhands on the Time Bandit and the Northwestern.
Life at home is more complicated than life at sea. This explosive episode deals with Jake Anderson's murdered father, Jake Harris' addiction, and Elliot's disintegrating home life.
The captains discuss their strategies for dealing with the red crab quota and the brutal ice. Elliot and Junior settle their wager. Keith comes face to face with his most disgruntled Greenhorn yet.
There is an unwritten code of ethics in the Bering Sea. Junior and Elliot settle the score about their long-simmering feud. Josh Harris looks back at far he's come in a year.
In this special two-hour close to a merciless opilio season, a veteran deckhand pays for a mistake in flesh. Then in the final hours some men rise and some men fall, but not everyone will make it home.
It's October in Dutch Harbor Alaska, and after a devastating 2011 opilio season, every ship in the fleet is looking to make a comeback in the 2012 king crab season.
It's cloak and dagger time on the Bering Sea as Keith and Junior form a covert alliance. The Northwestern crew knocks out their rocky string but then faces a surprise challenge. Elliot finally debuts his new boat on the dangerous blue crab grounds.
On the blue crab grounds, brutal competition leads to more deceit amongst the captains. Serious injuries plague the fleet, and Junior's betrayal of his alliance with Keith comes back to haunt him with potentially lethal consequences.
On the crowded blue crab grounds, a high seas showdown between the Saga and Seabrooke takes an unexpected turn. On the Northwestern, Captain Sig must make a tough decision about his brother's future, while the Time Bandit has a close call in False Pass.
Five weeks into the king crab season change is in the air and on the Bering Sea. Big moves are made on some boats while it's the same old story on others. Still, the hunt for the elusive blue crab is on everyone's radar.
On the Northwestern, Jake's dark secret sets off a fistfight that throws Edgar's new captaincy into jeopardy.Tempers flare on the Saga and Seabrooke when Elliott grows wise to Junior's devious ways.
As King Crab season comes to an end life-changing decisions must be made. The captains of the fleet pull up their last pots while young Jake Anderson struggles with his decision to leave the Northwestern and Josh Harris plots to buy his father's old boat.
Chaos kicks off the 2013 Opilio Season when an accident on the Time Bandit has them racing for the shore. Jake Anderson gets a not-so-warm-welcome on his new boat, the Kiska Sea. As these gladiators of the Bering Sea lace up for their biggest money season
A Category 4 storm has landed on the fleet two weeks into the Oplio Crab Season. As the first pots come aboard some captains are dialed into the crab, while others are off their scent, but they're all struggling to stay afloat.
Survival is the name of the game as the fleet battles their way through a ferocious arctic storm. Junior takes a huge risk in order to get back in the game; two greenhorns struggle to fit in with their crews; and Elliott's problems on land continue.
The fleet's weathered the storm, but the crab are still off the bite. Desperate to make their offload dates, captains mercilessly grind their crews, but some deckhands sick of being bullied when they're not making any cash aren't gonna take it.
The crews and battered boats are feeling the brunt of one of the hardest Opilio seasons on record. While some crewmembers battle potentially catastrophic breakdowns to stay out on the grounds and keep fishing, others throw in the towel and call it quits
Midway through the crab season and the northernmost boats are in a race to save their gear as the polar ice pack descends onto the fishing grounds.
With only three weeks left in the Opilio Season, the fleet prepares to make the final push to wrap up their seasons. Captains battle weather, equipment, and their own men in a sprint to the finish, but nothing comes easy.
After enduring months of mechanical breakdowns, sleepless grinds, and infighting, the fleet is starting to crack. When deckhands on the Wizard are unable to lasso a floating walrus carcass, Freddy Maugatai takes matters into his own hands.
The younger generation is put to the test as the fleet races to finish a grueling opilio season. As defiance on the Wizard turns brother against brother, an accident brings one crabber's career to a gruesome end.
A government shutdown shortens the season and starts off a chain reaction that forces the fleet to fish harder and faster to make the market deadline. One boat goes up in flames and many are left to wonder if this is really the life they wished for.
Two weeks into the King Crab season the fleet is already behind after a government shut down and now a massive arctic storm. A harrowing Coast Guard airlift must abort with 100-knot winds whipping over the grounds.
A storm shut down the fleet, now an even more severe weather system hits them again. While captains do their best to stay their course, greenhorn problems, mechanical malfunctions and bad fishing conspire to shake their resolve.
The King fleet grows desperate as it hurtles towards the finish line and the Wizard's fishing strategy lands them on the wrong side of the law.
As crews prepare to head to the Bairdi grounds, a mayday call from a sinking ship prompts a dramatic at-sea rescue. On the Cape Caution, Bill's greenhorn is looking for a way out, while Edgar on the Northwestern takes a big risk at his first time as captain.
With one captain in the hospital and another on a bender, fishing has come to a halt on two boats. Out at sea an alleged felon is trapped, a boat goes dark, and on the Time Bandit...well Captain Johnathan Hillstrand just wants to be young again.
One captain faces what might spell the end of a storied career while another struggles to check into rehab. Problems on land pale in comparison to those on the Bering Sea where the brave men and women of the United States Coast Guard lose one of their own
Opilio season kicks off with the return of the fabled Cornelia Marie. After a 3-year struggle Josh Harris bought back the boat that helped make his old man a legend. 18-year-old Mandy Hansen arrives to convince her father Sig to take her fishing.
Blood is spilled on the Cape Caution, when a brutal storm rips across the Bering Sea. Rookie boat owner Josh Harris swallows his pride. Captain Sig fights to keep the Northwestern from going up in flames and Captain Keith battles boat-sinking ice.
In Dutch, Sig welcomes their newest greenhorn: his daughter. After four generations of Hansen fishermen, the next in line is a woman. In high seas, a major hydraulic leak on the Time Bandit primes the engine room to blow.
While the rest of the fleet have their doubts about a woman's place on a crab boat, the Northwestern crew must train their new recruit; Sig's 18-year-old daughter, Mandy Hansen.
As the wintery Opilio season roars on, Sig puts Mandy at the helm in boat-crushing seas. Josh Harris struggles quash a rebellion. Elliott's new girlfriend arrives (much to his crew's chagrin). Zack Larson feels Wild Bill's wrath.
It's Super Bowl Sunday on the Bering Sea. The Cornelia Marie battles 20-foot breakers in St. Paul, a blown prop on the Time Bandit causes a rift that pull the Hillstrands apart and Wild Bill takes his deck boss to task.
As Sig orders a classic Northwestern grind, Mandy learns what it's really like to be a greenhorn. With major repairs on the Time Bandit, Captain Andy is faced with a tough decision.
With the end in sight, crews struggle to keep it together. A saboteur seeks an early end for the Cape Caution. Cornelia Marie Captains Josh Harris and Casey McManus fight to control their crew. On the Time Bandit a long lost Hillstrand returns.
An arctic hurricane strikes the fleet. The Cornelia Marie faces sinking. Blood is shed on the Time Bandit. The Northwestern needs repair in 30 foot seas. The Wizard has a near perfect season.
King Crab season kicks off with a 12 million pound Bairdi quota increase that causes a Derby style fishing frenzy, a boat is stolen the night before launch, and the unlikeliest of alliances is born.
An additional 15 million dollars in crab sends the fleet into a fishing frenzy. To get ahead, the Time Bandit and Wizard must put a decade old rivalry behind them. Josh Harris learns a difficult lesson.
25ft waves test the mettle of rookie skipper Josh Harris, but it's fire not water that threatens to sink his 128ft Cornelia Marie. On the Wizard, a mutinous crew faces off with Captain Keith. Sig Hansen gets an unwelcome surprise.
With the 800-mile Super-Typhoon Nuri closing in, Captains make hard choices to save their seasons. The Northwestern charges into the storm, the Cape Caution retreats to land, and the Wizard gets a replacement deckhand delivered on the high seas.
Super Typhoon Nuri swallows the fishing grounds. With lives & livelihoods on the line, Rookie skipper Josh Harris's weaknesses are exposed, Captain Sig loses control of the Northwestern & Captain Elliott Neese steps down from the helm of the Saga.
With a 1.5 million dollar boat of his own and more King Crab quota than any other captain in the fleet, Elliott Neese throws it all away and bids a final farewell. With a baby on the way, Jake Anderson struggles to fill Edgar's shoes on the Northwestern.
On the Northwestern Jake gets a Whiplash-style captaining lesson from Sig. A long trip and a prank threaten Captain Johnathan's catch on the Time Bandit. To restore order on the Cornelia Marie Captain Josh must hit below the belt.
As the end of King Crab Season comes to a close, Casey forces Josh to fish at full speed ahead.Jake is also getting another crack at the Captain's Chair on the NorthWestern and Wild Bill makes it uncomfortably hot for the Coast Guard.
Christmas at sea for the Time Bandit is disturbed when an unhinged deckhand terrorizes the crew. Jake Anderson awaits the birth of his baby, when an unexpected phone call throws a wrench in the plan. A greenhorn's season is cut short by a gruesome injury.
Three boats hit the Opie grounds early. Johnathan Hillstrand struggles with a rogue deckhand, freshman skipper Jake Anderson prepares for the birth of his baby, & a hydraulic explosion on the Cape Caution calls Zack Larson's dedication into question.
The rest of the fleet arrives in Dutch Harbor to take opilio season by storm. Jake Anderson prepares to captain the Saga for the first time. Captain Andy Hillstrand returns to find the Time Bandit in disarray. Keith Colburn's new greenhorn turns heads.
The most menacing storm of opilio season moves in on the fleet. A rogue wave terrorizes the Cape Caution, ripping steel and timber. The Wizard crew races to plug a gushing leak. The Saga, captained by Jake Anderson, is nearly capsized by a 40-foot wave.
A 600-mile-wide arctic storm continues to ravage the fleet. Rookie skippers Jake Anderson and Josh Harris struggle just keep their heads above water while veteran captains Andy Hillstrand and Sig Hansen charge straight into the heart of the tempest.
A second major storm slams the fleet. Rookie skipper Jake Anderson reaches out to Sig Hansen for help. Josh Harris arrives on the grounds weeks late. Captains Keith Colburn and Wild Bill Wichrowski struggle to keep their greenhorns in the game.
Late into Opilio season, the fleet battles against mental & physical breakdown. After deliberately defying Sig, Captain Jake Anderson has a shot at redemption. Captain Keith props up one ailing greenhorn after another. Wild Bill must decide on a medevac.
Super Bowl Sunday & the Bering Sea: The Cornelia Marie hatches a scheme to watch the Seahawks play. An injured crewman jeopardizes Captain Keith Colburn's plan on the Wizard. The Cape Caution crew makes a near fatal error. The Time Bandit loses a Captain.
The polar ice pack descends, threatening the end of season. Jake struggles to lead his crew in the worst of conditions. Sig attempts to offload his crab before saving his gear. Casey shows Josh what it means to be a Captain and Keith grinds to the finish.
Polar ice descends and each Skipper must choose flight or fight. The Saga is in danger of sinking & Jake must act fast to save his crew. Josh takes a huge gamble against Casey's wishes and heads towards the ice. Sig & Johnathan race to rescue gear.
An adrenaline-packed new season brings a new face: 23 year-old Sean Dwyer -fighting for the legacy of the father he lost too soon. The Time Bandit squares off with the law, Captain Keith's life spirals, and Sig torments his former protégé.
24-year-old Captain Sean Dwyer and his crew prepare for their first crab season aboard the Brenna A. Jake Anderson fears he made a big mistake. Wild Bill handles a challenging deckhand. Keith gets support from an unlikely counselor, Johnathan Hillstrand.
Wild Bill risks his biggest lead in history to bail Josh Harris out of trouble. 23-year-old Sean Dwyer finds out if he's got what it takes. Veteran skipper Johnathan Hillstrand leans on his crew and a little tip from a friend to turn his season around.
Josh Harris is forced to take over the Cornelia Marie. Sean Dwyer gets his first taste of the angry sea. Greenhorns on the Cape Caution are slapped to attention. Weather, mechanical failures, and inexperienced crews complicate matters across the fleet.
Jake Anderson attempts a treacherous short cut with only one engine. Casey and Josh perform surgery at sea. Edgar Hansen works to make his mark as captain with his greenhorn son Eric on deck. Captain Keith hopes to turn his season and his life around.
The season's worst storm yet slams the fleet. Freshmen Skipper Sean Dwyer must choose between crab and a childhood friend. Wild Bill questions his son's status as a crabber and man. As injuries stack up one deckhand reveals a painful secret in his pants.
With Captain Edgar Hansen at the helm, the Northwestern nears the brink of mutiny. Drunk deckhands put the Saga at risk, captain Johnathan gambles big to end his season, and Freddie Maugatai takes honoring his skipper to the extreme.
A new generation of captains steps up to harness the Bering Sea. But with injuries & breakdowns plaguing the fleet, do they have the drive that it takes to become a legend?
Winter crab season is here and with it this year's biggest storm. Every captain must choose; risk it all and head out into the storm or stay back, tied to dock losing money. However carefully they choose the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
In the final throes of the season's first arctic storm, captains and crews battle for survival. While veterans fight the weather, rookie skipper Sean Dwyer stands fast, waiting out the storm, making his first trip of the year during blue skies.
Keith and Johnathan test the boundaries of partner fishing. Captain Jake struggles to stay cool with a problematic deckhand. Zack must step up when Wild Bill gives him a shot at the helm.
Big weather hits the fleet. An unruly deckhand forces captain Sean Dwyer to enforce his dad's law. Josh and Casey square off. Sig grinds his crew. Keith struggles with new greenhorns.
Alone on the water, days from land, the Northwestern catches fire. On the Time Bandit a family emergency forces Johnathan to make a desperate move. Josh Harris' judgment is tested.
Captain Sig and crew fight for their lives against an engine room fire 250 miles from land. Faulty hydraulics and a flying 800-pound pot make for a deadly situation on the deck of the Saga.
Blood is shed on the Time Bandit, a fight breaks out on the Wizard, the Northwestern grapples with a burnt out boat, and a lost bet leads to cod guts on the Brenna A.
A rogue wave forces Zack to make a life or death decision. Against his co captain and crew, Josh bets on a Bering Sea myth. Giant seas roll Sean Dwyer. Sig turns to daughter Mandy for help.
Intense weather and more damage to his battered boat take a toll on Sig's heart. The USCG attempts a dangerous medevac. Bill struggles with a water leak. Jake recruits an old friend.
Sig fights to survive a massive heart attack. Bill learns a dark secret about his son. Josh fights to prove himself. Jake learns a valuable lesson. Johnathan appeals to the gods.
The crabs have vanished igniting a grueling hunt to save the fleet's way of life. Captain Sig resumes the helm after a major heart attack. A rescue is attempted. Wild Bill debuts his own brand new boat in a crisis season.
The fall season begins with uncertainty. A seismic shift in sea temperature sends the fleet searching for displaced crab, while also fighting an unseasonably large first storm.
Rising sea temperatures test the fleet. Toxic smoke engulfs the Saga. Sean struggles to save the family business on the Brenna A. Wild Bill fears he could lose Nick to a terminal illness.
Wild Bill uncovers the truth about Nick McGlashan's terminal illness. A damaging mechanical issue threatens to crush Jake's future. Warming seas force Keith into the unknown.
Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand fish together for the last time. Keith's inattentive crew sends the Wizard on a collision course. A belligerent deckhand tests Jake's resolve as captain.
A massive leak fills the Time Bandit. A fistfight tests Jake's resolve while heavy winds and a snapped anchor threaten to wreck his boat. Sig's greenhorn has an awkward question.
A big decision weighs on Sig Hansen. Rookie captain Sean Dwyer gambles on a new venture with a new crew. Jake Anderson struggles to replace a lost anchor before his quota is taken away.
The last moments of the fall season bring its biggest storm. Wild Bill struggles to pilot his new boat in big seas. Johnathan faces off with a massive swell in the perilous False Pass.
Competition doubles when the quota is cut in half. Three captains arrive early for the winter season, but Johnathan goes one step further and plots a dangerous, 600-mile course to Russia.
Sig returns to the season that nearly killed him. After a tough start, Keith and son struggle to prove themselves. Wild Bill gives Nick McGlashan a second chance. Jake lets go of a friend.
When the Arctic opens up its winter wrath, the first of multiple back-to-back hurricanes descend on the fleet. Spotty fishing and mutiny also converge to create the perfect storm.
An Arctic mega-storm rocks the fleet. Sig plays cat-and-mouse with towering waves. Keith watches an 800-pound crab pot launch into a deckhand's spine. Wild Bill fights for a comeback.
Sig's stress takes a toll. Sean tries to dock in a hurricane. Keith is left dead-stick in massive seas. Jake motivates a defiant hand. Johnathan rolls the dice by Russia.
Sig, Johnathan and Jake attempt to run from a second arctic hurricane, but Keith refuses to heed the warnings. Stress-induced chest pains threaten the remainder of Sig's season.
After suffering chest pains, Sig awaits news in the hospital. Wild Bill struggles to stay out of harm's way while also handling dissention on deck. Sean lays down the law with Zack.
When Mother Nature stirs it up on the Bering Sea, Sean is set on a collision course with another boat, two deckhands get taken down on the Wizard, and Jake almost loses a deckhand...twice.
Two old friends race to finish their seasons, but one hopes to cap a storied career. Johnathan Hillstrand wants to bid farewell in a blaze of glory, but the Bering Sea may have other plans.
The U.S. Coast Guard desperately scours the Bering Sea for a missing crab vessel, while the fleet anxiously waits to discover the fate of its six-man crew. After a plea from his wife, Sig contemplates an early exit.
In the wake of the Destination tragedy, one last storm bears down on Edgar, Bill, Sean and Jake. The Coast Guard attempts to save the crew of a fishing vessel while their boat takes on water.
Sig and Jake have a big falling, leading to new strategies and alliances. Josh Harris returns to captain his fathers boat. Sean plays dirty, but Wild Bill shows him he's messing with the wrong Captain. With big rewards, comes big risks.
Bering Sea draws first blood in a daring Coast Guard rescue. Jake strives to become an independent Captain, and Keith offers to take him on as an apprentice, but accusations fly and suspicions grow as the captains plunge head first into a brutal start.
Wild Bill risks it all on a new bait and fish strategy hoping it will pay off big. Sean and Casey forge an alliance, but when one strikes crab, will he betray it? A dangerous mistake jeopardizes Jake's offload.The Cornelia Marie is whipped by bad weather.
Sig takes heads off the grid on a daring midnight mission to shake his rivals. The Cornelia Marie pays the price for a rotten alliance, and an injured deckhand could force the boat in early. Keith gets big news from his doctor on a mystery illness.
As a flooding collision void threatens to sink him, Keith fights to keep the Wizard afloat. A missing boat part leaves Jake stranded at sea. Sig gets ready to pass the torch to Edgar, but the brotherly tension rises when he can't give up the reins.
A massive arctic hurricane hits the fleet with high winds and big waves. On the Saga, an unstable stack threatens to capsize the boat. Wild Bill risks driving straight into the storm to catch his quota, while the other captains pull and set pots before harboring.
Jake makes a devil's bargain, huge crab for hidden perils, until his boat itself is on the line. Sig serves cold justice at sea, while Wild Bill chases a King Crab jackpot.The Cornelia Marie crew learns when you bet on a boat, the (wheel)house always wins
On the edge of failure, Josh Harris discovers secret fishing grounds in his late fathers logbook. A deck mishap on the Saga could end Jake Anderson's season. The coast guard attempts to hoist an injured sailor from inside a ship's tank in turbulent seas.
Keith is forced to hand over the Wizard, Josh fights for the helm despite a bad showing, major engine trouble threatens Wild Bill's season.
A massive tidal surge threatens Josh and Monte as they chase their bounty deep into an arctic storm. Wild Bill hopes to get his broken boat off the dock, while the rest of the fleet arrives for the start of Opilio.
A blackout leaves the Saga close to disaster in unfamiliar waters; unwilling to partner, Josh must fill his quota single-handedly; Keith makes an offer only a captain could refuse.
The Winter season brings 40 knot winds and 20 foot waves. As accidents plague crews, the Bering Sea singles out one greenhorn for the worst. Strategy is more critical than ever with crab on the move and tension between Wizard co-captains reaches a breaking point.
It's baptism by fire aboard the Northwestern as Mandy takes her first shift in heavy seas. The Wizard crew battles over one crewman who isn't pulling his weight on deck. Caught short on bait gear and battered by high seas, Wild Bill changes his strategy.
A 150-year supermoon storm wreaks havoc on tides, churning undersea currents that rip pots right off their lines. The Coast Guard attempt a rescue mission in the heart of the storm, while Wild Bill faces his worst nightmare as a greenhorn goes overboard.
A greenhorn's life hangs in the balance as the Summer Bay crew scrambles to rescue one of their own.
Sig pushes Mandy to invade the Cornelia Marie's ground, sparking a battle for the crab. As the Cornelia Marie's pots get tangled with the Northwestern's, Casey takes extreme measures to defend his turf. A Saga distress signal sends panic across the fleet.
A severe arctic gale batters the fleet, forcing captains to fight extreme wind and waves. For the second time, a greenhorn's life hangs in the balance on the Summer Bay. The Saga crew seeks shelter at St. Paul, where tidal forces snap Jake's anchor.
As rogue waves threaten to capsize their boats, Jake and Sean must make life or death decisions for their crews on deck. Wild Bill faces a choice that could end his career, and Keith returns to the Wizard put an unexpected end to his brother's rule.
The captains take on the steepest waves yet in an epic final surge to hit their quotas. Jake fights through a debilitating crew injury on deck. Josh gambles big on his crab count, while engine failure leaves Sig dead in the water.
On the cusp of king crab season, a massive new boat helmed by a renegade captain discovers the crab are all in one spot. As the fleet races to find the quarter billion-dollar hoard, captains battle each other and the Bering Sea to claim their share of the bounty.
Atop the king crab super swarm, full pots boil over into conflict as young guns Sean and Jake join forces to set down Sig. Keith and Harley reignite a decades old rivalry, and Sean faces the long arm of Alaska law when crab in his tank come up short.
As the first arctic storm arrives for the fleet, Saga's deck boss takes a knife to the ribs. Josh and Casey's record setting haul gets interrupted when one of the deckhands finger gets tangled in the coiler. Capt. Bill makes one last attempt to motivate his lazy greenhorn.
While Mandy is in the Captain's seat all by herself, a freak accident strikes the Northwestern. Josh plots a new course on the Cornelia Marie while Casey is sleeping. Things get dark on the Wizard when the lights go out and Harley's launcher snaps at the worst moment possible.
In the biggest storm of the season, Jake faces a life-or-death decision when a shifting stack threatens to capsize the Saga. Sig and Mandy haul through angry seas, while Josh and Casey gamble on quota but find there's more on the line than numbers.
The Bering Sea takes a brutal toll on captains and crew. Wild Bill calls the Cornelia for help. Jake confronts a disorderly crew, forcing his toughest decision yet as captain. Josh mans the helm as Casey makes a risky ship-to-ship transfer in high seas.
In the winter season premiere, the coldest weather in nearly a decade threatens to crush hulls and freeze the sea. Monte must fill his tanks fast to get home to his ailing father, while a shocking mishap leaves a Hansen family member grasping for life.
As winter intensifies, Sean faces an engine room fire. Summer Bay deck boss suffers a season-threatening injury. Harley offers a newfound nephew a trial run at greenhorn. Monte races to fill Wizard's Bairdi quota so Keith can say farewell to their father.
Josh and Casey risk a 500 mile trek north to the icy Russian line. Jake tracks his own fast-moving crab horde. Sig does double duty on the Northwestern. The Bering sea cracks the Wizard's 74 year-old steel hull as the Colburns face the loss of their dad.
Josh and Casey haul their all time biggest pots, starting a gold rush to the Russian line. Cpt. Bill gets inside intel, while Harley confirms numbers his own way. As Arctic Storm Elsa builds in fury, the fleet realizes this ice queen casts a deadly spell.
The wrath of Arctic Storm Elsa hits the Cornelia hardest as a breakaway pot thrashes Josh and Casey's crew. Captain Keith orders deckhands onto the stack as Elsa's icy blasts threaten to capsize the Wizard. No rest for Jake as the Saga takes a rogue wave.
Arctic super-storm Elsa intensifies, the forecast warns of isolated waves of gigantic size. In the crab-rich northern grounds, the Cornelia Marie, Wizard, Southern Wind haul pots as big as the waves, until one boat faces a 60-foot monster.
Just miles from the fleet, the fishing vessel Destination disappears without a trace. In an unprecedented investigation, the mystery can finally be solved. But captains must make big changes, or risk sailing into the same peril on the icy Bering Sea.
In storm-driven seas, Cornelia Marie's crane goes off the rails, smashing Josh and Casey's wheelhouse and injuring deckhand Taylor; Sig risks navigating a rocky passage in treacherous conditions.
A Cornelia Marie deckhand suffers a devastating blow that requires emergency surgery at sea by Casey. Meanwhile, Captain Sig is left behind awaiting news from home.
The fleet battles a freight train of back to back storms. Sig's crew pays a price for stuffed pots, while Harley risks gear on an elusive hoard under the ice. Freddy attempts self-surgery on the Wizard, and the Summer Bay crew gets news on Nick's future.
Monte returns to co-captain the Wizard just as a freight train of storms slams the fleet from the south. Jake battles the risk of hauling pots in 30 foot seas to return to his family. Wild Bill drives farther north into the icy Arctic than any other boat.
As crab turn elusive, veterans Sig Hansen and "Harley" Davidson form an unlikely alliance, but trust doesn't come easy for old school captains. Freddy pays a price for Keith's decision to haul in intense seas, and Jake tempts fate to become a boat owner.
The bone-breaking winter unleashes its fury on the Summer Bay. A rookie mistake leaves Captain Bill short a hand. Jake hits the jackpot at sea, but forces on land cost him dearly. There's hell to pay when Sean discovers the fatal flaw in his crab count.
In the penultimate episode, each skipper's next move determines who survives the final winter dash. Winds put the Wizard on a collision course with a monster. Jake taps a Hillstrand to save the Saga. Josh and Casey hit numbers not seen since Cpt. Phil.
In the season finale, with just ten pots to go, a crushing injury requires Coast Guard rescue. Josh and Casey face a huge loss when their offload gets cancelled. Sig rolls the dice on an early finish, while Monte hauls more crab than the Wizard can hold.
A dramatic change in the Russian crab industry rocks global markets and drives new competition between Dutch Harbor captains and their Russian adversaries. As crab prices rise legendary captains return to claim their payday.
Just as the fleet begins its race to beat the Russians, ferocious typhoon Hagibis turns its deadly gaze on the Bering Sea. Captains must choose whether to risk life and limb for a big payday, or to sit out the storm and fish another day.
The Cornelia Marie taps American satellites to spy on the Russians while Scott Campbell Jr. Pioneers a long-dormant fishery. And, Wild Bill faces big setbacks.
Johnathan goes under the knife at sea and Junior bets it all while chasing the elusive Golden King crab. Plus, Wild Bill faces an unruly greenhorn.
The Coast Guard responds to a Mayday call as captains and crew brace for the loss of friends during a brutal winter storm. Sig and Monte track an Opilio hoard at the Russian line, and the clock is ticking for Wild Bill and Junior during the cod derby.
As the crab biomass migrates across the Russian line, Josh & Casey drop 175 pots on the border.
Facing a 500-mile wide Siberian storm, Josh takes a big risk to keep the Cornelia Marie crew safe. Junior loses control of his rudders putting his boat at the mercy of heavy seas. Jake's greenhorn problems get a lot worse when one clogs the toilet.
For the first time, Junior has to call on the chase boat to help rescue them. Plus, Josh and Casey hit a massive wave that causes major trouble.
On the Summer Bay there's hell to pay when Bill's backup block goes missing. Cornelia Marie skippers Josh and Casey navigate a tenuous partnership at the Russian line. Weighed down by three full tanks, Sig puts a heavy Northwestern in Mandy's hands.
The Wizard catches fire in a violent storm known as a bomb cyclone. Meanwhile, Josh and Casey face 30-foot seas and Wild Bill's crew grind for 72 hours straight.
Battling exhaustion, Wild Bill's crew face the full wrath of the bomb cyclone. A snapped tendon puts the Summer Bay at risk and Josh gambles on crab-rich grounds.
Stuffed pots come at a price as Jake scrambles to repair a slack tank before it kills his crab or capsizes the Saga. Josh and Casey's rudder fails in heavy traffic and Wild Bill's new greenhorn makes an easy target for an out-of-control picking hook.
Josh and Casey race to haul pots as engine failure threatens their delivery window: as seawater destroys his hydraulic motors, Junior attempts a risky high seas delivery of three new motors.
Mandy plays the Devil on Sig's shoulder. Keith gets blocked by ice in his emergency. Falling fifteen feet hurts, sometimes.
A rare weather event churns up rogue waves as supermoon tides collide with a cyclonic snowstorm. Josh and Casey face a 55-foot monster, while Jake risks capsizing to repair his rudder in unruly seas. Monte's big move north pays off in massive pots.
As the super snow-moon storm peaks, the Cornelia Marie's deck becomes a gauntlet for Josh and a greenhorn. Plus, Junior fights a sea-flea infestation.
As the fleet mounts a final Winter season push, sad news rattles the Cornelia Marie wheelhouse. Lady Alaska greenhorn, Gabby, overcomes a painful injury to support her crew. Wild Bill's deckhands must devise a bush fix or face hauling pots by hand.
Saga loses a veteran deckhand, forcing Jake to steam a greenhorn army to the Russian line. Amid scuttlebutt that ports are closing due to a virus, Josh fights to get home for a reunion with his brother and Sig's daughter gets rushed to the hospital.
The Cornelia crew fights to save its gear from sea ice; Jake risks the far north to fill his tanks before his son's birth; amid news of a pandemic, Russian boats mysteriously disappear and captains race to dock before crab prices crash.
With half the crab boats tied up, Sig devises a plan to save the fishery from destruction. As Bering Sea legend Johnathan Hillstrand returns with the Time Bandit to help, veterans struggle to prove they can work together to defend the American dream.
When Mandy devises a plan for partnering, Sig must rethink his own tactics. On the Time Bandit, John and Josh conspire to outmaneuver a Russian captain who tells them what to do in US waters. All hell breaks loose as two vessels collide.
With a cyclone approaching the Saga could use a life raft. The Northwestern's rookie needs to speed up. Scott Jr. has family problems.
The Southern Wind comes to play, maybe. The Summers Bay loses power and their Rookie needs a pep talk. The Time Bandit and Cornelia Marie work as one.
Fighting a typhoon in the Bering Sea will cause a lot of trouble on board, but at the docks the Summer Bay has a collision with the Southern Wind. Sig will gamble on the movements of Bairdi crabs. Casey will get use old records to find the crab.
While most are going after the Bairdi The Saga wants to fill the King quota. Will the Coast Guard allow that? Working together to border and No Fishing Zone. Will they come out?
What would Phil Harris do? The illusive Baradi give the crews a game of Hide and Seek.
The race is on for the last spot at the cannery. Every Captain hurries to get their Bairdi caught with an emergency shutdown threatening.
While Mandy tests positive for Covid, the crews prepare to say goodbye to one of their own.
When the Cornilia has problems with their block, the Southern Wind comes to their rescue. The Time Bandit overhears Casey getting good news they make a quick run up North. Sig has a crew member with medical issues.
It's all fun and games until you burn the boat. It's a big day for the mechanics as everything seems to break.
As a polar vortex storm slams, a catastrophic collapse of the Northwestern's crane leaves Sig and Mandy with no way to haul pots.
As the storms batter the crews it seems to blow in some good fortune as well.
Let's give them something to talk about. The Past stories good and bad and why they happened. Many will question what to do with the canceling of The King Crab season.
Captain Sig battles the elements to launch his new King Crab operation in Norway. Facing a storm, Johnathan sets pots deeper than ever. Patricia Lee Captain Rip Carlton faces disaster when a deckhand gets crushed by a one-ton anchor pot.
Desperate to reach helicopter range before his deckhand dies, Capt. Rip charges into an Arctic storm to attempt the riskiest USCG rescue in recent history.
Johnathan sets mile deeps pots and pulls up an unknown species. Jake faces reality when his niece, Shyanne, gets injured on the Saga. With Mandy's due date approaching, Clark takes the helm in Sig's wheelhouse to help tank the Hansen family Bairdi quota.
In an epic Fall season finale, Clark scuttles Sig's partnership with Harley to get home for the birth of his and Mandy's baby. An orca leads the Cornelia Marie to the season's best pots. When John's autopilot fails, Jake is the star that leads him home.
The Captains of the crab boats get together in a cannery to discuss the upcoming season and moments from the previous season not shown during regular episodes.
The start of the bairdi, golden king crab and black cod. The ships captains are gearing up for their runs on the Bering Sea, bringing new crew members aboard, and battling each other to get a jump on catching their quotas.
Sig gets tough news at sea forcing Hansens to make a critical decision as John and Andy lend a hand. With wheelhouse ambitions, Jacob hits a wall with Keith on the Wizard. New captain Jack crosses a line when Harley makes a deal with Jake
Sig buries his beloved mother and the last of his family's pioneering generation. Sean Dwyer joins with Rick Shelford but two captains don't see eye to eye on rules. Jacob fights back on Wizard and finds no safe harbor from Captain Keith
New deckhand falls ill on Time Bandit, raising questions for Andy and warning signs for John. A bait pallet breaks loose, forcing Captain Rick to deal with severe crew injury. When Wild Bill's plan A fails on Summer Bay, Maria tries plan P
Sig returns from his mother's funeral only to find gear in harm's way. Rick and Keith forge a beneficial partnership. Jack makes his 1st offload as captain. Coast Guard gets a call to extract a sailor with broken legs 200 miles out to sea
When Sig and Mandy disagree on strategy, Clark finds himself caught in the middle. Wild Bill comes down on inattentive deckhands as Linda gets too close to danger. Keith pulls the Wizard alongside Saga and unleashes unexpected bad blood
On Saga, Sean Dwyer joins Jake for a high-risk trek to Adak Island. Rick attempts a dangerous shortcut through treacherous tides of Unimak Pass. Sig's deckhand Lauritz takes a brutal fall while Johnathan bids farewell to a lifelong friend
With a storm threatening his record-breaking run, Johnathan allies with Keith to triangulate the crab. Jack braves treacherous tidal currents, staking his redemption on loaded pots. In 30-foot waves, chaos strikes the Wizard when its stack breaks loose.
An early closure forces captains to work together to get their catch safely to port. Sig crosses a line when he repositions a rookie captain's pots. Jake and Sean race back from Adak while Linda bolsters her east coast reputation in the Bering Sea.
Johnathan hunts for crab in a secret location to which he's won exclusive rights. Sig tries his luck at a derby fishery. Keith risks an at-sea deckhand transfer, and Bob joins a fisherman's strike for higher crab prices.
Captain Keith eagerly repositions his pots when Johnathan makes an offer he simply can't refuse. Bob follows a pod of porpoises to her first big solo haul. Fired from the Wizard, Jacob chases his dream of becoming a captain to a wholly different boat.
Bob's breakout haul as a solo captain takes a turn when another vessel collides with the boat she inherited from her late parents. Cascading engine failures put Sig in a tough spot as the Coast Guard makes a surprise inspection.
Jake is forced to make a devil's deal in order to help another captain, but the high road may come at a cost. Sig works hard to make a profit from the derby. The crew of the Kodiak analyzes the damage.
Winter unleashes its wrath, smashing the fleet with storm-driven waves and tidal surges. When Keith's winch fails, the Wizard team is forced to work two shifts to recover their pots. Wild Bill's incorrect chart strands the Summer Bay on a sandbar.
When a deckhand on board suffers a probable heart attack, Keith goes into emergency mode in order to save his crewman's life. The Time Bandit is rocked by an explosion, which burns Freddy and shakes Johnathan to his core. Jake must empty pots in order to avoid capsizing.
On the Northwestern, Captains Sig and Mandy must use old and new equipment to thread the needle along the crab ground border. An injury on the Saga leaves Captain Jake short handed. Captain Johnathon must intervene when two deckhands argue over who's working the rail on the Time Bandit.
A full moon brings strong tides, forcing the fleet to endure tumultuous seas. After a crippling fire in the engine room on the Saga, Captain Jake deploys a bait cloud to draw more crab while the Time Bandit attempts a corkscrew set. Captain Sig on the Northwestern battles it out with Captain Rick on the Aleutian Lady for a honey hole crab spot.
