[SOUND EFFECTS]
NARRATOR: Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
MAN 1: King Crab, from one of the first times
ever, we actually had to work together.
And the guys did.
And it's the same for the opilio season.
NARRATOR: After staving off a shutdown of the fall fisheries.
MAN 2: We got a lot of quota to catch.
It's up 30%.
We need to help each other.
NARRATOR: The $142 million opilio
bounty will test the crab fleets autumn alliance.
Find some information quick.
Cover a lot of ground.
NARRATOR: And send some captains in search of every advantage,
including casting lines 10 days in advance
of their standard start.
CASEY MCMANUS: We're up here this early just so we could
be the first pots in the water.
At the end of last year, when I left a gear a little bit
too close to the ice, that gear was loaded.
So we're going to go all the way up North
and see what happens.
NARRATOR: Now, as all signs of life point to the Russian line.
REPORTER (ON RADIO): Forecast in the deep and powerful
low pressure system will likely have a pressure
of less than 930 millibars.
What?
REPORTER (ON RADIO): --which will mean extremely high seas
will also accompany this storm.
NARRATOR: Barreling South from the Arctic.
WOMAN REPORTER (ON TV): A massive storm in the Bering
Sea, considered the strongest storm the turbulent region
has ever seen.
MAN REPORTER (ON TV): Wave heights of 50 to 60 feet.
NARRATOR: At 125,000 square mile low pressure system,
its vacuum forecast to suck air into its center
at a crushing 96 knots, causing fetch and mountainous seas.
CASEY MCMANUS: Let's get out there before hit, all right?
Copy.
Roger.
MAN 3: You don't get a forecast for a 930 millibar low.
960 is a hurricane.
950 is like a category 3 hurricane.
930 is a holy [BLEEP].
Hang on to your [BLEEP] crap and pray.
NARRATOR: A day outside Dutch Harbor, on the Cornelia Marie.
One hell of a day to start.
No.
I mean, there's some stuff coming through here that's
got to be at least 25 feet right now
and it's supposed to build for the next several hours.
JOSH HARRISON: Going all the way to Russia.
Damn near.
But we'll be the first to the crab too.
Yep.
Just going for it.
JOSH HARRISON: We got him.
The boat'll do it.
The boat can do it.
The crew, we'll see.
JOSH HARRISON: The storm is going to start.
Let me go hide in my room.
NARRATOR: Now pointed for the Russian line 350 miles away,
Captains, Josh Harris and Casey McManus,
run headlong towards the leading edge of the storm.
Damn it.
Whoa.
Boy, some of these are really deep.
JOSH HARRISON: Yeah.
It's absolutely nuts.
Only eight miles from the Russian border right here.
NARRATOR: As the Cornelia sets the first pots
of the 2021 opilio season.
JOSH HARRISON: Seasick sounds a good start.
Whenever I get really seasick, that's usually
a good start to the season.
But just really depressing for me.
NARRATOR: The Tempest starts to exact its toll.
CASEY MCMANUS: You ever get that feeling, that watery mouth?
That, [BARFS]
Yeah.
CASEY MCMANUS: That-- right where
it makes you just hurl a little and your stomach tightens up.
The back of your eyeball starts watering and--
[BARFING]
We got a puker.
JOSH HARRISON: I think we have [INAUDIBLE] puking over there.
[BARFING]
You guys survive, [INAUDIBLE]?
Did you get some 600 milligrams of Grow a Set or what?
Oh, buddy.
[LAUGHTER]
CASEY MCMANUS: Holy [BLEEP].
There is a raker coming in.
Watch the Starboard Rail, guys, or get them off deck.
I'm serious, get the [BLEEP] off deck right now.
Oh, hang on.
Watch out. - This way.
Watch out.
[SCREAMS] Ah!
CASEY MCMANUS: Holy [BLEEP].
JOSH HARRISON: Wow.
CASEY MCMANUS: Wow.
[LAUGHTER]
Woo.
That was a good one.
[LAUGHTER]
Dude.
That was, like, oh, how big.
That was really big.
When the waves are taller than the house, you
know that you're in [BLEEP].
CASEY MCMANUS: OK, guys, be very careful getting these off.
JOSH HARRISON: Go deep now.
Let's test out how deep we need to go.
It's a really big commitment to come
out this far to the northwest, make this kind of gamble.
Come on over.
CASEY MCMANUS: Hopefully, we get some kind of payoff out of it.
NARRATOR: Outside radar range of the nearest vessel,
in the heart of the storm.
[BLEEP] Pulling up on it.
Oh, here's the start of the day.
The only boat out here.
There isn't a soul within 60 miles of us.
So far this gear that anybody in the fleet has,
hoping to strike it big.
But I'll tell you what, we really need this right now.
I mean, it's a lot of money getting up here.
Kicked out of us for a couple of days.
Woo.
Let's see what we got in it, ah.
Hopefully, it pays off.
These are for dollar signs.
All right, here we go.
Oh, my God.
Pray to the crab gods.
Whoa.
Yeah.
JOSH HARRISON: Holy [BLEEP].
Look at that.
[LAUGHTER]
You got [INAUDIBLE], buddy.
You got to be-- you got to be kidding me.
Yeah!
Woo!
Hopefully-- Whoa.
Whoa. Yeah.
Woo!
Table's overflowing.
JOSH HARRISON: Yeah, baby.
Here we go.
Yeah.
Boy, wow.
Why?
JOSH HARRISON: Full pot.
CASEY MCMANUS: Well, that looks good.
JOSH HARRISON: They already dumped one-third in.
That's the first pot.
Wait!
[LAUGHTER]
Woo!
JOSH HARRISON: Yeah.
Yeah, baby.
Five. Four.
Five.
[LAUGHTER]
JOSH HARRISON: [BLEEP] All right.
CASEY MCMANUS: That's a good way to wake up right there.
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah.
All right.
Wow.
Woo!
We have a good number.
It's what we need.
Six. One.
Five. - Six.
One. Five.
High pot.
CASEY MCMANUS: Hell, yeah. Six.
One. Five.
Yeah.
Woo!
Look at this one, Case.
[LAUGHTER]
Holy [BLEEP].
[CHEERING]
[LAUGHTER]
[BLEEP]
JOSH HARRISON: [INAUDIBLE] the double number.
CASEY MCMANUS: I love it.
Seven. One.
Five.
[LAUGHTER]
CASEY MCMANUS: Yeah.
Wowee.
CASEY MCMANUS: Woo!
[LAUGHTER]
JOSH HARRISON: Wow.
Seven. One.
Five.
I [BLEEP] them.
NARRATOR: 715 opilio and an average of 1.6 pounds a piece
makes that a $3,600 haul.
To come up to the Northwest here--
you make a massive investment on fuel, travel time,
the risk of icing up real bad--
you can find the pots of gold like that.
It's all worth it.
That's what you take the risk for.
[SOUND EFFECTS]