21x09 - Dire Straits

[bunniefuu]

[Rick] We're all
in dire straits.

Hauling slow in bad weather.

[waves splashing wildly]

I just don't understand
how we're ever gonna make it

to this offload.

[intriguing music playing]

I hate fighting over
fishing grounds.

We're just gonna have
to play nice in the sandbox.

Like that's gonna happen.

But I get the Northwestern
right here on our side.

Well, I can see Keith
right now.

He's headed our way.

[Keith speaking]

-That's a yes.
-Back up, Keith.

-[thud]
-Whoa!

[Keith speaking]

[Rick] Damn it, damn it,
damn it, damn it, damn it.

Watch the rail...

[deckhand] Whoa!

[Rick and Greg speaking]

Watch out for this one.

[deckhand] Whoa!

[narrator] 250 miles
northeast of Dutch Harbor

On the Northwestern.

[electric whirring]

[Sig] No.

-Stacking it?
-[Clark] Yeah, roger.

We got our bairdi season
underway.

Numbers are... horrible.

With 33 boats competing
for the last 700,000 pounds

of fleet wide
bairdi crab quota,

Captain Sig races to haul
a 30 pot string,

as fishable grounds shrink
to just over 100 square miles.

[Sig] OK, that's the last one.

Ah.
Let's see who we got.

It looks just like a...

that's a Wizard pod.

Keith is mopping up
some real estate.

I don't like it.

I can see him way west of here.
That's him over there.

And this one bank,
it's a ridge that I like,

and that looks fishy.

Can you send Clark up?

[deckhand] Roger.

Uh...
I got a choice to make.

You know, like, I've seen
Wizard get -- Keith.

But what's interesting
is he is, he's set,

you know, northeast, southwest.

So he's right on the edge,
right on the ledge there.

-See it?
-Yeah.

Have you talked to him?

No, I'm not gonna talk to him.

I'll give him a call.

-Seriously?
-Yeah, I'll call him.

-You got his number?
-Yeah.

-Go for it.
-All right.

[tense music playing]

Boy, this better pick up here
pretty soon.

[phone ringing and vibrating]

OK, we're [bleep] busy here.

[Sig] No answer?

Pretty annoying.

All I want to know is,
what's in that pot?

I mean, I would pull
the damn thing.

I just, I don't think
I should haul it myself.

You understand?

I'm just saying, I don't think
I should haul it.

-Yeah, but...
-I cannot haul that pot.

It would be against all
the moral and ethical fibers

of my body.

If you don't want it,
I'll haul it.

Can't tell you
what to do, Clark.

[Clark speaking]

[intriguing music playing]

Oh, it looks all right.
About 50 in that one.

What do you think, Lawrence?

[Lawrence speaking]

[Clark]
Looks pretty good.

Boom!

[Clark] Well, now
we have some intel.

OK, we've got to set it
back right away.

We can't -- get it back
in the same spot.

-Tell that to the guys.
-Set it back.

I think we should start
setting gear.

All right,
let me back in there.

Let's get these off.

OK, guys, get ready
to set here.

I'll have two strings on deck.

Plan is just to set the gear
parallel to each other,

going north south.

If there's any kind of crab,
narrow it down.

And get in there.



on the Wizard.

[Monte speaking]

It looks like he went
right across that string.

He came through here,
and he picked him up here,

so he hauled the string
that crossed us there,

and then he turned around
and he dumped it

across us again.

Good morning.

-You ready?
-[Keith] Yeah.

[Monte] Sig, and he obviously
dumped across that string

or hauled across it or both.

The last thing we want to do
is have Sig Hansen

all over the top of us.

[Keith] Guarantee
he's seen some bairdi.

I know, Sig's a sneaky little,
sneaky little b*stard, man.

[OJ and Tyler speaking]

Time to go, man.

[Keith speaking]

I'm going dark ship.
I'm shutting off my AIS.

You want a shoving match?

Game on.



in Dutch Harbor.

[Harley] I'm starting late.

Started out behind the eight
ball here with the guys

already been out bairdi fishing,
and I'm not.

On the fishing vessel,
Confidence.

We have 270,000 pounds
to go catch right now.

But for my king crab, I lost
the whole damn crew.

Three weeks ago.

Veteran skipper
Steve "Harley" Davidson

was unable to manage
four mutinous deckhands.

[James]
A word's a word.

You can't just [bleep]
take it back like that.

That's bull[bleep].

Or his co-captain,
James Gamberton.

I'm out of here.
So get me a ticket.

Mate.

Stranding 100 bairdi crab pots
on the sea floor

and Harley
at the starting gate,

waiting on replacement
personnel.

I got to get a new captain.

I need two of us up here
because this is a lot of quota.

We got to grind on this stuff.

So I reached out and I got
Greg Wallace coming.

[Greg]
Got the call.

I'm not really sure
what happened out here.

I just know that there
was some crew problems,

captain problem,
and so here I am.

Greg's a damn good
bairdi fisherman.

You know, I need somebody
that's gonna grind.

I got new guys on board,
and I think we're gonna be

stronger because of it.

I've met Harley a few times.
I mean, he's a tough guy.

Sounds like he's kind
of an a*s[bleep]

to be around sometimes,
which I think all of us are.

And we're gonna
have to figure out

how we're gonna do this.

It's gonna be a little bit
of a challenge.

But Harley wants to go.

Harley's got himself
a pretty wife and a nice dog.

I want to get home and see them.

It's time to get this crab
and get out of here.

There we go.

-[Greg] All good.
-[Harley] You found
the right boat?

[Greg] I found it.

All right.

-It's good to be here.
-[Harley] Travel light, huh?

-Yeah.
-[Harley] Good for you.

-Grand entry.
-[Greg laughs]

-Yeah, you too, man.
-Yeah, good to be here.

Home, sweet home.

Yeah, it's a little
small wheelhouse,

but we can make
some business here.

Yeah -- it's been a while
since I've driven

a house forward boat.

Oh, yeah?
Glad to know.

-There's only one engine.
-[Greg] Yeah, no doubt.

No bow thruster, too,
either, huh?

[Harley] No, no.
We're in its mercy.

-[Greg] This'll be interesting.
-Mm-hmm.

-[deckhand] Let's go fishing!
-[deckhand #2] Are you ready?

[deckhand] Whoo!

[Harley] We gotta really
get hustling here,

because it's getting later
in the season every day.



[deckhand] Whoa!

Damn!

[Rick] Wave heights
are starting to increase.

We're starting to take
a little bit of green water

over the rails.

[waves crashing]

It's very freaky out
right now.

And I think it's only
progressively getting worse.

-[Rick] Oh!
-Whoa!

On the Aleutian Lady.

[Rick]
All right, here we go.

[deckhand speaking]

[Rick] We're wrapping up
our king crab,

and we are topping off
our tank to go into offload.

I need a 55 average
in order to be done.

Come on, baby.

Come on.
Give me some love.

It's good, but it's not great.

[deckhand speaking]

[Rick] That's it?

I thought there was more
in that one.

But it's just the first pot.

Hopefully it'll pick up
as we go.

I mean -- oh, sh**t,

Damn it, damn it, damn it,
damn it, damn it.

[deckhand] Whoa!

[Rick speaking]

On the Aleutian Lady.

[Rick] Watch the rail,
watch the rail.

[deckhand] Whoa!

[Rick speaking]

Got a lot of water
over the port side.

We're cutting it close
on the amount of pounds.

I think we need
about another 3,000.

So we really --

What the hell just happened?

Um.

Yeah, guys, it might be
a minute here.

I just lost power
to all my controls.

I just lost all our monitors.

No...

plotter, no radar,
no sounder.

[Bob] Uh-oh.

-Hey, can you jump in here?
-[Bob] Sure.

[Rick] So let me, uh --

[tense music playing]

sh**t!

It looks like when we took
that huge roll,

the UPS broke free

and smashed
a bunch of the cables,

and it goes to the monitors
and everything up on the dash.

It's one big melted mess.

[tense music playing]

We can't cut the wires
and splice new ones in, or...?

No, it's all melted down.

I mean, I don't got a bunch
of brand new wires.

Those are all specialty.

We still have, you know,
we still know where

our location is.
Maybe we can get --

How are we gonna plot
that in to our GPS?

That's...

My phone uses GPS,
which is always on.

[Rick] I mean, I'll give
you the coordinates.

Let's type them in.

[Bob] Give me the coordinates
to the last pot,

and then we'll follow
that direction

all the way down the string.

With Rick's onboard
navigation system powered down,

Bob powers up the phone.



Inputting the longitude
and latitude

of their last pot into the GPS.

-Bearing is 55.
-Five-five.

[Rick] 22.43.

Plotting a course
to their remaining gear.

All right, it's giving us
our heading.

We gotta turn to the port,
but I don't know how much.

-[Bob] 280.
-280 degrees?

Yes, sir.

Well...

[deckhand speaking]

The course should be 259 now,

but we're looking like
we're right on track.

-I stand corrected, Rick, 260.
-260, switching it to 260.

This ain't gonna be easy.

I'm just hoping we'll be able
to find these pots.



on the Northwestern.

OK, pots here.

[Clark] OK.

We're near Keith's pots string.

Took a peek in one of his pots,

and there's crab in there, so

we set these pretty much
pot for pot.

[Northwestern crew cheering]

[deckhand]
Yeah, buddy!

Wow!

[Northwestern crew cheering]

[Sig]
God, that's beautiful.



Give me a few more
of those, baby.

[deckhand speaking]

[Northwestern crew cheering]

Just seven miles west.

[OJ speaking]

[Keith] Oh, that pot is...

the Northwestern's pot.

There is a lot of area
around here

that I haven't even
looked at yet.

I might just haul
these pots real quick.

[Keith speaking]

[Wizard crew cheering]

[OJ speaking]

[deckhand] Whoo!

[OJ speaking]

Six-five.

[OJ speaking]

...but right now we've got
some good information.


That's fishing.

That's darn good fishing.

[deckhand speaking]

We're gonna take some stuff
further north here.

We know there's crab
right near here.

I know [muted audio].
I know he's a snake.

I want this gear in the water,
and we gotta set it fast,

all right?
-[deckhand] Roger!

[Keith]
We're racing now, OK?

[Sig] We know
where there's crab.

And we got to get those pots
moved on to those spots

before anybody else does,
especially Keith.



[indistinct chatter]

[deckhand speaking]

[bleep] damn.

Just gonna keep building here
for the next couple of days.

On the Confidence.

-How's it going?
-Oh, we're all right.

Got about half of them off here.

Looks like you went
a little north.

Yeah, I went a little bit up.
I had good luck up here before.

I mean, I don't know.

[deckhand] First pot!

With over a million dollars
of bairdi to catch

and just two weeks
before cannery closure,

Captain Steve Harley Davidson
and Greg Wallace

haul the first
of two prospect streams.

[deckhand] Whoo!

Come on, bairdi!

Oh, no!

Not good.

Oh, boy.

-[deckhand] Ah, damn it.
-It's, uh, nothing.

No great shakes.
There's a little life here, but.

-[deckhand] Kind of weak.

[deckhand #2]
No bueno!

[Harley]
We're looking for more.

[deckhand speaking]

Let's get this gear
on as fast as we can.

[deckhand] Head right.

Go try another string.

There's my next one.

He'll be a little bit
in the ditch on the way.

What the [bleep]?

Hell, something's wrong
with my throttle.

[Greg]
You don't have throttle?

[Harley] Something's messed up
with this control head.

-[deckhand] Look out!
-Can't get anything out of it.

I need eyes
in the engine room right now.

On the Confidence.

[Harley] I have no control
of the engine.

Something's gone wrong
with this control head

where I'm not getting
any propulsion.

How's the throttle work
over there?

Yeah, I got throttles here.

OK, well, that
tells us something.

[deckhand] Watch out!

You think it's bad now?
You wait.

You've seen the forecast.
It's gonna get worse.

We've got to get this now.

[deckhand and Harley speaking]

I mean, what do you want
to do?

You wanna steer
from over there and I can drive?

If you can operate
the controls over there

and I can do
the steering right here,

we can try to get this done.

[Greg] Yeah.

Forced to man the rudder
from the starboard side

to safely approach buoys while
hauling and building seas.

Harley and Greg must work
in tandem to avoid delay

and navigate through
their remaining 38 pots.

I mean, we got to get through
this string, and then

we got a couple hour run,
and we'll figure out

what the hell the deal is.
-Yes, sir.

-[Harley] All right.
-All right.

You just tell me when you want
forward, neutral,

reverse, and we can
get it done.

[Harley speaking]

[deckhand] Yeah, roger.

Let me glide up to it and see
if I can get this thing.

-Here, I'm in neutral.
-All right, he's got it.

OK, pots up.



One-six!

[Harley] Well, here comes
a wave, watch out on that.

-You want some gas?
-[Harley] Give it a little bump.

[Greg]
I'm gonna give it to you.

It's like 60, 70 yards
up there.

Kick it in neutral.

Need a little bit
more warning next time.

I'm trying.

I'm trying.

It's freaking hard to tell
with your right brain

telling the left brain
what to do.

Saying, we got a brain
on each side here?"

is that what you're saying?

I think we got half a brain
each side here.

[deckhand] 13.
One-three.

-You got buoys, starboard side?
-Yep.

-I'm like, "Where are they?
-Who's driving this ship?"

-[Greg] Are you ready?
-[Harley] Yes, sir.

[Greg] All right.

[Harley] It's the last one.

-[deckhand] There it is.
-[deckhand #2] Get some.

[deckhand] Oh, come on!

I mean, that's --
that's a low average.

[Harley] Let's get this throttle
figured out.

Try another string.

I hope we can find
something here.



on the Aleutian Lady.

We lost all our computers.
We lost all our navigation.

So right now, we're
kind of fishing blind.

[Rick]
I have no electronics on.

We're going by Bob's app
on her phone.

I need about


If we don't get these pots on,

we're gonna be totally
screwed for offload.

Oh, right there.
OK, we're spot on.

-There they are.
-[Rick] Where at?

On your starboard side.

Uh, what am I looking at?

Am I heading the right way?

-Yes.
-[Rick] All right.

Oh, there it is.
Right there.

-Next bag?
-They're right there.

I see it now.

-You're my hero.
-[deckhand] Yeah!

Come on, baby.
Come to papa.

[Aleutian Lady crew cheering]

That's a little bit better.

[deckhand speaking]

[Rick]
So, as we go down,

it should hopefully
keep getting better.

[deckhand speaking]

-Yes!
-Woo!

-Hell yeah.
-What does your heading say?

-315 right now.
-[Bob] Perfect.

Jogging over to the next pot.
Whoo!

[Aleutian Lady crew cheering]

-[deckhand] Yeah, baby!
-Yeah!

Oh, there's a triple digit.
Yeah, baby!

[deckhand speaking]

-Boomshakalaka.
-[deckhand speaking]

[Rick] That is good.

That is some good fishing.
Whoo!

I don't think this app
is the most accurate thing out

there, but...
it did get us this far.

We're gonna have to go to
Dutch using your app, too.

And hope and pray
I got the quota I need.


on the Northwestern.

You guys ready to set?

[Clark] Yeah, Roger.

Well, we're up to the north.

The only other guy that knows
about this area is Keith.

I just want to get
as many of these pots in there

as possible.
That's the whole idea.

You gotta own it.

Just three miles west
on the Wizard.

[Keith speaking]

No, we're all right.

That's a yes.

[OJ] Going over!

Well, I can see Keith right now.
He's headed our way.

He's setting through an area
that we're trying to set in.

So I see what he's doing.
I know what he's doing.

[Sig speaking]

[Monte] Spread these
[bleep] things out,

these three shots.

[deckhand] Going over!

Take this ground
is what we gotta do.

[Keith] I'll be damned
if somebody's gonna try and set

right down the same line
I'm setting down.

[deckhand] There she goes!

[Wizard crew cheering]

Just because you're a little
bigger, don't make you better.

[Sig] Come on.

Making some speed here.

-[thud]
-Whoa!

What was that!

[Clark] I think it ran
something over.

[tense music playing]

[Clark] You got something
in the wheel!



[Keith]
He's not moving, Mouse.

[Clark] Yeah, you hit something,
it's in the prop.

-Why'd he just stop like that?
-I have no idea.

[Sig speaking]

Sig?
How you doing?

[Sig speaking]

I don't know what's back there,
but I stopped

because I don't have
a choice right now.

I'm gonna try a reverse here
and see what happens.

No, man, that's...

That's bad.

[deckhand speaking]

Big [bleep] up.

Wah-wah.

[deckhand speaking]

-[deckhand] I got it.
-[Clark] Got it?

It's looped.

You feel something?

[Clark] We're able to get
a loop, but tight.

Now we have something
to gank on.

We're gonna try to get it
out of the wheel.

Well, I mean,
they've got an end.

I'm not gonna make it worse.
I can limp to town.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Keith]
You know what, Sig?

Tell me what you're thinking
and what we got to do, OK?

[Sig speaking]

Absolutely.
I'll try and get it ready.

Guys, Keith is...

[Clark] Roger.

With a one inch thick
polyurethane line

wrapped around the
Northwestern's propeller shaft.

We're gonna try and throw
a even line to them.

[OJ speaking]

Sig bets on Keith to pull
within throwing distance

and connect
the line from the tangle

to the Wizard's hydraulic
powered hauler.

[tense music playing]

[Keith] Stand by.
Don't go yet, don't go yet.

Stand by.
Wait, wait, wait.

Wait for the roll.
When they roll, we roll.

Let her go.

[cable whirring]

-[Clark] There we go.
-[Keith] Bam!

-Pow!
-[Keith] Nice.

We're not out of the woods.

I mean, we can part that line,
too, for all I know.

[OJ] Hey, what's
that door over there?

It's slamming,

Is that line, Tyler?
Get that line here.

All right, I'm backing down.

OK, you better kick it,
kick it starboard a little bit.

Back up, Keith.
Back up, Keith.

[OJ] All right, Tyler.

[Keith] OK, we're ready to pull
this thing with the block.

Yeah, go ahead and start
bringing it in slow, guys.

[tense music playing]

[metal creaking]

[Keith speaking]

[Sig speaking]

OK, stop, stop, stop,
stop, stop.

You got it right there.

[deckhand speaking]

[bleep].

[Keith speaking]

[crew] Oh, there it goes!
There it is!

Uh?

[deckhand] He got it!

You got it!
Oh, [bleep]!

Oh, there it is.

I don't feel a wobble.

Ha! I think we're good.

I owe you on this one.
Well done, I appreciate it.

No problem, man.

Roger that.

OK, get the deck organized.

I know you got
a lot of junk back there,

but, uh, hopefully,
we'll see some crab.

[Northwestern crew]
Yeah!



[waves crashing]

[deckhand]
Argh!

Nights like this always
make you rethink

all your life's choices.

[deckhand speaking]

It's only work if you'd rather
be doing something else.

On the Confidence.

[Sam speaking]

[mechanic whirring and clanking]

[intriguing music playing]

[Greg and Sam speaking]

We're rolling.

[Greg] Oh, sweet.

-Yeah.
-[Harley] Good.

I was hoping it was
something simple.

-All right.
We're in action.

-Good job.
-Thank you.

All right, we're over there.

All right, guys, we're getting
ready to get...

-Make them count, boys.
-[Harley] Oh, yeah.

Dealt a weeks-long
delay at dock.

Bad pots, a broken throttle,

and now, 18 foot seas.

Captains Harley and Greg lean
on their second 100 pot string,


their mammoth quota.

-Look at that big boy.
-[Greg] Oh, hell yeah.

Oh, my god.

Trying to keep the boat stable
as he can by running with it,

but it's tough.
You got the tide and the wind.

[Greg] It's been many years
since I've driven house forward.

-I can see that.
-Yeah.

Really, I mean...

Let's do it, boys!

[indistinct chatter]

[bleep]!

I gotta pay attention here.

Come on, baby.

Oh, hey, watch out.
Watch out for this one.

Oh.
Watch yourself.

Watch yourself.

[waves crashing]

[deckhand] Watch out!
Watch out!

You just flung a booger
in my wheelhouse.

Yeah.

Bob, I did not know
you were a booger picker.

Just look under your seat.

[Bob giggles]

So gross.

Everybody wipes their boogers
underneath the seat.

No!

-Oh, gosh.
-Where do you put your boogers?

-You saw me blow my nose.
-Yeah, you pick your nose.

-No, I blow my nose.
-[Bob] You pick your nose.

-If I pick it, I eat it, right?
-Eww! That's gross.

I mean, at least if I eat it,
it's going somewhere

where nobody else
is gonna touch it.

Bob adds to the Aleutian Lady's


pick with a pick of her own.

On the Confidence.

[Greg] Watch yourself.
Watch yourself.

[waves crashing]

[deckhand] Go, go, go!

[vessel clanking]

[bleep] me, [bleep] me.
Come on.

[Confidence crew]
Whoa, whoa!

[Harley]
I think we'll be OK.

-[Greg laughs]
-[bleep]...

[Confidence cheering]

Harley had a 20 average,
so that's what I got to beat.

[deckhand speaking]

[Greg] It's signs of life, man.
Looking good.

Man, that's solid.

These waves are getting big.

[deckhand cursing]

[waves crashing]

[deckhand speaking]

Five- three.
Yeah, baby.

[Harley] That's some
pretty good fishing.

[deckhand speaking]

Yeah.

[deckhand] Whoo!

[deckhand speaking]

Cha-ching.
Cha-ching.

Fifty seven average
for that one.

[Harley]
Holy [bleep].

[Greg] Those kind of numbers,
it won't take long.

That's some pretty
good fishing.

It's been a pretty rough start.

Been one thing after another,
but really fortunate

to have Greg here.
-[Greg laughs]

Looks like I got
enough dollar bills.

[Harley]
Let's just get it done.

[laughter]

You good?

[Rick] Well, we got
the last brailer off

just waiting
on the fish ticket.

-I got something for you.
-[Rick] Hey, there it is.

-Oh, do I even want to look?
-Heck yeah, you want to look.

So that is gonna be
fricking close.

Let's see where we're at.


-We hit it.
-Wow, that's insane.

-So that we're looking at...
-Whoo!

...over 2.4 million dollars...

for king crab, it don't get
better than that.

This is why we come up here.
This is why we do this job.

I'm excited.
Thanks, boss.

[Rick] All right,
let's rock and roll.

[OJ] Let's go.

I think this one
is gonna be...

[OJ] All right,
here we go.

[crew cheering]

Oh, that's 100 plus.

The line could easily have been
in my prop, not Sig's.

I mean, we're setting
damn near down the same line.

The last thing you want
is somebody out here

dead in the water.

[Sig]
Ran into some nice schools.

A little competition
out there with Keith.

Feuding.

Feuding over land,
that's what happened.

But as far as the crab,
it's been worth it, you know?

It's been gangbusters.

You want us
to put the crab 40-60?

Are we going 50-50?

[Keith laughs]

Let's just go 50-50.
Keep our gear off each other.

We can work around here,
no problem.

[Sig]
Our season's not over.

[Keith] Roger, roger.