19x14 - The Better Captain

[bunniefuu]

[dramatic music playing]

[man] Get your bearings!

Oh, yeah, what do we got?

Oh, man.

[Jake grunts]

[phone vibrates]

[tense music playing]

[bleep].

[phone ringing]

Hey.

Hey, how's it going?

Well, I'm ready to go,

but I'm waiting on Clark
here, he's at the clinic.

So, how's it going for you?
I mean, is there still life?

Well, we gotta get out of here

and we gotta get
fishing, and stay fishing

because the fishery is
gonna close on Wednesday.

You've got to be kidding.

That gives us about six
days to fish and deliver.

Oh, man.

[Jake] It's like a race,

who can haul the most pots.

Heads up! Heads up!
Heads up! Heads up!

[Bob] Got pushed out about
an inch, it makes me nervous.

I just don't want
anybody to get hurt.

[man] Yeah, boy!

Yes. Yes.

- Whoa!
- Oh!

Last one.

Hang on, hang on.

[man] Watch out.

[narrator] In Dutch Harbor.

[Sig] The fleet has
been catching a lot of fish

and things are moving fast,
so time is of the essence.

[narrator] With Fish and Game
announcing the end of the Winter Cod Derby,

Captain Sig Hansen
needs to catch and deliver

two more tanks to
reach his $100,000 target.

I mean, if I lose Clark,

that's a catastrophe
because you're starting over.

He did mention to the guys

that he was feeling
kind of cruddy.

Any time you got
blood on your stool,

it's never... It's never good.

It's taking a while, so
I'm getting a little antsy.

[seagulls cawing]

Clark is right there.

How'd it go?

[Clark speaking]

Yeah, come up.

[Clark speaking]

Come up here.

How'd it go?

They wanted to do a
blood test just in cast,

but bottom line's
good, I'm good to go.

Well, what was it?

Uh, it could have been a virus,

or bacteria, or parasite,

or something like that,

but something
foreign got in there

and just wreaked havoc.

Well, that's good news,
you know, and, uh,

next time, just say
something sooner.

Yeah.

We got the permit,

- so we can get going.
- [Clark] Perfect.

Let's go!

All good?

[man speaking]

[Sig] Okay.

[dramatic music playing]

[Sig] All right. We're
finally underway.

Both engines are up and running,

we have all the parts
necessary to get us going.

So, I feel real good about it

and, uh, you know, just try to
forget that last trip and move on,

and go pull some cod pots.

[narrator] Eighty
miles northeast,

on the Barbara J.

Jack had to go take care
of some family business,

so they dusted me off and pulled
me off the shelf, and here I am.

Now, the pressure is building.

So it looks like the quota is gonna be
caught up by about Wednesday morning.

[narrator] With his
co-captain, Jack Bunnell,

heading home for the
memorial of a lifelong friend,

Skipper Steve "Harley"
Davidson turns his sights

to a 30-pot string,
eager to catch their share

of the 12-million-pound
gray cod derby.

They're trying to maximize
our production here,

so hopefully, our
numbers pick up.

[Harley] Jack set this up,

let's see what we're
gonna get here,

we're just pulling
up to the first one.

All right, guys,
first pot coming up.

[man] Here we go.

[tense music playing]

[Harley] Coming
up over the rail.

Come on.

I see fish.

Well, I just see a few.

[man speaking]

You'd expect the damn
thing to be half full.

Huh.

We'll have to do
something different here.

[phone ringing]

[phone ringing]

[Jack] Harley?

What's going on, man?

We got out here, I found... I
found the [bleep] pots. I mean...

I'd think I'd have more
fish in them than this.

Well, who's in the area there?

I seen the Saga go by earlier.

[Jack] We should give Jake
a call and see what he knows.

Really? Why would we call him?

[Harley speaking]

Hey, Harley, I still
don't understand

why you bring that
guy in your wheelhouse.

I played you like a fiddle, boy.

[Jack speaking]

[Harley] That's him, right?

He's just like three miles
off my port side here.

Let me try him.

Let me give him a call and
see what the [bleep] is going on.

You just fish the
way you're gonna fish

and I'll get ahold of Jake.

Yeah, okay.

I'll be, uh, standing by.
Keep me posted, okay?

[Jack] All right.

[narrator] Just
three miles west.

On the Saga.

Hey, how many's in that?

[man speaking]

[bleep] dammit.

What I need to do is I
need to look north and south,

I've lost this thing.

If I don't come in with
a big offload right now,

I'm starting bairdi in the red.

[narrator] Aiming for two
deliveries before the cod derby ends,

Captain Jake Anderson
hauls and stacks all 100 pots,

scrambling to find
productive grounds

and keep hopes of a million
pound cod season alive.

There's nothing
to the east or west,

and these numbers
aren't gonna suffice.

[tense music playing]

[phone ringing]

[bleep]

[bleep] dammit.

[Jack] Hey, Jake.

How you guys doing?

Hey, uh, I'm just
ripping through here.

[Jack] Yeah, roger that.

I don't wanna waste your time.

You know, I have
a really good friend,

basically my
brother, passed away

and, uh, I'm heading home right
now to go speak at his service.

Guys on the boat,
they're in a pinch,

if there's any info
you can share,

the guys would
really appreciate it.

I mean, you're putting
me in a tight spot.

[Jack] All right, man,
thanks for the time.

Thanks for considering.

Talk to you later.

All right. Later, Jack.

[sighs]

I just, uh...

Yeah.

It's frustrating for me because
I know I could stab Jack

in the back right now,

he's vulnerable,

some of me wants to.

[man 1] Hey!

[man 2] This is not good.

But I still have to
move all this gear

and figure out
where these fish are.

[narrator] One hundred
sixty miles northwest.

On the Wizard.

The rougher it gets, the
harder it gets to find your gear,

just because they're hiding behind the
wave, and the next wave, and the next wave.

[narrator] Captain Keith Colburn fights
through 50-knot winds and 25-foot seas,

looking to make a dent in
his 91,000 pounds of quota

before the cod derby fleet switches
to bairdi season and heads his way.

I don't know if we can
even haul this gear anymore.

The weather's
going to hell on us.

If I get this string, we'll
get our almost 60 pots

rebaited, reloaded.

It should be coming
up any second now,

I should be able to see it.

I got to clean those
things, [bleep] dammit.

[man] All right.

- Oh. You got it, OJ?
- [man] Yeah!

[Keith] Right on,
Eagle. Good job, Eagle.

This guy has the best
eyes in the Bering Sea.

Now, they're a little skewed,

but OJ has the best
eyes in the Bering Sea.

You're gonna find
something heavy

and put it in your pocket.

We don't want you blowing away,

you need some
weight in your pocket.

[tense music playing]

[man] Looking a little weak.

Come on, man!

How long we got until showtime...


[man speaking]

All right. Good job, guys...

Let's see if we can get
them one at a time, okay?

[man] Roger.

Well, so be it.

I'm turning a little bit
starboard to grab the pot

and now I got to
pull it back to port.

[tense music playing]

I like to keep the weather
on the bow as long as I can

and let the weather push
me down to the next pot.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Keith] Watch
yourself there, Robby,

coming right behind
you. Right behind you!

Whoa!

[man 1] We're up on it.

[man 2] You good?

I got to turn to
port here real quick,

the weather's gonna be really
ugly for about 60 seconds,

you guys just stay sharp.

[tense music playing]

Whoa.

Hang on! Hang on! Hang on!

[man] Watch out!

[suspenseful music playing]

[narrator] On the Wizard.

Whoa.

- Hang on! Hang on! Hang on!
- [man] Watch out!

[waves crashing]

Everybody good? Everybody good?

Let me know, let me know.

Everybody's good.
Roger. Everybody's good.

[Keith] Let me know
back here. Where's OJ?

OJ's good. OJ's good.

All right. Okay,
guys. You know what,

just hang on for a second,
let me finish this turn.

[tense music playing]

[Keith speaking]

I drifted on a set of bags,

I was gonna [bleep]
put it in the wheel.

[man speaking]

[Keith speaking]

The crab aren't cooperating,

the weather's not cooperating,
nothing is cooperating.

Everything has
gotten worse out here.

I really wanna get
this gear hauled

and we're gonna
push through this

until we can't
haul gear anymore.

[man grunts]

Not even close to
having the season done

and I already need a vacation.

I just need a vacation
from the Bering Sea.

[narrator] Six
hundred miles east.

[Bob] We had a little accident.

Uh, this boat came
across my starboard side,

and then cut me off.

[narrator] In Kodiak, Alaska.

There was nothing
I could really do,

so we ended up colliding.

I'm really surprised it didn't
cause more damage than it did.

[narrator] Just 40 hours after
a collision with another vessel.

[bleep].

Oh, my God.

Dude, are you
[bleep] kidding me?

Oh, my God.

We're just lucky
that nobody was hurt.

It's still not very cool though.

[narrator] Captain Sophia "Bob"
Nielsen prepares for a damage report

on her 81-year-old
wooden vessel, Victory,

and word if she can proceed with
her inaugural Kodiak bairdi season.

I mean, it scraped the
paint all the way up there

and it pushed this
whole board in.

The whole covering
board has to be replaced.

You can't just do
a small section of it.

You have to do the whole thing.

If we're taking waves, you know,

over the bow or over the house,

a lot of water's gonna be
coming in through there.

It's always a
pleasure to see you.

- [assessor] Yeah.
- [Bob laughs]

[assessor speaking]

[Bob] Yeah. Worst
times, you're telling me.

Okay. So, this one
was clearly shattered

and this one
probably wasn't as old,

but it got pushed
out about an inch.

If you could just replace it,

maybe from here down

at least this plank got cracked.

[assessor speaking]

[Bob] Yeah.

[assessor speaking]

But, uh, this should
hold for a while.

Honestly... [laughs]

Honestly, on my end, I
thought it was a lot worse.

I'm glad I get to go fishing.

I get to go fishing.

That's good.

Anyways, I'm gonna
go fire up that generator.

You ready?

[man] Sure!

[Bob] Whoo!

It's a huge relief,

but I already knew that
I was gonna go fishing

whether the
surveyor said not to...

I have a lot of people counting
on me not to [bleep] this up.

Now, we gotta
make up for lost time.

[narrator] Four hundred
seventy miles southwest.

On the Northwestern.

We gotta get the
gear on the boat

and get in on time
for our delivery.

Switch over, and
then go fish some crab.

Hopefully, we'll get a
good price on the bairdi.

You wanna be first
in the door there.

It's all about the timing.

[narrator] Looking
to wrap the cod derby

and beat the competition
to the bairdi crab grounds,

Captain Sig Hansen and
co-captain and daughter,

Mandy, target a


to push their
season into the black.

Mandy, come over
here for a second.

I'm gonna get outta
here for a little while.

She's all yours.

[tense music playing]

[Sig] All right, it's ripping,

so you gotta go
slower on the bags,

be careful.

[tense music playing]

[man] Clear.

Hmm. What would you call that?

[dramatic music playing]

[men vocalizing]

[man speaking]

[Sig] Might be a
little... A little fast.

Well, just... You
gotta just adjust it

when you see how
backed up they get.

[grunts] [bleep]

[Sig] He got it?

[man] Oh, dude.

[Sig] He doesn't
have it. You see that?

I got it. Here it goes.

[Sig] So, down below,
the water is going one way.

On top, the water is calm

and the wind is holding
the bags this way.

So, it looks like
everything's normal

and it's easy
to get it in there.

That's the problem.

Eight fish.

Eight fish.

- Eight.
- Eight fish.

- Eight fish.
- Eight.

How'd that one look, Mandy?

- Five, seven.
- [Sig] Huh?

Five, seven fish.

Oh, so, it's getting lower?

- [Mandy] Yeah.
- Oh, yeah.

[Sig speaking]

[Mandy] Yeah.

He got it.

- [Sig] He got it?
- [Mandy] Yeah.

It's not that hard.

I'm just kidding. I'm kidding.

I know.

[machine whirring]

- [cable snaps]
- Oh, [bleep]!

Uh-oh. [bleep].

[man] Are you okay?

[narrator] On the Northwestern.

[machine whirring]

- [cable snaps]
- Oh, [bleep]!

[Mandy] Uh-oh.

- [bleep]
- [Sig] What?

[Mandy speaking]

[bleep]

Is he okay?

- Yeah.
- Yeah, roger.

[narrator] Fighting
the tidal surge,

Mandy throttles up,

putting 1,800 pounds
of tension on the line.

Snapping it free of the block...

Oh.

And slashing Clark
right in the face.

[Sig] You're putting
everybody in danger.

[Mandy speaking]

Your husband especially.

[Mandy speaking]

Came out of the block.

Somebody was towing on it.

- Is that what you said?
- Yeah.

Didn't know she
was towing on it.

Shouldn't have
been that close to it.

- [laughs] - You
were towing on it.

Let me see. Did
you get a booboo?

[Sig] Wasn't paying attention.

Oh, you're fine.

You need some ice on that?

So, I wasn't looking.

Those weren't as
big as the last three.

- Was the deeper string bigger?
- Yes.

So, they're bigger
when they're deeper.

Yeah, we got big...

- [Sig] Double the numbers?
- Double.

[Sig] We screwed up again.

I should have put
my pots down here.

You still can.

We gotta do something.

I'm telling you, man, if
they're coming through,

that's the place
to be right there.

All right. So, we gotta
get 'em in the water.

- [Mandy laughs]
- Good team, do it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sig] Right now, I
think this risk is working.

I sure hope so.

We don't got a lot of time left.

[narrator] Sixty
miles southwest.

[man] What we got?

[narrator] On the Saga.

Not good.

[man speaking]

[Jake] The only number
that he gives me is two.

It just dropped off.

Start stacking the gear.

[man] Roger.

[Jake] I just have
to pick a direction

and I don't have
enough pots to do that

because I need to
know what's in the north

and in the south
at the same time.

So, at this point, I
don't have a choice.

I feel bad waking the guys up

'cause you know they're tired.

[narrator] On the Barbara J.

They've been working
their a*s off out there for you

and I think you got no heart.

You know, what the hell
does it matter with that guy?

But be honest with 'em,

I'm sitting there
thinking to myself,

I have a lot of heart 'cause
I laid there for an hour

before I woke them up.

- I gotta get something on this scoreboard.
- [phone ringing]

Hey, what's up?

[Jake] Hey, Harley,
what's going down?

I've been missing Jack right now

and I'm just up here
scrambling around

and it's not going
all that great.

I'm willing to help

because I need your help too.

There's a big school right
around here in 44 fathoms.

I lost them when I started
setting east to west.

If you look on the bat chart,

you're gonna see
there's a bat line

that goes down at 44 fathoms.

Yeah, no, I see
what you're saying.

[Jake] I'll just make it easy.

I'll go north. You go south.

They're here. Trust me.

[Harley] Okay.
I'll go down there.

[Jake] I just can't get there.

I don't have enough gear.

[Harley] I got a deck
load on right now.

Really appreciate if
you'd help me out here.

[Jake] All right, Harley.

It's gonna be good.

Thanks.

I don't know, maybe it'll work.

[tense music playing]

[narrator] On the Wizard.

It's the worst weather we've
seen this season for sure.

Some of the worst weather
we've seen in a long time.

These last four or five pots,

we're gonna be
setting really slow.

So, just get that
pot into the rack.

Get it ready. Get
away from the rack.

There's gonna be some waves
come over the starboard side,

so everybody stay safe.

All right. One time in here.

All right.

Safety, one, two, three.

- [all] Safety!
- Right on.

Just remember what I
said, man, brace your feet,

lean back, and hang on.

[man] Roger!

We saw some crab out deep
but not enough to work on.

We're just trying to set it
up in the general vicinity

of where we had our best pot.

All right. You guys ready to go?

[man] Roger.

[man] Okay. Here we go.

[man speaking]

Something's gotta happen.
Something's gotta give.

I know they're down there.

Whoa! [exclaims]

Well, I'm doing my best to
get the gear on fresh bottom,

but in order to do it,

I've gotta just
go straight into it.

I mean, I'd much rather
set with weather a little bit

more on the port
side, but right now,

I'm unable to do that.

Whoa.

Heads up! Heads up!
Heads up! Heads up!

[narrator] On the Wizard.

[Keith] Whoa.

Heads up! Heads up!
Heads up! Heads up!

[man] [bleep].

[man] Everybody good?

[Keith] Everybody good?

Roger.

Just in the last hour, it
just stacked up even worse.

Start to get into
weather like this,

whether you're on deck
or sitting in this chair,

it's always a
little bit unnerving.

[man exclaims]

[man] Going over.

We've only got a handful left
of them on the other side here.

[man] Going over!

But I tell you what,
fishing in the Bering Sea,

it's never given to you.

All right, you guys,
go ahead and come in.

That was not the set I wanted,

but the gear is in the water.

That's the important thing.

I'm proud of my guys.

They just worked through hell.

Hopefully, we'll
get a bunch of crab.

[narrator] Six hundred
and twenty miles east.

On the Kodiak
tanner crab grounds.

[man speaking]

Five minutes until
we gotta set gear.

- [man] Roger.
- How you guys doing out here?

Good.

- Beautiful [bleep] day, boys.
- [man] Yeah.

Dude, stuff those bags

like you're stuffing
your girlfriend.

[man laughs]

- [man speaking]
- [Bob laughs]

Get the pots in the
water, get them soaking.

Get some crab on the boat,
hopefully. So, that's the goal here.

[Bob] There's gonna be a
lot of competition in our area.

So, I have some extra bait
and I'm gonna drop the gear.

[narrator] Despite the
damage to the Victory,

Captain Bob slams
her entire pot load

on productive grounds
near Adak Island.

Counting on her 2,000
pounds of hard-earned bait

to draw in the crab
and edge out the fleet.

- Let her rip.
- [man] Roger.

- Roger.
- [Bob] Roger.

When I left the Fish
and Game building,

there was 90 boats registered
for the east side district.

And if all 90 of those boats
equally caught the quota,

then it averages to about


Now, we gotta
make up for lost time.

I hope that my
father is looking down

and I hope that
he would be proud.

I didn't do everything
the right way.

I made a lot of mistakes
and the boat got neglected,

the business got neglected.

But I'm still trying,

so at least I get
an A for effort.

I hope he's watching over me.

I need it.

[man] Oh! [bleep].

Hold on, boys!

[laughs]

[narrator] On the Northwestern.

We're on our last
trip of the cod here.

Um, we're gonna
transition over to bairdi.

This derby is winding down
and when it's winding down,

that's when you really
put the pedal to the metal.

You want every last
fish you can catch.

Hopefully, the tides
changed enough right now

that the bags are popped up,

you can actually haul.

Trying to get on
this good rotation

and a rhythm with
the tides right now.

[man] Oh, boy!

[narrator] Tracking the
school into the deep,

Captain Sig banks on gear
set in over 360 feet of water

to stuff his tanks

and pay out a $40,000 profit.

[man] Ooh.

First one's coming up right now.

[man] Come on, man.

Going up.

There's life in it?

[man] Come on.

[man] Robby's got
breakfast for you.

We gotta eat, though.

- It's a grand, full one.
- Oh, nice.

I'm gonna eat it right now,
man. Are you kidding me?

I wanna have the shell at least.

Yeah. I'll take the dirty side.

You take the nice bright side.

[man] What is that?

Scallop, man. Breakfast.

Gets no fresher than that.

Oh, yeah. Wow.

[laughs]

You know, the
mantle here is edible.

There you see the guts itself?

Oh, man, this is
gonna be [bleep] good.

Bon appetit.

- Bon appetit.
- [laughs]

- Cheers. Yup.
- Cheers. Right on.

- Oh, yeah.
- [laughs]

Can't get any fresher than that.

He's a little bummed out
about losing his muscle.

- [laughs]
- [laughs]

[narrator] Hoping
to oyster-size,

the rest of the fleet
from the bairdi grounds,

a shellfish Captain
Keith clams up.

- [man] Make way!
- [narrator] On the Northwestern.

Come on.

- [man] Yeah, buddy!
- [man] Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

How do we look?

- [man] Oh, yeah.
- [man] Yeah!

- [man] Yeah!
- [man] Whoo!

[man speaking]

- Two-one?
- [man speaking]

[Sig] That's what we're
looking for right there.

I'll take it all day long.

They do look good.

- [man speaking]
- Two-zero.

[man] Yeah!

[man] Whoa!

[man] Twenty-one.

[Clark speaking]

[man] Wow.

- [man] Yay!
- [man] Yay!

[man] Yay!

[Sig] Okay. You got your
last pot coming up, guys.

Is Clark doing
the finances here?

So who's tossing it?

[Clark speaking]

He's back, baby.

Yeah, I'm back, baby.

You're gonna risk next season

on a Matt Bradley
flaming hook toss?

[laughs]

[chuckles] Are you ready?

I can't watch. [laughs]

I appreciate you, guys.

You want a little extra juice?

[man] Yeah!

Oh! [laughs]

[exclaims and cackles]

Well done.

All right.

Couple hundred thousand
pounds under our belt.

We're gonna
transition over to bairdi

and start fishing crab.

You know, we made some money

and it was fun to
get back out here.

Let's make like
a log and roll out.

He took the north
and I get the south.

Okay. Well, here I am.

[man] Whoo!

[narrator] On the Barbara J.

[Harley] Here's pot number one.

Let's see if he sent me up
on something or what the hell.

I pray... I need it, man.

[man] First pot.

Okay. What the hell we got?

[man] This is it,
man! This is it!

Pretty light.

[man] Ah!

[man] That's like five fish.

That [bleep].

[man] Yeah.

[man speaking]

[man] Nothing, man.

They sent me over to this, it's all the
same [bleep] I had right where I was.

Big school of fish my a*s.

[narrator] Just 12 miles north.

- [man] [laughs] -
[man] Well done.

Hey!

[man] Whoo!

[man laughs]

[man] There we go.

[man speaking]

[bleep]

[Jake] We're on them.
That's 800 pounds right there.

We're to the north.

It's exactly what we want.

We just need more pots like
that and we'll fill this baby up.

[man] You got it.

Whoo!

[phone ringing]

[producer speaking]

It's Harley.

[phone ringing]

It's so [bleep] right now.

- [phone ringing] -
[Harley] Seriously?

Seriously? Come on.

[phone ringing]

[Jake] Hey, Harley.

[Harley] I'm five pots
in, and it's bones, man.

Skins and bones. It's no meat.

Start loading your strings
up. Start heading this way.

[men shouting]

You gotta get up here
pretty quick though

because I'm getting
a 20-pound average.

[Harley] Roger. All right.
I'm coming up there, Jake.

See you then.

All right. Bye.

That's what
partnerships are for.

So, I gotta believe he's
bringing me in on it now.

Okay, you guys.

Let's just stack them on
and we'll flip it up to the north.

He's on them up there.

[man] Oh!

I feel good about it.

Harley is my elder.

I've known him
since I was a kid.

Me and Jack have our problems,

but we're probably
more alike than different.

He's had to climb the
ladder the way I did

and if I do this right,
we both can win.

[narrator] Five
hundred miles northeast.

[Bob] Bags coming up.

Hopefully, I dropped it
in a little bit better spot.

Trying to keep a
hundred average.

If we can get more than that,

that would be spectacular.

Dammit!

That was like the most skimpy
pot we pulled out of here.

[bleep]

Unless I just fished it
out too hard right here.

Dammit.

I predicted that one was
supposed to be really good,

but it turned out to be a dud.

Hmm.

Let's see what this one has.

Kinda weak.

Ah, gee-whiz, that's not good.

I know where the crab aren't.

[man speaking]

[Bob] Nada. Not a single keeper.

That's my first blank, blank.

Worst pot of the
season just hauled up.

Pretty well fished
out in the spot.

So, hopefully, uh, I
make the right move

with stacking this gear

and hopefully, I can
drop it on some crab.

- [man] Oh, yeah.
- [man] Oh, yeah, baby!

[cheering]

- [man] Oh, there we go.
- [man] A lot of crabs.

- [man] Whoo!
- [man] [bleep].

[man] Team Wizard, baby.

[man] Yeah, boys!

[Keith] A mountain of
that stuff on the table,

God, I love it when I'm
on good fishing like this.

Yes, yes, yes!

I'm pretty proud of my crew
working through this weather.

Better than I had anticipated.

[man] Whoo-hoo!

[man] On the way.

One-zero-eight. Right on.

I tell you what, these crab are
starting to go on a bite up the hill.

Things are going well.

Yes! [laughs]

[waves crashing]