When it comes to gold mining,
every miner believes
they can determine
the wisest choices
to land their fortune.
But make even one wrong move
and they could end up
chasing nothing...
...but fool's gold.
I need to make a lot of gold
within a short amount of time.
We're going out to 40 feet.
See if we can get back
on that good gold.
Time to go
make some money today.
All right, bud.
No hero .
Be safe.
So as the critical final days
tick down on summer mining...
Let's put the hammer down.
We know where
the good gold's at. Get it.
...whose decisions
could maroon them
on a ship of fools...
There's just no light
down there.
I can't see .
...and whose could
lead them to untold riches?
Whoo-hoo!
That's a damn good
test pan right there.
All right-a-roony. Hooray!
It has so much gold in it.
We're gonna
smash it out of the park.
Nuggets and gold.
Nuggets and gold.
Golden nuggets.
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo.
Money!
We're off to another
fun-filled day
on the Mistress.
Gotta keep pressing hard.
It's pre-dawn,
and in just 48 hours,
a winter storm will shut down
the summer mining season,
and Reaper Nation captain
Kris Kelly
is on a mission to reach
the ounces he needs
by any means necessary.
It's the end of the year.
We're gonna make it
work, no matter what.
We're just gonna have
to push through it, be men,
make it happen today,
even though my body says,
"What are you talking about,
?"
- That's pretty...
-We can make it.
- Oh.
-You know?
- My body's like,
"No, mother... No, sir."
It'll be okay today though,
the Mistress...
It's gonna be a nice day.
This season has been brutal.
It seems like every day
there's a new problem,
a new obstacle.
I'm mentally
and physically exhausted.
I'm basically crawling
to the finish line.
We have to hit our goal.
I've already
reduced our number
just so we can hit
our bills and stay alive.
But that storm stirred up
the seafloor
and probably opened up
some new pay streaks,
so we can end with a bang.
I gotta keep working.
I can never stop
or everything
will just fall apart
right around me.
Today's strategy
is to find new ground
that's been opened up
from the storm.
Maybe I'm being a fool
but right now,
an ordinary cleanup
is not gonna cut it,
not when we need
to hit our goal
with almost no time left.
Coming up on the Mistress...
It's gonna be
a great day today.
James finished night crew.
Everything's gonna be awesome.
Let's do it.
Are you ready?
Let's put the hammer down.
I love my guys,
but the season's been rocky.
So I'm gonna oversee
everything today
to make sure we get the kind
of gold we need to see.
So I'm gonna be tough.
My standards
are sky-high right now.
Put that behind
the wash plant...
I mean, behind the gas.
We're up. We're running.
Everything's going great.
Almost every time
I'm out here, it's like...
it's like a green walk
over here.
This is a good job right here.
I think--
Thank God I checked.
Okay.
This isn't it.
We need k*ller gold.
Like, light-up-the-pan gold.
That pan was crap.
I'm convinced there's gonna be
a new pay streak
that we can tap into.
We just gotta keep hunting
and we'll find it.
Hey, we're not getting
good gold.
We're moving.
We're gonna push off
in an angle outward,
then we'll check the material.
Let's just do some
on-the-fly prospecting.
Yeah, I can feel it.
We're in gold.
Like there's gold around here.
We're just in the wrong area.
So let's get the
out of here.
We're moving spots.
I'm gonna be
relentless today.
We're gonna keep moving
till I find what I want
or until I learn that
what I want is a pipe dream.
Either way,
we'll find out soon.
A little bit more.
Okay.
Oh, yeah, baby.
We're back
on the prospecting mission.
But you know what?
The good part is,
I'm actually good
at finding gold, so...
One of my specialties.
So stay tuned.
We'll be on gold
in a couple minutes.
But Kris
isn't the only captain
already on the water.
Yeah. It doesn't look like
they moved out, did they?
No.
Pushing to rebuild
after the great storm,
Shawn Pomrenke
and protege Cody Moen
are hitting it early,
trying to keep
the gold flowing
until the bitter end.
The situation is simple.
It's been a tough season.
We've had to re-adjust
our goal for the season.
The good news is
the last time out,
we hit a pay streak that
was uncovered by the storm.
Holy .
That is a hot pan.
Load it!
hot damn.
So the strategy is simple,
keep the Myrtle
and the Christine Rose
on that pay streak
and have the day
and night crew
ride that pay streak out
till the end of the season.
I need to make a lot of gold
within a short amount of time.
I got huge payments.
Gotta cover wages,
fuel, insurance.
So I'm gonna get in
that excavator today
and I'm gonna dig
my little heart out.
It's loaded.
We're in it.
Right where I thought
it was gonna be.
Look at that.
That's just pure gold.
Hot damn.
Yes, sir. Whoo!
We're on the gold.
Left the nightshift guys off
right in the good spot.
So I just gotta keep digging.
We're in some of the best gold
the Christine Rose
has ever been in right now.
Yeah.
It is loaded up.
Well, that's good.
Good news, the crew
kept the Christine Rose
on high ground so Cody can
keep grinding it out all day.
You know, he'll be just fine.
Now, it's on the Myrtle.
We left her
on a nice patch yesterday
when I turned it over
to the night crew.
As long as they stayed
on that spot,
the box should be loaded
and we're gonna k*ll it today.
Now, the question is did night
shift put any gold in the box?
That's what I'm gonna go look.
Did they do good
or didn't they?
Gotta be kidding me.
Just not seeing it.
When you're in the gold,
you can see it
in the lower box.
I'm not seeing it down here.
I'll go check out the GPS,
see where we're at,
and see if we're on track
or off-track.
Went to total .
No.
I was right here yesterday
when I left.
Now, I show up,
night shift's over here.
This is ridiculous.
I tell them where to go
for a reason and now...
It's like they're scared
to go after the good stuff.
We know
where the good gold's at.
Get it.
Why in the hell
are we not at that point?
And here we are,
All right. All right.
All right. All right.
Yo, hey, let's pick up
the spud and move over.
Copy that.
Let's get turned here.
We're going on a hunt.
Unbelievable.
It pisses me off.
I hunted and hunted,
got us exactly
where we needed to be.
That streak was smoking.
Then the night crew comes in,
moves us off of it,
and completely
loses the scent.
I'mma swing over that way,
see if we can find it there.
Where you at?
Hey, Cody.
Yes?
How's the digging
going over there, bud?
Well, that's good.
At least you got some.
Should start calling you
Shawn Kelly.
I don't give up.
That's the one thing
that separates me from...
and my guys
from everybody else out here.
We're just gonna do
a lot of short moves.
We're gonna work hard today.
We're gonna move.
It's a Sunday, God's day,
but today,
these boys are mine.
Get to work.
All right.
It's like Brer Rabbit
in the Briar Patch
trying to get out of here
in the morning.
Everything's frozen up
or just getting on the way.
It's a pain in the butt.
Still struggling
to reach his goal,
Vernon Adkison has a plan
to supercharge production
in the season's final days.
We're flush with divers
and we're going out today
about 40 feet,
see if we can get back
on that good gold.
And we're ready to go.
We're gonna finish out
the season with a bang.
So far, this has been
a crap season.
We're way behind on our goal,
but we've been gaining
some traction lately.
We've been going to ground
that's at least
That's past the reach
of the excavators
and deeper than most divers
are willing to go.
That means the ground
is untouched,
and it's been paying off.
The trick is, ground
that far down is dangerous.
So it's farther for the
divers to get to the surface
if there was a problem,
and it's easier for the lines
to get tangled.
But with my current situation,
I've got no choice.
And today, I'm gonna push it
more than I've done before.
Okay.
Can you push it off some more?
All right. Here we go.
That far down,
the nitrogen can build up
and give the divers
the bends.
That's why we need
to limit their dives
at 40-plus feet to two hours.
That short window is a k*ller
to my bottom line.
So to make the most of it,
we're aiming for three divers
in a single day
at 40-foot-plus.
First, I'm gonna drop Gary,
then Brad,
and then Tony
will close it out for us.
Hopefully, knocking on wood,
we've work through
most of our bugs.
We're ready now.
I hope so.
Keep it up. Stay close.
We're definitely pushing
our luck with this plan
and most people would say
I'm crazy for trying it,
but if that box is loaded,
I'll look like a genius.
Pull it your way, Kevin.
All right. Good.
That's why I'm the best.
All right.
We're in business.
So just take your time.
No sense of getting
in a hurry.
Sand is not usually
where the gold is.
We wanna see cobble.
But the storm really
shook up that seafloor,
so it may have
covered up this area.
That could mean we've gotta
find a new spot to mine.
We don't have time for that.
Well, what do you wanna do?
You want us to move or what?
He's seeing some
nice pieces go up the nozzle
every now and then,
but the--
Okay. Well, it might be
because of the sandiness
that it's going in without you
being able to see it.
All right-a-roony.
The way this material
is flowing into the nozzle,
there could be gold in it
and not see it.
Gary is seeing gold
in the sand
that's coming up the nozzle.
I'm betting for every
little piece he sees,
there are probably
So we're gonna stay here
and feast on this spot.
Hopefully,
it's the right call.
Okay. We're gonna rev it up.
Yeah. Okay.
It looks good up here.
All right.
We're in business.
Yeah.
All right-a-roony.
Hooray!
There we go.
Let's put gold in that box.
Whoo!
It's a beautiful day.
Zeke Tenhoff is hoping
to finally get cooking...
Mmm.
...after the storm
of the century
knocked him and his dredge,
the Synergy, off the water.
Need instant coffee.
I need some caffeine.
Before the big storm hit,
we were just on fire.
We were headed to our
best season ever.
It's good ground, buddy.
Yeah. That's good
as that's ever looked.
I think we've got about
We were doing so well
that we passed our season goal
by the halfway point
of the season.
But then the storm
of the century hit,
and it kept us off the water.
But now we're ready
for the final push.
-Steer lines?
- Yeah.
We doing this.
Looks like
best-case scenario,
if the viz does clear up,
we have, like, two days.
We'd get two days in.
So, I just wanna make sure
that we get those two days in,
if we can.
Even though we've been off
the water for a bit,
I'm gonna raise my goal
to 150 ounces.
I've made enough this summer
to make the $100,000 payment
that I needed to make
on the Synergy.
But I still owe another
$300,000 on it.
So the sooner that I can get
ahead on this debt,
the sooner I can start making
a profit with this.
The pay streak that
we were on before
should get us to
the 150-ounce goal,
but I don't know
if we're gonna be able
to get back on it
now that the storm
has gone through it.
We're gonna drive over
where we left off working
before the storm and see if...
if there's any evidence
of the work we'd done...
or if the storm
had just filled it
all back in.
It'll be interesting
to see with the sonar.
I mean we...
I mean, this is... I mean...
Yeah. It looks like
it moved a whole bunch of...
some more sand into Tomcod.
The storm really did a number
on the area we were mining
and dumped a ton of sand
everywhere.
But luckily, we have the
biggest nozzle in the fleet,
And that 14-inch nozzle
can move a lot of material.
The real issue for us
is gonna be the viz.
This could ultimately
be a fool's errand for us,
so I hope I'm not just letting
my guard down here
in the final stretch.
It's gonna be a great day.
Probably go down
on the gantry.
Beautiful.
We're here.
We're trying to go to work.
We'll see what happens. Yeah.
Knock the, uh...
Knock the dust off them boots.
There's no viz.
Like, you can barely
see the hose.
Brave man.
He's gonna go try.
Let's do it.
All right, bud.
No hero . Be safe.
I got you loud and clear.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean it's not
really ideal, right?
No.
Hell, yeah.
Back in the harbor...
We've had a storm.
We've had weather.
We've had a lot of repairs.
This boat hasn't
been out much.
And I lost lot of my season,
so now I gotta make up for it
because we gotta push it
to the end.
With one half
of Reaper Nation
already on the water,
Andy Kelly is feeling
the late pressure.
So I gotta go out
every day I can.
So, this year, I'm in charge
of the All-In and the crawler,
and the crawler's a great
machine and everything.
I love it.
And so far everything's
been a nightmare so far.
Well, if I go to use my winch,
it moves my track.
If I go to lift my nozzle,
it moves my track.
I don't know what's going on.
And we lost the crawler?
I'm !
I just got it going!
So what are we
waiting for?
We need to get it on the water
and start making gold today.
We're gonna drive away
and start going to work.
I've finally got the crawler
running and in great shape
and finished,
and I've done my part.
I'm not the only one
on this boat.
The captain's
also responsible.
This guy really sucks.
My brother gave me somebody
that doesn't have a clue
of what he's doing,
and it really sucks for me.
But Kris said, "Be humble."
Yup.
Just so you're clear,
you're handling all the gold.
He's handling just driving.
So, he's more
like a chauffeur.
I want you to be calm
at all times,
-speaking to him.
-Oh, me.
Don't talk down to him.
That's a lot of, uh, don'ts.
I told him that you're gonna
be working with him in harmony
-'cause he knows you're--
-We got the harm part right.
No, "harmony."
You want me to harm him
with a knee?
So my captain's gonna
be sober today
'cause he has no beer on boat.
All right.
I just need this guy to put
the boat in the right depth.
I wanna be deep enough
where there's good gold,
but I have to make sure
we have good visibility.
We need to make
this thing work
or we're not gonna
hit our goal.
The plan is we're going
to the same area
as we were last time,
'cause there was
really good gold
in this virgin ground,
so we're going
right back to there.
It's gonna be a good day,
Daniel.
Everything's warmed up.
We're taking off
out of the dock.
Time to go
make some money today.
Todd's saying
we're at 35 to 40,
right where I wanna be.
We're putting
the anchors down.
Thirty-five to 40 feet
is the sweet spot.
Most divers
won't go that deep,
so the ground
should be untouched.
We should still have
some light down there.
- Okay.
- Anchors are set.
We're gonna start dropping
all of my equipment
on the bottom of the ocean.
Okay. Are we good?
- Okay.
- Okay. Cool.
Let me drop her down.
The water looks a bit murky
at the top of the water,
so hopefully it'll be better
on the bottom.
Keep lowering it.
Let's see.
I can't see anything
on my front camera.
It's completely black.
My camera's not even
registering now.
So it's just really
dark this deep.
Hey. We gotta check the depth.
My two front cameras,
they're black.
Okay.
The jackass captain
put me deeper
than I needed to be.
All right.
So it's way off.
You know, I wanted to go
at 35 to 40, not 50.
And it's an overcast day,
so there's just no light
down there.
I can't see .
We're gonna have to
because I can't see anything
-on my cameras.
Like, my cameras
are straight black.
So we're just gonna
go shallower.
The captain just wasted
a whole bunch of time.
We gotta pull the anchor
back up
and get set back up
for the right depth.
Every hour we do of this
is an hour we're wasting.
Now my brother's
over there working, and...
which is why I don't get
no mining time in,
because our captain
is no captain.
Get away from this,
uh, sand.
Yup, that's it. Push it back.
Move, baby.
After two hours of hunting,
the Reaper Nation captain
has yet to find ground
that gets his seal
of approval.
Whoa.
Ooh, that felt like rock, huh?
Whoa, baby.
Just grab some scoop,
but let's try.
Uh...
Right now, everyone thinks
I'm outta my mind
by insisting we don't
start mining
until we find something
k*ller,
especially with so little
time left in the season.
But you know what?
I don't care
what anyone else thinks.
Yeah, about there.
I know I'm right
and I'm gonna prove it
to everyone.
Yeah, no, I know.
I know.
Bring it over.
I just wanna look at it.
Yeah, let's do this.
Let's do this.
I like this.
I even like the way
we're fitting here,
kind of, you know?
Lock us in place.
Okay. Let's do it.
I'm clear.
All right.
This is what I want.
This is the kind of ground
I'm looking for.
I'm telling you,
when we start doing
a test pan of this,
everything's gonna
be better for us.
I'm gonna take a test pan
to make sure
my spidey sense is right
and this is where we wanna be.
Yeah, let's do it.
I like it.
Oh, yeah, baby.
I knew it.
I knew to trust
my own instincts.
I knew there was something
better out there.
And now,
we're gonna reap the reward.
Started out this morning
on no gold,
so I have to be here to keep
things going in the right way
and keep us going
on the right trail.
So I'm like the lucky charm
or the mascot,
whatever you wanna call me.
I'm the guy that
makes it happen,
so I'm here making it happen.
While Kris
milks a pay streak,
on the other side
of the claim...
Okay. Go ahead
and bring her down.
Yeah, let's see that plug.
Copy that.
Shawn Pomrenke
is also hoping
for a change in fortune...
Got it now.
...as he
desperately tries to tap back
into hot ground.
We got the spuds down,
now it's time to take a bucket
and see what we got.
Not what we're looking for.
We're gonna go ahead and move.
We're still trying to get
back on that pay streak
that the night crew
drifted off of.
We've been at it
for hours now.
We're hunting and pecking,
and so far we're just
striking out.
The Christine Rose
is on great gold,
but the Myrtle's supposed
to be the king.
Dave Young didn't
put me in charge of it
to play second fiddle
to the CR.
I'm just stressing out right
now about the whole season
coming to an end
and the Myrtle Irene's
just not producing
what is expected.
I don't feel real hot
about how we're
doing right now,
but you know what?
When I get up
against the wall,
I just push a little
harder,
and I am gonna make it happen.
Let me see.
Are we in it
or did the move work?
Bucket's gonna tell us
the tale.
Oh.
Oh! Man, that looks good.
Wow.
Make me proud.
Yeah.
If this is what
I think it is,
it's gonna be loaded
with gold,
loaded with nuggets.
I wanna check the box.
Oh, yeah.
Look at that.
-Gonna be nuggets.
- Dang.
All right. That's it.
It's Northwest Gold Creek.
About ten years ago,
we found this creek in close,
and it's a deep channel
of this brown,
lovely, lovely,
lovely material.
It's loaded with gold,
loaded with nuggets.
It's ironic,
but the night crew
might've did me a favor
getting off that pay streak,
because I just tapped back in
to one of the greatest finds
the Pomrenke empire ever hit.
About ten years ago,
we stumbled on this
ancient beach line called
"Northwest Gold Creek."
It's the richest ground
we ever found out here.
This is it.
Uh, I remember exactly
what it looked like,
brown, golden.
Yeah.
I've been wanting to find this
for years now.
Yeah, finally.
I've looked for it
a couple times
but could never find it,
because it's only like a 15,
- Yeah.
-But... And I had...
I had a hunch
it ran all the way out
into the deeper water,
but, you know,
we could never dig deep
enough with the CR.
It was as deep
as you could dig
with the Christine Rose.
Yeah.
And it was nothing
but nuggets and nuggets.
When we found this creek
a decade ago,
we were on the Christine Rose.
The arm of the Christine Rose
only goes about 16 feet,
so it dried up really fast,
because it went deeper
than we could go.
But now, I have the Myrtle,
which can go to 25 feet.
So boom, I found that
Northwest Gold Creek again
in deeper water.
And it's loaded.
It is loaded.
It has so much gold in it.
We're gonna smash it
out of the park.
Yeah!
So a little bit
off course here,
a little bit off course here
put us right where
we need to be.
-Everything happens
for a reason.
This is the break
we needed right here.
Nuggets and gold,
nuggets and gold,
gold and nuggets.
Whoo-woo-woo-woo.
Fire everything up,
prime the pump,
make some gold.
Look at it.
We're right
in the middle of it.
See that nice brown,
light brown?
That's the channel.
That's the paydirt.
That's the money.
Hey, Cody.
Yes?
Nice.
I took a couple pans
and it looked, you know,
like five nice chunky pieces.
Another pan had one
big chunk in it.
It's a buck...
Big, full buckets.
Whoo!
Yeah, it's good to be
making good gold, man.
Yeah.
All right. Well, I'm heading
in the right direction again,
so we'll end up high-fiving
buckets in the middle here.
Just keep washy-washy
and make everybody happy.
You find spots
like this very rarely.
Oh, look,
there's a couple rainbows
that they're both ending,
one on the Myrtle,
one on the Christine Rose.
That's a good-a*s sign.
Hopefully, we can have
a pot of gold in both boxes.
This is the reason
I gold-mine.
Money!
Hey, Gary, overall, how is it?
Roger.
Aiming for a trifecta
of dives at over 40 feet,
Vernon Adkison
is hoping the gold
is hotter than meets the eye.
Hey, Kevin,
he's just got 15 more minutes.
Check that test mat.
Okay, Gary,
we're getting ready
to check the test mat.
Your time is up anyway.
Why don't you
turn the nozzle off
and come on up?
All right.
Are you gonna decompress?
Okay.
At these depths,
the divers are limited
to two-hour shifts.
Then they have to decompress
and call it a day.
So we need to make sure
that every minute counts,
especially
this late in the season.
We're gonna do a test pan,
and hopefully we'll see
that that ground is loaded.
If it isn't,
we're gonna need to pull up
and keep looking,
which at this point would be
like a dagger in my heart.
Yeah.
You might as well.
So yeah, go ahead and suit up.
The test mat gives us a tiny
but accurate
read of what's in the box.
It's either pudding
with the proof
or the canary
in the coal mine.
We won't really know
until we put it on a pan.
Let's pan it.
Let the diver
take a look at it,
and we'll get on
about our business.
Come on, baby.
That's a damn good
test pan right there.
Look how big they are.
-That's damn good.
- Yeah.
And that's a test mat.
That's pretty damn impressive.
We took a gamble.
I could have been caught
with my pants down,
but instead, I'm looking like
the sage of the Bering Sea.
The gold is there.
Can't argue with that.
Gary said there's a ton
of that over there.
I'll just head
right back to that spot.
All right.
Now, it's time
to get Brad down there,
and eventually, Tony too,
to work that rich ground.
But that pay streak
gets deeper as we follow it.
And it's only gonna get dicier
the deeper we go.
All right, Brad.
Don't get tangled in a panic.
All right.
All right. All right.
Suck it up.
He's moving material.
His breathing is steady.
I'm liking it so far.
Yeah, Brad, just keep doing
what you're doing.
You get that gold.
As Vernon's
bold strategy pays off,
across the water...
Beautiful day.
Found some gold.
Had some rainbows.
Everything's running good.
Myrtle's shining.
Now the box is shining.
Found a channel
and we're gonna keep
following it,
and we're gonna follow it
and follow it,
and we're gonna pile
the gold up.
And you know what
the best thing about it is?
It runs right through
the middle of my claim.
Shawn Pomrenke's
golden dreams are coming true
as he guides
the mighty Myrtle Irene
down the yellow brick road.
See, Cody?
This is gonna be
a big payday today.
We're talking
a big pile of gold.
It only took
a couple of rainbows.
Cody's been
outpacing me lately.
Not only doesn't that
look good for the boss,
it don't look good
to Dave Young either.
So hitting
this Northwest Gold Creek
makes everything sweet.
Time to check the box.
There might even be some
nuggets in the box right now.
Thinking I wanna see
more gold.
I don't know
what the is going on.
Thought I was on the channel.
I was sure we were
on Northwest Gold Creek.
The ground looked
exactly like it.
It's unique
and the gold was good.
That's what I believed.
All right.
finish this cutout,
see if it's kind of looking...
Let's do another cut.
it.
But if it was
Northwest Gold Creek,
the box would be lit up.
Totally loaded. But it's not.
Maybe I didn't find the creek.
Now, I'm gonna be sad.
...move a little bit,
and then not have any?
I was hoping
I was at the channel.
Maybe it was just
a pocket of it.
I'm gonna do
one more test pan.
If this one's a dud,
then we know
it's not the creek.
It was a mirage, fool's gold.
Fingers crossed.
There ain't a whole lot
in the pan.
Few pieces.
Not what we're looking for.
Well, now, I know that wasn't
the Northwest Gold Creek.
No fortune, no treasure.
Not much of anything
at the end of the day,
to be honest.
That's cost me big time.
Let's get the hell out
of here.
That was a huge
disappointment.
It's time to wrap up
for today.
And the Myrtle's got
little to show for it.
Now, it's mostly up to Cody
and the CR again.
Not the day I wanted to have.
I put a lot
of heart and soul into that.
I had big hopes,
and then they were smashed.
Uh, how's that ground
down there still looking?
Whee-hoo!
Zeke Tenhoff
has plowed through the sand
and isn't letting low
visibility hold him back
as he chases
his increased season goal.
And, uh, yeah,
these whitecaps
are kind of picking up
a little bit, too.
Okay.
They're probably two-footers,
three-footers.
Wow.
Yeah.
All right, homie.
Well, you're, uh,
you gotta be pretty exhausted.
Weather out here
is super unpredictable
and it can vary
from claim to claim
depending on what
the swells are doing.
That's what I'm saying.
Like it just
picked up.
What the ?
The good thing
about having a 14-inch nozzle
is you can move
a lot more ground.
And on a day like today,
hopefully suck up
a lot of gold.
The bad thing is,
is it's a beast.
So when the swells
are hitting you down there,
it takes every bit of strength
that you have
to move it around,
even just a foot or two.
When we get hit
with swells like we are now,
that usually ends the dive.
We have no vis
and the chops picking up
from the east, so...
We're just gonna pull
the gear out of the water,
and we're gonna pull
the anchors
and we're gonna go back
to harbor.
The good thing is,
is that I was seeing gold
go up that nozzle
for the last few hours.
So we might have a pretty
sweet clean-out on our hands.
I certainly hope so,
because we might not get
another chance
to dive this summer.
We have to look at
the situation
and figure out
what our next move's gonna be.
I do need to get
some more gold.
We gave her
hell today, huh?
Well, my brother's
over there working
and I'm sitting here
trying to get
to where I wanna go.
In a quest
to get on deeper ground,
Andy Kelly may be marooned
on a ship of fools.
I don't know, man.
I hate my brother putting me
with idiots,
that's for sure.
And the part is,
none of these dumb
have to explain to my brother
why nothing's going right.
So it's all gonna fall on me
and I'm supposed to be the one
that's supposed
to be running this grid
and everything else,
but then he also tells me,
"Don't tell Todd
how to do his job.
He's the captain.
You're in control
of the crawler."
Okay, great.
Can the captain drive
the boat
without anything up?
We need gold bad.
My brother's counting on me
to make this part
of Reaper Nation work.
I'm trying to get on ground
that's shallow enough
to have some visibility,
but deep enough
to be untouched.
That should be 35 to 40 feet.
But the clown
in the captain's chair
put us on ground way deeper
than what I needed to be.
Yeah. I don't know, man.
He's repositioning the boat
and now we're just
burning hours.
Well, I thought
we were backing up
to go to shallower ground,
but it looks like
we just did a U, that's it.
It looks like we're at
the same depth.
The only difference is,
is now I'm facing shore.
I got a captain that drives
the boat better drunk,
and he's not drunk right now.
So basically
I don't know
what he's doing.
This is beginning
to be bull .
Seven, eight...
We actually
somehow got deeper
than what we were originally.
Todd did a big U
and took us out deeper
than what we were.
We're running out
of time this season.
I don't know
how many more days
we're gonna get out of here.
The biggest mission
this season
was to get the All-In
and the crawler out there.
These guys have gotta
get it together.
So now we're gonna
try to go closer
to shore where I wanted to.
It's always something, man.
I swear to God, every time
I wanna get out and mine,
you know, I mean,
what's the next captain
gonna be like?
All right, you guys.
Just me and gold down here
on the bottom.
Whoo!
Skipper Vernon Adkison
may be laughing
all the way to the bank...
Whoo!
...as the second
of three dives in deep water
appears to be right on track.
That's some gold.
Yo, Brad, just keep
doing what you're doing.
You beat Gary's pants off.
I mean, you left him
in the dirt.
He... I tell you what,
he's not looking real happy
right now.
That's all right, Brad.
Yeah, I put you on it.
Just remember,
I was searching around
looking for the .
Hey, I remember.
I remember.
Blindfolded.
Blindfolded.
Yeah, man. Uh, so, you know,
I get all the credit
on this one, buddy.
Yeah, man.
We all win on this one,
so cool. Just keep it up.
Once Brad finishes,
next up...
will be Tony.
We gotta
keep this train moving.
The goal is three dives
at 40 feet.
We're almost there,
and the best part is
all the signs are pointing
towards us being
on absolutely stellar gold.
We'll give it
a couple more minutes.
Yeah. Come up
and make a decompression stop.
Hey, you guys.
Look at that nugget.
-We need to lift that screen.
- Oh, yeah.
Look at that .
Oh, wow.
Whoo!
- Really?
- Yeah.
Yeah, baby.
Yeah.
We're rocking and rolling.
Brad did a bang-up job.
All that's left is Tony,
the greenest guy on the boat.
Try not to leave
any bare skin showing.
It's gonna be cold.
But he's teed up for success.
All he needs to do is keep
his head on straight
and hold onto that nozzle.
Tony, just take it
slow and easy.
Yeah,
he's breathing okay.
His air pressure is good.
Okay.
We'll see how
he does on this dive,
but I'll let him
stay down there
as long as he's comfortable,
or until things start going
haywire on us.
All right, Tony,
at this point,
the ball is in your court.
While Vernon's team
feasts in deep water...
So we're still trying
to move to shallower water.
We'll get there before
the sun goes down, I hope.
Andy Kelly
is still trying to get
his ragtag crew
on the right ground.
At this rate,
who the knows
when I can actually drop
my crawler and go to work.
I really wish my brother
would've came
for this gong show.
Got a guy
that can't drive the boat.
I have a boat
that's a piece of .
I have water that's nasty
as on the bottom.
When we set out at
the beginning of the season,
it was supposed to be
the Mistress and the crawler
with the All-In.
But we got a captain
that's worse than Gilligan,
his cousin.
And we're trying to think
he's gonna find 35 to 40 feet
with the depth-finder
in front of him.
If he can't find
everything's gonna be
on the Mistress.
Well, we've landed in a spot.
Everybody says
we're at a good depth.
Okay.
I just gotta drop her down.
Oh, man,
my day just got so much worse.
So what happened?
We noticed
there's a little bit of oil,
and when it comes
to hydraulics
and everything else,
you gotta be
very careful with it
because if any
of my lines blow,
the hydraulic fluid
will flow into the ocean
as fast as it can.
And I don't want that.
We got a hydraulic
fluid leak.
We don't want that
for two reasons.
One, you can't have the fluid
leaking into the Bering Sea.
Those hydraulic lines
are what controls the crawler.
And number three,
this costs
too much money.
If those lines aren't fixed,
we can't mine.
See, how the
could it even break
right there?
Okay.
There's always something.
To be honest,
I don't even know how
it's even leaking there
because nothing even hits
that connector.
So I don't know if it's
wear and tear or what.
I don't know how
the I did it.
So basically we're just
gonna call it a day,
'cause we don't wanna
have a leak or anything
or a line blow off and...
This has been
a cluster day.
I should have
stayed in bed today.
Hey, I'm just packing up.
Let's go in.
The crawler
got nothing today.
I have to go back to town
and get this leak fixed.
Then at the most, we'll get
one more chance to mine.
I hope my brother's
k*lling it on the Mistress
'cause we're gonna need it.
I'm gonna go to town,
get the part I need,
replace everything I need to
and come back out
and try again.
Hopefully my crew
will be a little bit better.
I don't know.
Hi.
Zeke Tenhoff
is ready to see if his season
can hit new heights
as he motors
towards his raised goal.
This has been
a pretty weird summer.
We've already had
a great season,
but we've also had
the worst storm
that I've seen in Nome
in my whole life.
If this clean-out
is a good one,
then we'll be back on track
to having a 150-ounce season.
That would be huge
for my gold mining future
with the Synergy.
Nice and clean.
And we should
weigh out this gold.
Let's see what we got.
Two ounces,
five, six...
Seven, eight,
Sweet.
is worth over $43,000.
And just like that,
the Tenhoff team
is back with a bang.
Right on.
I'm really proud
of what we've been able
to accomplish this summer.
We just keep crushing it
over and over.
I've already
hit a career best,
but let's see if we can cross
that 150-ounce mark.
If we keep having clean-outs
that are this good,
the sky is the limit.
It's like 25,
I'll take that.
It's really good money.
Back out on the water...
...with one half
of Reaper Nation
already in the harbor...
Everything is going great.
Oh, yeah, baby.
Captain Kris
is milking his newly
uncovered pay streak
for all it's worth.
We had a pretty good day.
Everything's going
the right way.
People are doing
everything the way
I trained them to.
How's it look?
Yeah, we're doing good.
Oh, yeah.
Crew changes right now,
so we got like 11 and a half,
which is pretty good.
I insisted on looking
for something amazing
and not settling
on an ordinary pay streak,
and I was right
to stick to my g*ns.
It's paying off.
These are the kind
of decisions that will make
the difference of us
hitting our goal or not.
This might have been
our best day of the season.
Whoa.
How's it going, guys?
Uh, we got 11,
of running today.
On gold 90% of the time.
Now we're gonna pass
the baton over to James
and the night crew.
We just need these guys
to stick on what I found
and keep grinding like crazy.
We just might finish
this season with a bang.
And, buddy,
you're gonna do great.
So good. We're going.
Uh, any problems,
take care of 'em.
Yeah. Okay.
So just do what you do.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Bye, boys.
Have a good night.
Okay.
Good job, everybody.
It's a strange coincidence,
but things always go better
when I'm on the boat.
As Kris heads in,
there's still one captain
out on the water.
Tell us what's going on.
All right. All right.
As daylight fades,
Vernon Adkison's three-dive
marathon in deep water
is nearing the finish line.
Good dive. I like it.
He did two hours.
He was in gold the entire time
he was down there.
Yeah.
Tony, you're done.
Make a decompression
stop
and come on up.
There haven't been
any days this season
when I've had
all my men on base
and knocked
it out of the park.
Most divers
won't touch 40 feet,
but my divers came through.
It's been a long day.
Wake up and do it
again tomorrow.
All right.
Let's do it.
Pulling out the lens.
Forty feet long.
From the flare
up to that.
Let me get this over
to that side.
It's been
a hell of a day.
We got it done.
It took a team effort,
but the good part is, I mean,
we got into
some really good gold,
and it was pretty
juicy.
And now,
kick back for another
Social Hour with Vernon.
All right. @HoppySchlopppy,
"Talk about your time
in San Francisco.
Any wild stories?"
Well, I've got a lot of 'em,
but I don't remember
most of 'em.
They say if you were there,
you don't... probably
don't remember it.
And , I was there.
First time I went
to San Francisco
was in the summer of '66,
and then I was also
there the summer of '67.
One of those years
was the Summer of Love.
I can't remember
which one it was.
But believe me, baby, I was
there for the Summer of Love.
I saw some of the best
bands in the world.
Unfortunately,
I can't remember most of 'em
because like I said,
I might've been a little high
at the time.
I saw the Grateful Dead.
I saw Santana,
I saw B.B. King,
I saw Joan Baez.
Jim Croce, he sat
at the end of my bar,
so did Harry Chapin,
and so did Randy Newman...
Thanks for joining us
for another
Social Hour with Vernon.
But anyway,
he fired me.
Okay. Four buckets.
Ooh, this is heavy.
Ooh, there's lots
of gold right on top too.
Ooh, that's a good problem.
After a strong day
aboard the Mistress,
Captain Kris is ready to reap
the fruits of his leadership.
I think that's
everything, boys.
Who wants to ride
in the back?
Who wants to ride
in the back with the gold?
Right now, it sounds
like Andy and the All-In
the bed.
But I was able
to get the Mistress
on good ground
and grind on it all day.
The end of summer's
coming any day,
so right now,
I need this clean-out
to be the best it can be.
I have a feeling
this is gonna be great.
Gold panning action,
baby.
Everybody needs this.
Everybody needs money.
Everybody's gotta pay bills.
And at the end of the day,
you know, the proof
is in the pudding.
Kris, what's your guesstimate?
How much gold
you got in the pan?
There's definitely
This operation makes money.
That's the long story short.
This operation
definitely makes money.
Now, we've dialed it in
and we're still,
you know,
not even running at 100%.
Yeah.
Here we go. Drum roll, please.
Okay. We got one, two...
That's three.
Four, five.
- Seven, nine.
-Ten, almost.
Ten.
Maybe do it a little faster.
Eighteen, 19...
Plus pickers.
So we found
two good-size pickers.
Beautiful pieces here.
Come on, ,
-that's pretty good.
-Not bad.
It's worth over
forty-one grand,
and Reaper Nation
is creeping closer
to their revised
Congratulations. We did it.
Gimme some love, people.
-Andy, gimme some love.
-Sounds good.
That was a decent
haul on the Mistress.
And because of what happened
with the crawler,
we need every flake.
Now we're about
to enter do-or-die time.
We'll have maybe one more
chance to get at it.
We'll need both the Mistress
and the crawler on gold,
or we'll be in so much debt
that it will be the end
of Reaper Nation.
After all the bull
we've been through,
I think that's a good number.
Okay, throw it in the jar.
Let's get
the outta here.
I'm happy. More money
equals more happiness.
It just works like that,
for some reason.
Back in the harbor...
We got in
with some really good gold.
I think you guys did
an exemplary job
of getting it.
I was, uh, I was pretty
impressed with it.
After completing
his three-dive day...
Whoo.
You got
on some good gold.
...Vernon Adkison
is in desperate need
of a late-season boost
on the scale.
So it's still
looking pretty juicy.
It's been a rough season,
but we're finally
starting to get gold
on this deep ground.
We may only have one
more day on the water,
so we really need
for this day to count.
All right.
Come on over here.
We're getting ready
to do the weigh.
No matter
what that scale says,
I know my team
gave it their all.
All right. Here we go.
Come on.
Baby needs new shoes.
There's two, three,
four, five,
six,
seven, eight,
nine,
ten... Come on, ten.
Come on, ten. There you go.
All right.
is worth over 18 grand.
Not exactly a bonanza,
but it is the salty captain's
best clean-out
of the season so far.
Yeah,
that's pretty good stuff.
Get the deep water.
Found out
what I need to know.
That's where it's at,
as far as I'm concerned.
Are we getting rich?
No. But you know what?
I'm proud of my guys.
They really put
their stones out there
diving that deep,
and it paid off.
This was a big gamble
and we raked in the gold.
But you know what?
There's no rest
for the wicked.
We're gonna have to do it
all again, and then some,
if we're gonna finish
where we need to be.
Right at the end of the season
is when things
start coming together.
I've got all my equipment
working a lot better,
and I've got divers,
and I've got
real good ground to work.
The fact is, you can't quit.
You gotta persevere.
If you quit,
you're not gonna get any gold.
Let's get this
bagged and tagged.
The prognosis is,
more gold in the future.
Just across the harbor...
Time to check the box.
Look at this.
Dude, it's loaded.
Look at that.
Piles of gold.
With a hardy haul
from the Christine Rose,
it's time to tell the tale
of the scale for Mr. Gold.
I'm hoping this cleanup
is better than 50 ounces.
I thought I found
the silver b*llet
for the rest of the season,
but that wasn't
Northwest Gold Creek.
I still got
some ounces out there.
But the good news is,
Cody crushed it.
So hopefully we still had
the kind of day we needed.
Wow.
Piles of gold.
Looks good.
Hopefully it'll be, like,
I don't know. Maybe less.
Let's get
this gold on the scale.
See what the heck we got.
Well, hopefully
it'll hold us over.
There's 20,
there's 40.
We're heading for 60.
Oh, that's...
Seventy-three.
-That's awesome.
- I think
it's amazing.
Seventy-three ounces
rings in at over $131,000,
keeping Shawn
within striking distance
of his goal for the season.
Good job, guys.
I wish the Myrtle had more
to do with this clean-out,
but I'll take it.
This season's been
a grind like no other.
With the hell that's rained
down upon us this summer,
it would say a lot
if ultimately,
we could hit our number.
Good job.
- Nice job, man.
-Another good run.
I need some more gold.
Never enough. Never enough.
Across the fleet,
the miners inch closer
to their goals
as the end
of the season looms
just around the corner.
Next time
on Bering Sea Gold...
Got one more day
left of the season,
it's like now or never.
Here we go.
This is our lucky run.
We gotta finish
this season with a bang.
All right, buddy.
Get money!
It's all about the gold.
Oh, yeah.
We're piling up the gold.
We're k*lling it
right now.
Whoo-hoo!
This is some of the best
gold I've seen
since I've been in Nome.
Whoo-hoo!
We're making money at the end.
Looks like the storm is coming
in earlier than we thought.
We're gonna
keep pressing hard
until the ocean
makes us leave.
You can't see anything.
It's just black.
We gotta get outta here.
Come up, come up.
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17x11 - Fortune's Fools
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The show follows boats equipped with various setups to achieve gold mining in a summertime, cold northern latitude, shallow water, ocean environment.
The show follows boats equipped with various setups to achieve gold mining in a summertime, cold northern latitude, shallow water, ocean environment.