21x11 - Fail Fast, Fail Often

[bunniefuu]

[narrator] January,
Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

[Keith] You know, we've got crab
to catch this year.

We've got a bunch
of bairdi and opilio,

which is the first time
in, what?

Three years now
it's been closed?

[reporter] It's the news
that Bering Sea fishermen

have been waiting for.

The Bering Sea snow crab
fishery will reopen this year.

-Got it!
-We've got three more to go.

After a multi-year closure...

the Alaska Department
of Fish and Game

opens a 4.2 million pound
opilio fishery.

Opilio is bread and butter.

This is good news.

We got something to go
out and chase.

Adding $21 million to
the $50 million winter prize.

But I can tell you,
it's a reboot.

We're starting over.
Where are they now?

What populations
have rebounded?

Those are questions
that we can't answer

until we get out there.

But with no data
on the movements of opilio crab

in the last 34 months,

captains start
their winter season blind.

Bottom one!

A storm's coming.

It's gonna blow
like a b*stard.



It's gonna be
a hell of a ride.

Testing the fleet,
a 150-mile-wide storm rolling

off Russia's Kamchatkan Basin

directly onto the Bering Sea
fishing grounds.

In the dead of winter,
when you've got storm

after storm coming at you.
You're breaking ice.

That's when you got to dig deep
and see if you have

what it takes to be a true
Bering Sea fisherman.

-[Keith] Watch out.
-[Mia] Oh!

[Keith]
Hang on, hang on, hang on!

-It got you in the mouth?
-[Monte] How we doing?

I got no engine.
It's gone.

-[bleep]
-Look out!

Holy!

[Clark] Sig, Sig.

Hey.

Open your eyes.

Are you with?
Hey.

You awake?

Look at me.
Hey!

[Sig] We're gonna kick off
this winter season 2025.

And I'd love to do opies
right out of the gate.

Obviously, it's been closed
for a couple of years now,

so it'd be fun to get in there
and see what's out there.

Well, Rick on the Aleutian Lady,

you know, he's invited me down
to his boat, and, you know,

he's been playing his cards
kind of close to his chest.

Working together, it's
not my first choice,

but we'll see
what he wants here.

Targeting 100,000 pounds
of opilio crab,

but with no previous year's
fishing information to go on,

Captain Sig Hansen lends an ear

to a competing
family operation.

[Sig] Has anybody -- I want
to go try in --

in this one, the Zhemchug.
-[Rick] The Pinnacle?

[Sig] I want to try there.

-[Rick] Zhem up here.
-[Sig] This one.

I don't think anybody's
been in there.

[Rick]
This is what I'm doing.

-All the way up.
-[Sig] [bleep].

[Rick] Spur would be the only
spot I'd try down there.

It wouldn't be just me.

We just bought the Bountiful.

That is now part of
Shelford Fisheries.

-[Sig] Who's running it?
-[Rick] Bobby.

Well, Bobby came with the boat.

They're gonna be
doing codfish.

And if they're seeing anything
with all of their gear,

that's information.

If we have two boats
and have somebody to rely on

in case anything happens.

Yeah -- I mean,
you definitely gave me something

to think about,
that's for sure.

-[Rick] All right, Sig.
-[Sig] OK, pal.

[Rick] Take care, man.

I'm kind of hoping he'll bite.

I mean, either I get
some good intel

on the Bountiful's cod pots,

or I get Sig's info.

It'll be a win-win
no matter what.

Yeah, this last fall,
we partnered up,

and that was fine.
It was productive.

We got things done.

So they're gonna be a little
harder to find, I suspect.

Who knows?

You know, there might be some
opportunity there.

Keep your options open,
you know?

[deckhand] Yeah!
Wire up!

Go up on the rope.
A little more.

[Keith]
We have to be super efficient,
catch our bairdi,

catch our opies,
and get this boat home.

But I've got some
good news, though.

I have a couple crewmen back on
my boat that I desperately need

for the winter fishery.

Zigging while
the 46-boat fleet zags,

Captain Keith Colburn
turns his sights

on the elusive western
bairdi fishery,

betting he can tank
his 175,000 pounds of quota

before switching to opilio.

[Keith] Well, Monte came here
in advance of me a couple days

with the crew.

I haven't heard a lot
from him ever since.

[deckhand] Hey! I'll be coming
down in just a sec.

That means Monte's got
everything dialed in,

it's right, it's tight,
and ready to go.

Or... [scoffs]
Who knows?

[OJ] All right!

[Keith] Get some
hand signals up there!

[Freddy] Hey!
Welcome aboard, boss!

h*!
What are you doing?

-[laughing] Right on.
-Booyah!

-Love you, man.
-Right on, love you, boss.

Man, it's good
to see your face.

Welcome back.
Thank you.

Oh.

You in here, mouse?

[bleep]
How are things going?

Let's see.
Oh, here.

I'll turn this on for a second.

What's up?

How is that?
How are we doing up in the bow?

OK, I'll be
in the wheelhouse, OK?

Right on.

OJ, I need to see you
up here right now.

Hi Cap, coming.

[Keith]
Hey, so, uh, what do we got?

[OJ speaking]

[Keith] OK, um...

Big question.

Be completely honest.
How's my brother doing?

OK.

OK.

I appreciate you being honest.

-OK, I'll be right here.
-OK.

My brother's been on a two-day
bender here in [bleep]

in Dutch Harbor,
and [bleep] not getting done.

We're gonna have 170,000
pounds of bairdi to catch.

So we've got a lot of work
to do in a short period of time.

And we're behind schedule.

[sighs]

Across the docks....

[Jake] You talk to him?

[Jenna speaking over phone]

All right, nice work.



...on the Titan Explorer.

[Jake] Yeah, bye.

Jenna, my guardian angel,
just traded my opies

for more bairdi quota.

It's more money,
so I'm doing it.

I'm trying to buy the Titan,
so I need every nickel,

dime, and penny I can get.

Joining the Wizard
on the bairdi grounds,

Captain Jake Anderson

bets a higher price per pound
gets him the $1.5 million

he needs to go from captain
to owner-operator.

All right, guys.

We're about to fish
a massive amount of bairdi.

-Yeah!
-Whoo!

[Jake] Just get those pots
and we'll go.

All right.

This might be...

move of a hero...

or it could be a move
of a real big loser.

[Rick]
All right, let's go.

Yeah, Roger.

We got 220,000 pounds
of opies to catch right now.

More than almost
every boat I know.

But Sig...

will I share everything?

We'll have to see.
It'll be one step at a time.

[deckhand] Go on!
Throw the line!

[deckhand #2] Roger!

[Sig] OK.

Let's get out there
and start fishing opilio.

[Clark] Go!

And we're off.

[Clark] OK, let's roll!

[Sig] We are going
into the unexpected.

[deckhand] We're out of here!
Yeah!

I'm excited, you know?

I think with Rick
on the Aleutian Lady,

he did offer to work
and search together.

Now, if I do this, you know,
Rick better play it straight.

But I think the best we can do
is just go attack.

[Keith]
Right now, I'll just be happy
to get this boat out of town.

All right, guys, we can go
ahead and throw lines here.

-[deckhand] Roger captain.
-[OJ] 2025, baby!

Give us some luck!

My brother [bleep]
imploded on me in town,

didn't get [bleep] done.

-[OJ] Go get some money!
-Oh!

[Keith]
We got [bleep] weather coming.

It's the middle of winter.

Do it [indistinct]!

[Keith] I need to get
the hell out of here, man.

[Freddy] Let's go!
Whoo!

Big money, baby!
Big money!

Big money!
Yeah!

Whoo!

On the western bairdi
crab grounds...

[Keith]
It's about ready to set.

...aboard the Wizard.
-[OJ] Let's go, go, go!

We're about five miles off
this boundary,

you know, the 166 line is

the boundary between eastern
tanners, western tanners.

Got it!

We've got quite a bit of
western tanners to catch.

We've got, like, about


And this is the calm
before the storm.

There's some major,
major weather

coming our way right now.

With a now 230-mile-wide
low-pressure system barreling

towards the Bering Sea,
Captain Keith races to set


of the western bairdi grounds

before wind and Bering Sea
currents converge,

creating powerful


[Keith and Monte speaking]

Um...

[Keith] We had some issues
with my brother.

You know, it is, uh...

it's the curse of the Colburns.

We're alcoholics.

Hopefully Monte
will get it together,

be ready to go to work.

[OJ speaking]

As soon as you're ready,
let her go, man.

Let her go.

[Freddy] Here it goes!
First pot going in!

Just 20 miles
to the northwest...

[Jake] All right guys,
get ready to set.

[deckhand] Roger!

...on the Titan Explorer.

It's harder to find bairdi
than it is to find your keys

that you lost last week
for your car.

It's the worst.

But they're worth at least
$2 more a pound than opies.

So I've traded my opies
for bairdi.

Here we go.

[Mac] Going over!

Whoo!

So bairdi typically
will eat anything

they get their hands on,

but what they're after
is worms and clams.

Where do worms
and clams hang out?

In the mud.

It's just a tight
little area right here.

I'm hoping that the fishing
goes quick, but we'll see.

-[Mac] Get some crab!
-[Felipe] Whoo-hoo!


on the opilio grounds...

aboard the Aleutian Lady.

[Rick] Oh, really?

North of the ridge.
Let me zoom in there.

[Bobby speaking over phone]

I'll start over there
and find out what I can see.

Everybody's already doing cod.
It's been a couple weeks.

So having the Bountiful out
on the grounds fishing codfish,

seeing opies in their pots,
is real information.

I don't feel bad splitting it
east-west with Sig.

We got to see
how big this biomass is,

so I'm giving myself
a little bit of an edge.

Who wouldn't?

Over!

[Rick speaking over radio]

Yeah, you got me.
Pick me up!

[Rick over radio]
Hey, I just go news from Bobby.

He was saying
just north of the ridge

it was some
pretty dang good counts.

I mean if I take
the west side of it,

you take the east side of it.

Cover as much bottom
as we possibly can.

OK, perfect.
All right, I'm in.

That's a good plan.

We'll just check in a bit here.

[Rick over radio]
Sounds good.

We're going off of intel
from the Bountiful,

I know Captain there,
Bobby, real well.

Certainly not gonna...

run away from his information.

We just want to get
this opilio caught quickly.

Now we just got to find him.

[deckhand] Going over!

We have to find the edge
on the east.

Sig's still gonna find crab.

I just might find
a little more.

I mean, I'm just omitting
part of the facts.



on the leading edge
of the storm...

Whoo-hoo!

[Keith] The weather's definitely
kicked up another notch

in the last couple hours.

We've got about
nine more pots.

...aboard the Wizard.

[Mia speaking]

-[Freddy] Look out!
-[OJ] Whoo!

[Mia]
It's getting a lot worse.

[Keith speaking]

...coming through here.

[OJ] Watch out, bro!

OK, now I'm getting a little
leery, a little nervous here.

[unintelligible]

[Keith speaking]

I just want to get stuff
in the water right now, man.

[bleep]!

That is just a [bleep]
mountain there.

Get against the rail!

[Mia groaning]

[Mia groaning]

Aboard the Wizard...

[Keith]
Hang on, hang on, hang on!

[Mia groaning]

[Keith and crew speaking]

[indistinct yelling]

Oh!

All right, OK,
that's the last one, guys.

You know, we're battling
this weather big time right now.

When the weather
goes to hell like this,

it becomes twice as hard
to do your job.

We just have to hope
that we can clean up

our bairdi fast,

because it's only gonna get
worse and worse and worse.

Six miles north...

Watch your rail!
Watch your rail!

...aboard the Titan Explorer.

Whoo!
Whoo-hoo!

[Jake] The first
winter storm is here.



This is where we are.

I set over here on the banks
in the shallows,


farther west.

The mud sets.

I gotta use my steering back
and forth, so I gotta square up

into the waves and make
the ride as smooth as I can.

-OK, here we go.
-Roger.

Warring through the same
low pressure system as Keith,

Captain Jake Anderson
approaches his first string

of the season.

OK, here we go.

In need of a 50 crab-per-pot
average to get on course

for his purchase
of the Titan Explorer.

Ah -- hoo-hoo.

[Jake]
Time is running out

because other boats
are moving in,

but if I can get this and
I can get it quick,

I'll have almost enough money
to buy this boat.

All right, here it comes.
Come on!

[deckhand]
Pot coming up!

[Jake]
Oh, come on, come on!

[Felipe over radio]
Come on crabs, come on crab.

Oh, yeah.

There's crab in it,
but it doesn't look like much.

[deckhand]
Look at that.

[Mac speaking]

[bleep] Twelve.

[groaning]

The string is as bad as
the [bleep]damn weather.

[deckhand] Careful!

Wah-wah-wah!

All right, stack this.
We're moving it.

[deckhand] Roger!

I got to find a place to move
these in the middle of a storm.

[deckhand] Look out!

Oh, man.

-[clicking]
-[propeller whirring]

[groaning]

Whoo-hoo!

-[clicking]
-[propeller whirring]

[Jake]
What the [bleep].

Oh [bleep].

I can't [bleep] turn it on.

[bleep]damn it, hang on.

-[clicking]
-[bleep].

-[indistinct]
-Whoo-hoo!

[deckhand] Watch out!
Watch out!

Watch out! Watch out!
Watch out!

[bleep]!

[shrill bell ringing]

[Jake] I got starboard,
but I got no port.

You can only turn right.

[deckhand] Watch out,
watch out, watch out!

[Jake over radio]
Hey, Felipe, get down
to the engine room now!

I can only steer
to the starboard.

Shut the [bleep] up!

On the Titan Explorer...

Oh, my god.
I can't turn at all to the port.

[Felipe speaking]

Holy sh -- wow!

Hey, what's going on?

[bleep] damn!

Dude, we have to --

We can't stop.

Um...

I'm going to actually try
to just turn to the starboard

and do circles, if we can haul
gear with half our steering.

[bleep] it.

Just tell everybody
to get ready.

Felipe thinks he can solve
this steering issue

in a couple hours.
I don't have a couple hours.

Unable to send a signal
to the hydraulic pumps

that turn the boat left,
Jake must make a series

of 360 degree loops
to the right

in order to haul each pot.

But with swells
coming from the south,

half of every turn exposes
Jake's starboard rail

and his crew to 20-foot waves.

OK.
Here we go!

[deckhand] Let's go, baby.
Let's go catch some crab.

[tense music playing]

-[Mac] Do it boys!
-[deckhand] Come on!

Whoo!

Oh boy!

[Mac]
Let's get some berries!

[Jake] I see it.

[Chino] Here it comes!

Almost ready, man.
Almost ready.

[bleep], I'm way too far
from the buoy.

[muffled buzzing]

-I shouldn't do this.
-[deckhand] Throw!

Go get it!

-[Chino] I got this!

[Felipe Yeah, come on,
come on, come on!

Oh [bleep].
He [bleep] got it.

[deckhand] All right.

Now, push!

I'm at the mercy
of the sea right now.

Hopefully, Felipe can solve
this steering issue.

I got to get this stack
on and moved.

[deckhand] Get it, get it, get
it, get it, get it.

Whoo-hoo!

[Jake] We still got
to keep going.

Just work through it,
no matter what.

[deckhand] Whoo!



on the opilio grounds.

All right, guys, let's get
ready to rock and roll.

[Sig] OK, we're
on the first pot here.

Now, I'm hoping that
Rick will be honest.

I hope that he's forthright.

But it's hard to say
you can trust anybody.

[laughing]

[deckhand]
Get some berries!

[Rick]
Just me and Sig.

I'm hammering the west.
He's over on the east.

[Clark] Let's go!

All right, let's see here.
Come on, now.

[deckhand]
Come on, baby.

Come on crab,
come on crab.

Pot's on the block.
Coming up, coming up.

[deckhand]
What do we got?

[Sig]
All right, first one's up.

Is there life?

[deckhand] Boo.

Come on!

A few smalls?

We were expecting more.

Come on, baby.

All right.

[deckhand] Whoa!

-Whoo!
-Holy [bleep].

No way!

[deckhand] Whoo!
Big ole pot, baby!

[Rick]
You got -- what the hell?

Whoo-hoo!

I mean, that is
a [bleep] ton of opies.

The frickin' table
is overflowing.

Look at that, baby!
Whoo!

Oh!

-Woo hoo hoo, baby!
-Money in the bank.

-Crab count 3-7-2.
-He-he-hey! Whoo!

Nothing!

[groaning]

Oh, my god,
[bleep] horrible.

-[Noah] Winner!
-[deckhand] [bleep].

I mean, this is insane.

Yeah, baby.
Let's go.

That is frickin' awesome.

Damn it!

[deckhand] Oh [bleep].

I mean, there was
supposed to be life.

[deckhand] Ugh!

It just makes me wonder.



on the windswept
bairdi grounds...

[deckhand] Whoa!

[groaning]

-[loud thud]
-[bleep]!

You rotten b*stard!

-[bleep] damn it.
-There's a hell of a roll.

...aboard the Wizard,

Now we gotta [bleep]
hang on.

[deckhand] Ahh-ha-ha!

Oh!

This weather's not conducive
to hauling, but we've already

got one person that's [bleep]
on the bench.

Throw me down!

We rolled,
or like a wave hit us.

I don't even know.
And I just flew into the wall.

And it just sent like
a shock of pain down my arm.

[bleep] pot, it's totally
got to [bleep] jacked up.

[deckhand] Watch out!

-[OJ] All right, here we go.
-Come on, baby.

[OJ] Coming up!

[Freddy] Whoa!

[OJ]
Yeah, dude, what the [bleep]!

-What -- no!
-Oh my --

[Monte]
Absolutely [bleep] nothing.

It's not what I was hoping
to see in that end pot.

I'll tell you that right now.

-Come on baby!
-Garbage.

Crab.
Crab.

Get us some crab!

What is going on?

I wonder if we should consider
heading north

with some of this gear.

We got enough b*ll*ts on here
to cover some ground.

It's probably a good move.

-[OJ] Watch out!
-[deckhand] Ah!

Ah!

It's the last one.

Secure everything.

[bleep] sloppy here.

We're going in?

Oh [bleep].

[Keith] Big sloppy is
probably an understatement.

Still, it's pretty sloppy.

Hang on.
[bleep]

[loud roaring]

[groaning]

[grunting]

[bleep] damn it!

[objects clattering]

[phone ringing]

Yeah.

-[Freddy speaking over phone]
-The what?

The what?

A -- and what?

Are you wearing enough
that I can at least

look at your shoulder?

If you take that --

Can you -- well,
I will look this way

for -- temporarily, all right?

And it hurts, right --

-Right.
-It's like right there.

Oh, right in here.
OK, go ahead and move again.

Yeah, I feel a little popping,
that noise in there.

Pretty much try and shut
your right arm down for now, OK?

Grab a thing of peas
and just ice your shoulder

every now and then.

I'm icing my shoulder
with a chimichanga.

I couldn't find
a bag of peas.

Feed a cold, starve a flu,
and blunt force trauma?

Take two chimichangas
and call me in the morning.

[Monte]
What's going on?

He is?

OK, [bleep].

[bleep] kidding me?

Give me a second.

Wait, what the [bleep] going on?

What happened?

[OJ] He got from there
to [bleep] here, he got hit.

How we doing?

Get another one, OJ.

Hey boss.

Ready, set.
One, two, three.

Oh yeah, OK.
All right.

-Scary.
-[groaning]

-I'll show you where I hit it.
-You're gonna feel it tomorrow.

I know, right?
It's just on my right.

-Yeah.
-Right in there.

It's already...

[Monte]
OK, well, we're kind of
officially in a jog mode

right now,
but it's just [bleep].

[bleep] Yeah.

[groaning]

[Keith] There's definitely
something going down.

Boat did one of
these and he -- [whistles]

across the galley.

We're definitely
worried about him.

A long ways away
from Dutch Harbor

and this [bleep].

-Right there!
-Yeah!

[Sig speaking]

Yeah, hey, Sig.
I got you.

Oh, no.
How's it look?

[deckhand] Big a*s pot, man.
[laughing]

[Rick] Nothing too great.

[deckhand] Holy [bleep].
Whoo!

-[laughing]
-[Sig speaking]

Yeah, Rog.

Have you seen any drop offs?
Like finding an edge?

What edge?

No.

Well, let me haul a few more,
and I'll let you know.

I mean, I don't want to tell
him everything right now.

I mean, that's how
you get an edge.

That's how you get ahead
in these industries nowadays.

[Sig] I know that he got
information from Bobby.

He claimed that there's
all kinds of crab around.

I kind of want to just
reach out to Bobby.

[deckhand] Ugh, [bleep].

[phone ringing]

[Sig]
You got me, Bobby?

Hey -- hey Sig,
what's going on man?

-No, it's been a while.
-[Bobby] Yeah, yeah.

Evidently, you saw some crab

up here in those
cod pots of yours.

So I just want to kind of see
what's what.

[Bobby speaking]

West, huh?

All right, pal.
I appreciate it.

Thank you so much.
You have a good one.

Rick was sandbagging.

You know, he's
sandbagging information.

[Rick]
This is an epic start.

I think this is
just the beginning.

-Whoo!
-[deckhand] Oh, yeah

I feel like k*lling somebody,

because I don't like
to be a sucker.

This [bleep] is what we did
when we were children.

But two can play at that game.

I'm just gonna go up and see
what Rick is really up to.

Let the games begin.

[Joe] This [bleep] is hand-sized
red right back there.

Yeah, I'm worried
about my brother.

There's no doubt.

Me and my brother,

we've been through a ton
out here together.

Best of friends
and arch enemies.

A little bit of both.

I'm gonna -- let you get out.
OK?

Is my brother gonna end up
on an airplane?

I guess that possibility
has to exist.

The start of this trip
has already been terrible.

And each string
that I haul that's bad,

it takes me farther and farther
away from ownership.

Last pot.

Chino, nice job...

-Whoo hoo!
-[Jake] I got half steering.

If I lose starboard steering,
I'm in real trouble.

So now what I have to do is fix
this problem, find a new home,

move all this gear
to that home.