[SEAGULLS CAWING]
Oh, baby!
Yeah, boss!
JAKE ANDERSON: This is why crab fishing is fun.
[CHEERING]
God.
[LAUGHING]
NARRATOR: Captain Jake Anderson works the southern grounds
108 miles west of St. Paul.
Tracking this school.
Hopefully, it gets better.
[CHEERING]
JAKE ANDERSON: Big.
It is getting better.
Well, right now what's going on is
it's a first-come, first-serve policy.
Hey, here it goes!
Here we go!
JAKE ANDERSON: Now the pressure's on.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
What we do know, these are big, good crab.
[CHEERING]
JAKE ANDERSON (FROM SPEAKER): Let's just set
these back in the water, Mac.
NARRATOR: To deliver ahead of the fleet.
JAKE ANDERSON: I want to try to get as much crab on board
right now as I can.
That's why I'm setting back.
NARRATOR: Jake bets the time saved fishing the same location
will avoid time spent languishing at dock.
It's a good plan, if his hot spot continues to deliver.
JAKE ANDERSON: No rest for the wicked, huh?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Oh my god!
Winston, now.
Hurry, run!
Go, go, go, go.
I'm losing power right now.
I'm running on battery power.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BLEEP].
NARRATOR: The electrical failure--
a faulty voltage regulator, rendering one
generator inoperable.
JAKE ANDERSON: As a crab boat captain,
I need both our generators.
At any moment in time, the one generator I have left can stop.
And I lose the crab pots.
I lose the crab.
I can lose the boat.
That little piece is out of my league.
There's nothing I can do.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I'm tired of fixing stuff.
I just want to go fishing.
I just want to know if the decision I made to set back
was a good decision.
I'm gonna try to hurry and get back out.
That's about all we can do.
But the problem is the swell's coming
in from the west which will make it difficult
for me to get in the harbor.
NARRATOR: With a generator to repair and a first-come,
first-serve policy at the cannery--
JAKE ANDERSON: I can see the breakers on the beach.
Some of these swells are 10 feet.
NARRATOR: --Captain Jake Anderson must choose--
wait for the weather to calm or risk St. Paul's
rocky, wave-laden entrance.
JAKE ANDERSON: So we'll watch them as they come in.
These are pretty big.
They're not breaking.
But they're enough to throw you around and throw
you up against the rocks.
This place can be hairy.
The narrow entryway into the bay, really rocky.
It's a little windy out right now, too.
Now it's time to be a captain.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Your approach is fast.
Then I'll slow down, and I'll wait
for what I think is the best moment in between the waves
to cut in.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Problem is if I can't find it and it keeps pushing me in,
I can't back out of it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
You know, I almost wish I had a life jacket on right now.
I never thought I'd say that.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Look behind you.
Giant swell-- we're going to ride that one in.
Get ready to hold your hats.
JAKE ANDERSON: Turn, [BLEEP].
Turn, [BLEEP].
Full speed!
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JAKE ANDERSON: Oh my god.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CHEERING]
[BLEEP] me.
Dude, that was badass.
Oh my god, that was nice.
Beautiful, bro!
I love it.
That was [BLEEP] nice!
Look at that, just smooths right out in here.
God, man.
Nothing makes you feel more vulnerable than trying
to go into St. Paul Harbor.
Now it's just fix the generator, get back out there.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Look at that [BLEEP] thing right there.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: On the Saga--
[BLEEP].
[BLEEP] that was big.
That's what a 30-foot wave looks like.
My mom told me there'd be days like this.
What I wish she would have told me was how
many there were going to be.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Set everything back.
I thought maybe there were still crab here.
I want to know if the decision I made to set back
is a good decision.
Backs against the wall.
I have to fish.
I'm in the red.
NARRATOR: Instead of making a costly move to new grounds,
Captain Jake stakes the season on what he hopes
is a successful setback.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
JAKE ANDERSON (FROM SPEAKER): Let's get it going.
I said 75 pots here, so it's everything I got.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CHEERING]
Let's see.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
There's crab here.
1, 2, 3.
We got some nice crab here.
I was right.
[BLEEP] yeah.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[CHEERING]
There's [BLEEP] crab here.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Yeah, dude!
Awesome!
Is it good?
This is huge for me.
See the next one already.
I just hope that there's more in there.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Come on, no holes, no holes.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
That's a [BLEEP] nice one.
Oh my god.
I never set back.
Hey, nice, big, clean crabs.
JAKE ANDERSON: That strategy I just did worked.
That is crazy.
I can't believe that worked.
That's a setback, dude.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
It's unreal what's going on right now.