It's winter in Alaska, in the Bering Sea,
and that's nothing to play games with.
I don't care who you are.
[LOUD CREAKING]
These are some very, very, very, very, very big waves.
NARRATOR: Captains Casey McManus and Josh
Harris battle through 25 foot seas driven
by southbound Arctic winds.
[WAVES CRASHING]
The weather, it's supposed to get worse,
and then it'll get even worse than that.
Polar vortex, it's very unpredictable.
And there are some monsters out here.
Watch your back!
This is--
[BEEP]
--not normal.
Working in the Far North, Josh and Casey
bet that one last run through the gear
will top off their tanks before the polar vortex-driven low
pressure system reaches their chosen grounds,
rendering them unfishable.
CASEY: We found a nice little patch of crab.
So we're going to go back, and where that string
ran East and West, we're going to lay some North/Southers
on those fathom lines and see if we can't
dig some crab out of that.
Watch out, watch out, watch out.
Everybody, hang on.
Here we go.
[WAVES CRASHING]
Woo-wee!
[LAUGHS]
All right, guys, we're going to be sitting in the ditch
here a little bit.
Watch out!
CASEY: (ON RADIO) So just be careful.
Keep your head on a swivel.
OK?
[BEEP]
Going over.
[METAL CLATTERING]
[SPLASH]
Now we're going to lace this area up, man, put
everything real close together.
We just sit here and farm it, man.
NARRATOR: By clustering their pots in a tight area,
the skippers create a bait cloud to draw the crab out of hiding.
We're going to throw a buffet in front of them of codfish
and ground up herring.
And, you know, even if it's blowing 100 and a hurricane's
a-coming, you might walk your fat ass
over there for a burger, right?
JOSH: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Watch out!
[WAVES CRASHING]
One over.
[SPLASH]
Whoo!
JOSH: Bring me some love, baby.
Go get them, crabbies.
[MOTOR HUMMING]
[METAL SCRAPING]
[SPLASH]
[WAVES CRASHING]
[METAL CLATTERING]
[SMASH]
Holy [BLEEP]!
It hit you?
Oh, he just took a crowbar to the head.
I think it popped him a little, but--
NARRATOR: A pot smashes into the sorting table--
[SMASH]
--turning a 10-pound crowbar used to break
ice into a deadly projectile--
[METAL CLANGING]
Oh!
NARRATOR: --grazing new deckhand Jeremy
Kemmis' head as it flies past.
DECKHAND: You all right?
Are you OK?
That's crazy.
I mean, I think you're going to have number
one closest moment to death.
JEREMY: Holy moly, I didn't believe
that was going to happen.
[CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY] Crazy, crazy, right there.
That was a-- yeah, that could've been near-death right there.
[BEEP]
DECKHAND: Watch out!
[WAVES CRASHING]
[MOTOR HUMMING]
JOSH: Thank God, that's the last pot.
[SPLASH]
Rough out, but we got a job to do,
and we're going to go out and do it.
[WAVES CRASHING]
[METAL CLANGING]
All right, guys, I'm going to turn around
here and put the nose into it.
We'll swing the block in.
Yep.
So, uh, get a little rest.
Thank you.
Hopefully, this [BLEEP] crab didn't hit [BLEEP]..
So at least, for hitting my damn head,
there better be some [BLEEP] crab.
[WAVES CRASHING]
The birds can't even fly today it's so bad.
You know that's bad.
[WAVES CRASHING]
Got enough control of the boat.
The string was on the verge of just shutting it down.
NARRATOR: To entice the crab out of hiding.
JOSH: If they are hunkering down,
then they're hunkering down.
Don't know, maybe they'll be hungry and start eating again.
NARRATOR: Josh and Casey set their pots in tight rows,
creating a veritable buffet of over 6,000 pounds of bait
to lure their prey.
Polar vertex caused a lot of lows, a lot of highs,
very unpredictable.
[WAVES CRASHING]
[LOUD CREAKING]
CASEY: Your finger looks a little fat.
Yeah, it's definitely fat.
It's not so much this one. It's this one on this side.
Exactly--
NARRATOR: Using his finger to shield his
skull from a 10-pound crowbar--
Is it still throbbing?
Oh, yeah, it's definitely throbbing.
Yeah, I think when you let the--
let the pressure go--
NARRATOR: --new deckhand Jeremy readies
for some Bering Sea surgery.
The goal?
Relieve the pressure by any means necessary.
Whoo!
Let them go.
[WAVES CRASHING]
CASEY: We're going to need some of these.
You just take a paper clip, straighten that out.
All righty.
Hello. Woo-hoo.
[WAVES CRASHING]
CASEY: OK, look away.
Nope, hang on.
[FLAME WHOOSHING]
JEREMY: Raising my blood pressure.
[WAVES CRASHING]
Watch your asses.
[ALARM BLARING]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[GROANS]
[WAVES CRASHING]
Whoa!
[OCEAN ROARING]
Oh, you smell that?
JEREMY: Yeah, I do.
OK, squish that out of there.
All right.
Ah, feels better already.
CASEY: Does it? JEREMY: Yeah.
It definitely feels like it softening up.
CASEY: That think came shooting out of there.
JEREMY: [LAUGHING] - Cool?
Yeah. Thank you, boss.
CASEY: No problem.
Appreciate it.
NARRATOR: With "Dr."
McManus' operation complete--
JOSH: Morning Case.
Morning.
NARRATOR: --Captain Josh Harris turns to his first string
of the day in the Far North--
[WAVES CRASHING]
--if he can find it.
JOSH: Do you see anything out your window?
I don't see it on this side.
On your left, 10 o'clock, 140 yards.
Oh, 10 o'clock, roger.
CASEY: Keep coming, right in front of you.
I got her now. CASEY: Got her?
JOSH: Yeah. Thank you.
CASEY: OK.
JOSH: (ON RADIO) First pot's coming up.
Yeah, Rog.
Let's go.
JOSH: We have got to stuff this boat.
It's one of the largest quotas we've had in a decade.
Oh, baby.
Whoa!
Whoa.
DECKHAND: They're coming in!
[MOTOR HUMMING]
Yeah!
JOSH: Damn.
(CHUCKLING) Yeah.
[CLAPS, SNAPS]
Whoo!
Yeah, baby!
Ooh, we need this.
[WAVES CRASHING]
Watch it!
CREWMAN: [MOCKING LAUGHTER] Yeah!
JOSH: [CHUCKLES] What'd you get on that one, Ted?
4, 3, 0, thank you.
430?
JOSH: Yeah.
Hell, yeah.
Oh, oh, oh.
CASEY: Making as many pounds on the boat as we can.
[SPLASH]
We're not going to stop.