18x21 - Graveyard of Gear

[bunniefuu]

[Jake] The stuff up
here is...

the stuff nightmares
are made of.

This is where the ice is,

the mean stuff.

Just pop your bags,
squeeze your buoys,

freeze around it,

move the gear
miles and miles away,

you'll never find it.

What I'm gonna do
is I'm going to see which way

and how fast the ice drifts.

That way I can make a
guesstimate as to how far I have

before I get
my gear moored down.

This stuff that
I'm going through,

you can see
it's about two feet thick.

Very, very beautiful,

but very, very deadly.

So, it has to be respected and
it shouldn't be toyed with.

This could decide
the fate of the season.

*DEADLIEST CATCH*
Season 18 Episode 21

Episode Title: "Graveyard of Gear"
Aired on: September 13, 2022.

[Narrator] 575 miles northwest
of Dutch Harbor...

on the Wizard.

The weather has sucked.

[Deckhand] Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo.

[Deckhand 2] Let's go.

Getting out to
the grounds sucked.

Whoo!

The freezing spray has sucked.

Argh.

By the time
I get this string off,

we'll have almost half
our gear in the water.

Deckhand speaking...

[Buzzing]

So now we're fishing
permanence canyon here

up on the northeast slope
right now.

We're still really close
to the ice.

But a strong current is
keeping the ice in check.

Let's hope we get our crab
before the ice gets us.

[Narrator] Cutting into 25-foot
seas fueled by northern tides,

Captain Keith Colburn marches toward the
cold waters of an eastern trench.

[Keith] We got off load
schedule, we're gonna be close.

[Narrator] Risking
the breakers for a shot

at making his 130,000-pound delivery
in just three days' time.

[Keith over PA]

Big one coming.
Hang on up there!

Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo.

Deckhand speaking...

Watch the rail.
Watch the rail, guys.

Deckhand 2 speaking...

[Deckhand 3] Okay, let's go.
Let's go.

Uh-oh. Uh-oh.
Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

OJ, the next one's
got teeth.

Hang on. Hang on. Hang on.

Backside of the rack, one of the
pulleys just came flying back on the boat.

[Over PA]

OJ, get rid of the bags.

Just chuck them both
over the side real quick.

Quick as a cat.
Good job.

Way to keep your peripheral
vision looking.

[Keith] That wave just washed
the buoys right back up

onto the boat.

It's real easy
to get tangled up

and there's no stopping
going over the side.

[Deckhand] Heads up.
Heads up.

[Keith over PA] Heads up, guys.
Big one coming in here.

I'll be glad to have this set
over with.

Just about as bad as I've seen
before as well, Rog.

But when we come back
to haul this gear,

I'm gonna have to haul
literally straight into it,

which means it's gonna be
a little bit dicier

for the guys
to get to going.

We've got bad weather.
We've got the ice bearing down on us.

January opilio fishing.

[Narrator] 19 miles
south of the ice pack...

[phone ringing]

[Jake] Hey, Sean,
I'm in the ice,

which is 24 miles from
my gear, just below the putter.

[Narrator] On the Brenna A...

So, [bleep], you think
that's [bleep] gonna come?

Well, I'm watching
the drift right now.

The tide's running
at 0.7 knots.

Ice could be at my gear
in a day.

Probably two.

I don't know
what to do here.

[Sean] The crab seemed to
follow that cold water temperature

that slides back and forth
with the ice.

[Narrator] Captain Jake Anderson's
news from the northern front

offers him and partner
Sean Dwyer a stark choice.

But the big concern
is that all these pots

are just gonna get dragged and
we won't be able to find them.

[Narrator]
Run from the Arctic pack

or use their 180 pots
to set south of the ice edge,

betting they can catch their
combined 200,000 pounds of opilio

before the ice catches them.

Uh, well, [bleep].

Well, I'm...

There's crab around here somewhere,

and we're gonna find it.

My goal is to get a tank
before the ice comes.

Okay, well...

I'm gonna set
my clock out here.

Just be on standby.
If the ice comes down,

we'll just start stacking,
right? [Bleep]

[Deckhand] Goin' over!

Yeah.

I'm gonna get out of here
and start running towards the gear and...

[Sean on phone]

We'll just stay close, and
try to hammer this thing out.

- All right. Later.
- Okay.

[Jake] We're gonna be
leapfrogging each other.

So, if I don't find them

then Sean will look
at the next area.

So, we'll make
our 90 pots apiece

act like 180.

High risk, high reward.

That's what I'm gonna do.

Gonna risk it.

[Narrator] 450 south...

[Rip] This weather is
just terrible.

There's nothing good
about any of this.

...on the golden king
crab grounds...

This looks like northeast 40.

25, 30-footers.

This is big boat
and big boy country out here.

We're freaking
making ice down here.

[James] The weather's
not the best.

The swell's pretty big
right now.

[Rip] We're over here
off Chagulak Island

in a place called
the Pot Cemetery.

Because it is rocky, deep
and pull a current.

If you do lose a string here,
you never get it back.

It's gone. See you later.

[Narrator] Dodging 30-foot
waves on the surface

while threading his line through
jagged terrain on the sea floor...

[Rip] At $10, $12,
$14 a pound,

we can't afford not to
catch every pound we're committed to.

[Narrator] Captain Rip Carlton
bets he can scare up

his final 160,000 pound quota
before the rising weather

shuts down
the 135-foot Patricia Lee.

[Rip] I wouldn't
normally set here,

but fishing's so bad,

I got to take this risk.

Or else I'll be paying money to
have the privilege of not catching crab.

If I can pull this off here...

we could catch
some serious crab.

We got to catch
a lot of crab.

[Deckhand] Last one.

[Rip] There's no and,
ifs or buts.

It feels great to have that
string in the water,

but it doesn't feel so great
the course we're running.

[Rip] It's too rough.

I don't even want them
out there going with it.

It's really big out right now.

[Over PA]
Let's just get back inside.

Let's not waste any time.

It's too sketchy out there.
I don't want you out there.

Let's bag it
and get back inside, please.

Big one.
Got a big one coming.

Get inside.

As fast as you can.

Watch out.

[Narrator]
On the Patricia Lee...

Big one.
Got a big one coming.

Get inside.

As fast as you can.

Oh, here it comes.

Watch out.

[Crashing]

You guys all right out there?

[Deckhand] Yeah. It's gotten
pretty[bleep] wavy down here.

What?

What the hell.

We just took a frickin' massive
wave and it torched the cattle guard.

[Bleep], man.

[Narrator] The cattle guard,
the metal barriers

that funnel rips golden king
crab from table to tank...

was bowed by the pressure
of a 25-foot 100,000 gallon wave.

[Rip] We should have
changed course here.

It's my fault.

[Producer] Yeah?

Mother Nature
is just punishing us.

We have to catch crabs.

We have to.
We just keep going backwards.

But the deck was just screwed
up from a frickin' wave.

This is just mega
[bleep] right here.

This is even too much for us.

We're gonna go hide
right behind that rock.

Right over there.

I gotta get out of here.

[Narrator] 450 north...

You guys ready?

...on the Brenna A...

[Sean] My biggest regret
from last year

was moving
from the ice too early,

potentially be running away
from crab.

[Deckhand] Come on.

[Sean] There's kind of
these different like ledges.

And one of the ledges
we're next to

is a putter-shaped ledge
on the side of a bank.

So, Jake's down
for the teamwork.

Keep leapfrogging each other until we find something.
Power in numbers.

Hope the putter has a little
bit of game left for us.

[Narrator] With partner Jake
going east along the ridge,

Captain Sean looks
to his string,

stretching west
into 70-fathom depths...

[Sean] Start to get
in the 30-degree range.

That's when you know
it's getting cold.

...where seawater chilled
by the advancing pack

is trapped by contours
on the ocean floor.

[Sean] This pot right here.

This is the pot that's gonna
catch all the crab.

[Deckhand] What do we got?

Yeah. It's a blank.

[Deckhand] We got one crab.

[Sean] Oh, man.

Oh, God.

Miserable.

Deckhand speaking...

[Sean] One crab.

Cool.

Pretty sad.

[Deckhand] Zero in that one.

[Sean] We had a pretty
disappointing start.

We shall see.

If it's anything like
the rest of the gear,

it's gonna come up blank.

So, we're stacking them on.

Oh, no.

Oh, no.

I've seen enough blanks.

Give me something
with some crabs there, Jake.

I don't really have anything
good to tell him, other than...

don't set where I just set.

Sloppy seagull
to hungry beagle.

You got me here,
hungry beagle?

[Beeping]

[Jake] Yeah.
I'm gonna haul the first one.

[Narrator] 6 miles away,

on the eastern side
of the putter...

[Sean over radio] I'll be
curious to see what you get.

Yeah, I'm a little nervous.

I hauled 90 blanks,
so don't feel that bad.

[Jake laughs]

All right. First pot.

What Sean and I
are trying to do

is to take advantage of what little
time we have left in ice-free waters.

But I want one pick
before I go.

I'm trying to get
on to some crab.

Get something on the books.

If this string doesn't do
very well...

I'm gonna have to take
bigger risks.

Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo.

First pot for Jakie,
Jakie, Jakie.

Whoo! This is it.

[Sean] Come on, dude.

- Oh!
- Whoa!

Look at that pot!

There's crab.

Clean?

I'm getting a count on it.

[Sean] I love that
you have to count it.

You didn't have to count
any pots we hauled.

Deckhand speaking...

Deckhand over radio...

Ninety-one.

Ninety-one and 16 hours.

There's crab here, Sean.

Whoo!

Whoo!

[Bleep], bro.

This is awesome, baby.

Deckhand speaking...

[Jake]
I'm[bleep] hungry now.

Deckhand speaking...

Oh, my God.

Whoo!

[laughs]

[Bleep] the weather,
I don't give a [bleep]!

We're on, crab!

Whoo!

Whoa.

Hey, Sean.

Go for Sean.

[Jake] 350 in this one.

Should I just set
a string here maybe?

[Sean] Looking
at my ice program.

I mean, this thing is throwing
some conflicting views here,

whether or not this thing
is gonna be ice covered.

But I haven't seen
a single bit

or piece of ice either.

Dump them, dump them,
dump them.

It's hard to take chances,
but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Maybe I'm gonna be the push that he
needs to put those things in the water.

[Deckhand] Watch out.

Don't dump it.

Hold on.
I got to think about this.

[Narrator] On the Saga...

[Sean on radio] Dump them,
dump them, dump them.

Don't dump it.

Hold on.
I got to think about this.

Roger.

When I see numbers
like that out here.

And it's so bare around
the entire Bering Sea...

I got to take the risk.

Otherwise, I ain't gonna
go home

and I ain't gonna be able
to pay bills.

I think I'm gonna set.

Yeah, dude, [bleep].

Let them rip, man.

Take that[bleep].

- [Jake on PA] Dump it.
- Roger.

We're on crabs
so it's time to set.

[Narrator] With the shallow
side of the putter

yielding their best fishing
by par,

Captain Jake drives all his
gear back into the ledge.

There's [bleep]
all kinds of room here.

He said, "Wherever you want."

I'm gonna turn it
right towards it.

[Jake] Okay, it starts
right where you see me

and it goes directly east.

We're gonna go for it.
We should be okay.

I'm saying that
also to convince myself.

Honestly, I am petrified.

Each pot that goes over
is $2,200 worth of steel.

One minor mishap can cost us
a whole season.

Same time,
I'm a greedy fisherman.

And there's crab here.

And I hauled
a bunch of blanks.

[Deckhand] Going over!

I'm pushing the boundaries.

[Narrator]
140 miles northwest...

[Keith] Coming up on it.

...on the Wizard...

The weather is horrible today.

The current is crashing
into the wind.

And it's stacking
these waves up.

Sharp, nasty 15 to 25-footers.

[Narrator] Sprinting towards
an offload in just 60 hours,

Captain Keith hauls where
northern currents meet southerly winds,

exposing the crew
to violent and confused seas.

The guys are just
worn out, man.

The cold, the workload
and everything else

is taking its toll
on the crew.

Deckhand speaking...

[Keith] I'm cautiously
optimistic

that we'll see something here.

Oh, yeah.

[Keith] There is good news.

It's a big mound of crab.

Beautiful crab, too,
in mountains.

That's exactly
what you like to see.

[Woman] Come on here
on the table.

[Keith] Looks pretty good
so far.

[Deckhand grunting]

Yeah!

[Keith grunting]

Looks like it's got
all of 600 crab in it.

I'm not saying we're winning
the race against the clock.

All I know is that we're
putting crab on the boat.

[Bleep], we're get pushed
around by the ocean right now.

Deckhand speaking...

Yeah.
Flat out nasty out there.

The guys are getting hammered
by the green water

that's coming over
the starboard side.

There's not a whole hell
of a lot I can do about it.

We can't be dilly-dallying.

Whoa!

Let's get these crab
on the boat.

This string's
been really good.

Close to a 500 average.

It's a good thing we're on
good numbers because I don't know

how many more days
of this these guys can handle.

But we're going to work 'em
right to the bitter end.

My tank's filling up.

We'll definitely have over
10,000 crab in this string

and put the boots to that
starboard forward tank.

We will be done.

Just want to get our crab
on here and hit the road.

[Hissing]

Big one coming. Hang on.
Hang on. Hang on.

Hang on to something, guys.

[Narrator] On the Wizard...

Big one coming. Hang on.
Hang on. Hang on.

Hang on to something, guys.

Oh!

Whoo!

[Bleep]

[Keith grunting]

Whoa. Everybody okay?

We got some ice that
came flying off the bow.

Deckhand speaking...

[OJ] Yeah!

That was a wicked-a*s wave.

It curled over the bow
and blasted

2,500 pounds of ore
worth of ice down in one shot.

It must have come up off
part of the ice on the bow.

Mother Nature
is in a bad mood today.

If that doesn't make you a
little bit edgy, I don't know does.

It's getting pretty close.

Whoo!

[Deckhands cheering]

[Keith] Okay, guys,
that's the last one.

Button up the deck
as you can.

Let's get into town
and get this off.

Get back out here
as quick as possible.

[Narrator]
550 miles southeast...

[Rip] Well, we're out here at
[bleep] time this morning.

We're behind the island
and this is how bad it is.

[Narrator]
On the Patricia Lee...

Freaking freezing cold icy
blast storm from the Arctic.

When the rigging starts
howling, that means 50-plus.

I feel sorry for my
compatriots up by the Pribilofs.

They're really making ice.

Get some, baby.

Whoo!

We took a big wave.

Bent the cattle guard.
The boys are out there trying to fix it.

Deckhand speaking...

[Deckhand 2 speaking]

[Narrator] Forced to lick
his wounds and seek cover

from towering
25-foot swells...

I'm trying to make my mind up
if I'm gonna go further or not.

...Captain Rip
weighs his options,

play it safe in the lee
of the island chain

or risk another beating for a
shot at his $5.6 million quota.

I checked the currents

and they're gonna be slack
for a couple of hours.

So, if we're gonna go out,
now is the time.

It's really big out right now.

But if we could keep the boat
directly into it,

we could do it.

[Over PA]
Get the deck ready to fish.

Roger.

Hurry up. Hurry up.

[Rip] We're still on track
to get our poundage in

and get to the Dutch.

We're always a top producer

because we'll come out
and do it.

We aren't gonna sit in there
until somebody else does it.

We go.

[Narrator] 470 miles north...

[Jake] There's a 20-foot coma
right here on the bow.

Big [bleep].

We're rattled.

The wonderful world
of ice fishing.

All the pots are set

and we need at least 24 hours

to get 300s in these pots.

[Narrator] With their gear set
in the path of the ice,

captains Jake and Sean
scan the northern grounds,

ready to haul pots
and evade disaster

at the first sign of
the south bound Arctic pack.

[Sean] My brain is fried.

I haven't slept
for like [bleep] three days.

[Jake] I don't know if
I'm being greedy or aggressive.

I don't see anything
on my radar yet.

I think there's a flow
off my starboard bow.

[Bleep]

[Bleeping]

I'm starting to see flows now.

These things are [bleep]
moving at high speed.

They have the current
behind them.

[Sean] I don't know
if I can outpace it,

but this is gear
moving type [bleep].

We're gonna turn
and start stacking.

I gotta tell these guys
to hurry the [bleep] up.

[Jake] I gotta get out
of here for sure.

Joe, seeing some ice
in these [bleep] waves.

Get the gear on.

I should have
never dumped them.

The race is on to get
these on, man.

Yeah. This is [bleep].

You rely on having to stack
all this gear all at once

to leave the ice pack.

Your margin for error
goes down to zero.

There... there is none.

You either pick them up
or you lose them.

[Jake over PA]
Buckle up, Mason, Mac.

This isn't a [bleep]
take-your-time kind of moment.

[Bleep]

[Bleep]

Well, the crane is taking
a thrashing in this weather.

The stanchions
on the forward crane broke.

I don't have time
to weld them,

which means that we have
to chain down the picking boom.

It's so cold,
the mechanics failed.

[Narrator] Stressed by waves
and freezing temperatures,

the welds on the forward
cranes snapped...

Start [bleep], start [bleep]
binding that thing over.

...leaving Jake no choice,

but to ratchet
the support beams in place

until they can make
a more permanent fix at dock.

[Jake] Bad things happen
when you're near the ice.

Oh, this is [bleep] miserable.

What the hell.

Deckhand speaking...

[Deckhand 2 speaking]

Hydros are off.

It's got a leak somewhere.

I can guarantee you
this one is ice related.

[Sean] We got
the [bleep] out of here.

And we can't stack because
we have a broken launcher hose.

That's an ice flow
right there.

You can see it in the horizon.

We don't have
any time to spare.

He's down there making a hose.

Guys, we got an ice flow
ahead of us here, so.

- Roger.
- Yeah, roger.

[Bleep] You okay?

[On radio] Did it hurt?
You all right?

[Groaning]

[Deckhand] Nicky Nick Nicky.

[Sean] Nick cut his hand.

Oh, my God.

But we need to get
these pots out of the water

before we're run over.

Oh, my God.

[Grunting]

Oh, dude.

Camera guy down.

He hit his head, bro.

[Bleep]

[Over PA]
You okay, Don?

The waves are so big, our deck
sh**ter fell on a tow to bait

and hit his head
on a 2-inch steel rail.

Here, Don, let's check it out.

Deckhand speaking...

Right there.

[Deckhand] One of my
best friends is a neurosurgeon,

so you'll be very well
taken care of.

[Deckhand 2] I got my
very first concussion on Deadliest Catch

on this very boat.

The first of three.

Well, I got strike one.

- I need two more.
- Yup, you gotta catch up to the boys.

[Narrator] Amidst
the concussion commotion,

the ice beats the fleet
into retreat.

[Narrator] On the Brenna A...

Guys, we got
an ice flow ahead of us here,

so we really need to get these pots
out of the water before we're run over.

Yeah, rog.

You okay?

[Narrator] Racing
to restore his hydraulics

before the ice overtakes
his remaining 89 pots,

Captain Sean Dwyer's engineer
Nick Jones slices his hand,

halting the rescue operation.

Deckhand speaking...

[Deckhand 2 speaking]

[Sean] This is what
happens, man.

Grab a Band-Aid.

Black tape and paper towel.

Safety first.

[Sean] [bleep]
Here it comes, man.

How are you doing
down there, Nick?

Good?

Okay.

Looks like
he's got it fixed.

That's gear-mover.

That stuff's
over a foot thick.

That is not good.

Deckhand speaking...

[Jake over PA] All right,
guys, let's hop to it.

Roger.

The crane's good.

I'm trying to push it as much
as I can, but hurry the[bleep] up.

We got to get
the [bleep] out of here.

- How we doing?
- We're good.

But I've got very little time.

Pot's on.

[Jake] Should have
[bleep] known better.

I got [bleep] greedy.

Me and Brenna A are going
backwards, dude.

[Rip] Mother Nature's in
her full force this morning.

It takes every bit of that
skill I got to drive this boat

to keep it on this gear
safely.

Not coming easy.

The currents are good
right now.

We're only six miles
from being behind the island.

Now we're hauling.

[Cheering]

Yeah, baby.

We're catching the crab
too big time.

Thirty average, pretty good.

Halfway of the string.

Here, at the Pot Cemetery...

[cheering]

...the fishing is great!

Yeah, baby.

Oh, yeah. We got crab.

[Deckhand] Yeah!

Whoo!

Deckhand speaking...

Wow, this is a great string.

Just gotta keep it
nice and smooth.

That's the whole key
in big weather.

We got this.

Oh, Lord, that's a big wave.

It's a pretty big wave coming.

Whoa!

[Cheering]

[Rip laughing]

Whoo!
That was a big wave.

There's very few people in
the world that would come out

and haul gear
in weather like this,

and this group's
a group that will.

Deckhand speaking...

Nice.

54.

Might get 5,000 pounds
out of it.

[Over PA] Last pot.
Here it is.

Well, this is a hell of a way
to end the trip.

Like a walk-off home run.

I knew they could do it.
I knew I could do it.

That was a really
good job, guys.

Nice work.

[Rip over PA] We're headed
to the Dutch right now.

[Deckhands cheering]

And that's it.

Thank God.

[Keith] I'm relieved
to be in town.

But the ticket's not signed.

We gotta get the crab off
in one piece.

It's been a long
season so far.

For a trip
without an injury...

this might be the hardest trip
I've ever had.

Every day has taken
ten years off my life.

It's been that bad.

But we still have a lot
of crab to catch

and a long drive back out

with sleep deprivation

and just pure pain.

This was a season of survival.

[Sean] How did it
[bleep] go last night?

I'm... I'm drained.

Just mentally exhausted
and I'm not able to fish.

Yeah. I haven't heard
anything good.

There's another big
blow coming.

It's relentless.

What are you...
What are you gonna do?

I'm moving for real this time to
the west and away from the ice.

[Jake] I think I'm going
to go deep.

I'll check in with you
as we go along.

Oh, okey-do key.

We'll be here.

There's a lot of crab here,
but I'm just done with the juju.

I don't think me and Sean are
willing to go play with the ice anymore.

I think we had our fun.

[Sean] Starting over again,
I'm having to race backwards.

Just stack them up a little.

We'll make it happen
one way or another.

We're not giving up that easy.