[casey] dude. The ice pack.
It's coming for us fast.
[monte] this is it.
Northeast wind's gonna bring that ice pack right down
to cover right where we're fishing here,
which is disturbing because once that goes over the top of you,
you might be screwed.
You might not ever see your gear again.
[crewmember] watch out.
The crane broke at the worst possible time
because the ice is so far south and dropping as we speak,
it's getting closer to my pots.
[casey] nothing worse than losing gear to ice.
It's just money just flushing down the toilet.
[josh] this could become a really expensive lesson.
So, we're gonna play that game of cat and mouse,
and stay on the crab if we can.
[moaning]
[man] oh, [bleep]!
[moaning]
[crewmember] you okay, bud?
[moaning]
it's a... It's a son of a bitch of a game.
[narrator] in dutch harbor.
[sig] well, it took all day to get that crane on,
but I think we'll take it for a test run
so we're gonna see if this thing will fire up.
[man] yup.
[narrator] after nearly a week at dock to repair their broken crane.
[sig] I don't know why we're jinxed this season.
It's hard for me to swallow this pill
because we keep this boat right and tight.
[narrator] captain sig hansen and relief skipper mandy
face a two-day steam north before rebooting their winter season.
[sig] we're starting from ground zero,
but we're actually starting a step behind again.
It took quite a few days to get that crane,
uh, remanufactured, and that being said,
you know...
[alarm beeping]
[bleep] damn it!
That doesn't sound good at all.
Please, tell me there's nothing wrong down there.
We've got [bleep] going on.
Oh, my god.
[alarm continues]
not good.
[sig] why is that engine running so bad?
Is there a fire hazard down there?
[sig] the housing?
What did we lose?
All of it?
[narrator] already behind schedule.
[sig grunting] oh my god.
[narrator] captain sig hansen faces more delays
after the crane's hydraulic system erupts.
[bleep]
[sig] this is unbelievable.
[narrator] putting the veteran skipper $12,000 deeper in the hole.
[sig] why is it every time we're just about to throw lines and leave,
something happens?
I mean, this is getting really--
this is like scary.
I can't take any more of this.
All right, well, then I'll just give it another day
and see what happens...
If they have the parts we need.
-Keep me posted. -[man] all right.
Sorry.
[sig] I feel like bill.
I'm not used to this kind of stuff
because what just blew on us was all brand new.
We're in big trouble because we need to get out there,
we still have ice...
You know?
The clock's ticking and we've been here long enough.
[narrator] 562 miles northwest.
And 50 miles from the descending ice pack,
on the wizard.
[crewmember] oh, yeah! Oh!
[monte] I don't know how many boats are left up here,
but I'd venture to say very, very few.
This is the latest and greatest ice edge.
36 hours of heavy northern-easterly wind.
We don't know how far it's moved,
so we're just gonna shuffle these all through this area here and catch some crab.
[narrator] with his brother, keith colburn,
tending to a family emergency on land,
monte races to stuff his tanks
before the ice pack seals all access
to the bering sea's nutrient beach northern waters.
That's what I wanna hear, "tanks are full."
[phone ringing]
wizard.
[mouse] well, man, we're on our last string.
The boat is [bleep] full.
[monte] the ice is substantially closer here than it is up above.
[monte] it's... Yeah, we're getting a pretty big coating here.
Oh, roger that.
[monte] all right, I'll keep you posted later.
Bye.
[narrator] with a new low pressure system driving winds
from the arctic south to lower latitudes...
[bleep] weather is just garbage.
[narrator] monte faces dual risks.
The rapidly approaching ice pack
and the heavy, freezing spray.
The latter threating to add weight
above the water line destabilizing the vessel.
[monte] we're gonna set down here on this spur,
and it's about 130 miles or more from here.
I'd like to think that that's quite a bit of a throw for this ice to try to move.
[narrator] the veteran's plan,
move all 200 pots south to avoid the floes
and the north's subzero gale force winds.
[monte] it is not ideal.
We're gonna have to be very careful.
[narrator] forty five miles northwest...
[josh] have a good day, guys.
And let's kick some ass and take some names.
[narrator] ...On the cornelia marie.
[josh] casey actually found this little honey hole,
did a great job, now we are working it.
[casey] but we're also the furthest north boat.
Hopefully, if we get in a groove we can just keep on plowing.
True, the weather's picking up and, I'm not sure.
[narrator] buffeted in by building seas
and arctic winds, co-captains josh harris
and casey mcmanus return to pots set on the northern grounds,
300 miles from safe harbor.
We're going into full swing now.
We've got the ice coming down shortly.
It's gonna turn insanely cold,
it's definitely gonna hurt.
[casey] it's coming for us fast.
So, we'll see what we can do. We'll see how far we can push the guys.
[matt] let's go!
Here we go. First pot's coming up.
[casey] let's see what we've got. The survey says...
[cheering]
[casey] holy [bleep].
Yeah. Holy [bleep]
[chuckling]
we're making money today.
We've been waiting for this the whole season.
All our gear is right here and we're gonna really start capitalizing now.
[bleep]
put my hat on straight for this one.
[cheering]
[crewmember] we're gonna fill the tank today, huh, boys?
That one's got some crab in there.
[matt] woo! Hell yeah, boys.
Oh [bleep].
[laughing]
[casey] cherries. Cherries and berries.
[laughing]
last pot of the string.
See it a little bit stronger at the northern end.
That means they're probably moving north.
I don't know, what do you think, case?
The crab was trying to get deeper,
and the fact is the crabs are getting even better.
Yeah, totally agree.
Hoping the risk turns out to pay with reward.
[narrator] tracking the school,
the skippers tempt fate by pushing their gear further north,
setting back just 40 miles from the looming ice pack.
We set pretty fast, so...
It's dangerous right now so best to switch up direction a little bit.
It's not our ideal way we wanted to lay,
but... It's the way we're gonna be doing it.
First pot going over.
[josh] watch your asses out there.
Watch your asses.
[matt] going over.
[man] wave. Wave. Wave. Wave.
[taylor] oh, [bleep].
[narrator] on the cornelia marie.
[josh] watch your asses out there.
Watch your asses.
[taylor] oh, [bleep].
Oh, [bleep].
[bleep]
oh, god.
[bleep]
hey, bud, you're all right, man?
[josh] oh, [bleep].
Yeah, roger, buddy.
Yeah, let's... Let's get that look at immediately.
Dude, that wave just totally knocked taylor the other side of the boat.
[narrator] 80,000 gallons of water breaches the starboard rail,
launching crewman taylor jensen across the deck,
injuring his ankle.
[casey] knock. Knock.
Oh, [bleep] careful.
Yeah, there's a bruise right here, dude. It's coming in.
-Does it hurt when I push in here? -[taylor] yeah, yeah.
-[casey] yeah? -[bleep]
[casey] I think you sprained it.
Why don't you kick back, get those deals on it.
I'm gonna lightly wrap an ace around there.
I want you on your back
and get it elevated a little bit here.
I'm gonna find that ace for you.
[josh] I have no clue what we can do without taylor.
Just [bleep] go. We're improvising right now.
Just a matter of time before we start seeing the ice.
[narrator] 56 miles southeast.
On the southern wind.
[harley] okay, coming up.
Today everybody's just trying to get their last parts
and pieces together because the ice is coming
and we're getting out of here
and trying to help my buddies out, you know?
We're all just looking to make sure we don't leave any gear here.
[narrator] after rushing captain's sig hansen's pots to safety.
[harley] I'll be all right.
Ice is not gonna come to get me right away.
Knock on wood. Knock on wood.
I hope not.
[narrator] captain steve "harley" davidson
hauls his own strings far to the north,
just 15 miles from the ice pack.
[harley] we're all looking at the ice forecast.
So, what's gonna happen here? Where's the crystal ball?
But, at the same time, I still need to catch crab.
First one's in the block now and let's see.
[man] here we go, baby!
[man] yeah!
[harley] yeah!
I'll be damned.
[harley] oh, my god.
Right here is where the ice is coming this way.
This ice is inevitable, it's gonna come here. We're at over 60 degrees north.
This ice lives here.
This is its home. I'm in its home.
It might not be here today or maybe it won't be here for three or four days,
and maybe in that time I can fill this boat up and get my ass out of here.
[narrator] lured by big crab and big money,
the skipper attempts one last big score
before the ice slams the north shut.
[narrator] but for the crew...
This is so stupid.
I got three thermals on.
Clean the [bleep] out of the crew.
Takes [bleep] time.
[narrator] harley turns their 24-hour shift
into a 48-hour grind, testing their mettle
and putting all 160 pots in jeopardy.
Sleeping and eating, that stuff's on the backburner.
You better learn to sleep on your rain gear.
That's the ice game.
[narrator] 543 miles southeast,
in dutch harbor.
[norman] it's been a nonstop string of bad luck,
I don't even know how many days we've been here in town.
It's just time to go. Time to get our crab and get home.
All right. We're gonna try this one more time.
Kill another day.
We got the new house in there.
Hopefully, it works, we'll see.
I want to test it out, obviously.
Keep our fingers crossed so we can leave.
[narrator] after being plagued by crane repairs,
large and small...
Give it a shot.
[narrator] ...Captain sig hansen is betting
today is the day he can head back to the grounds.
We're good!
That's good. That's fine. Let's get out of here.
[sig] we're good to go, so I wanna get out of here.
Let's throw the lines so we can go fishing, hopefully.
Just no more problems.
Okay, let's go.
[man] it's time to leave.
-[man] it's okay? -Good, we're gonna go catch some crab.
We're behind.
[sig] time to move forward, turn our luck around.
[narrator] 498 miles northwest of dutch harbor,
on the wizard.
[monte] steaming straight south.
We're not even remotely in any way shape or form close to where we wanna go.
The weather is not supposed to improve here
for probably at least another 36 hours.
It's getting pretty ugly.
[narrator] monte's plan, set his pots out of harm's way
130 miles south of the ice pack
and then make the two-day journey to town for an off load.
It's gotten colder out there on us.
[narrator] but as storm systems move south,
they drive cold air into lower latitudes
creating heavy, freezing spray
and increasing weight above the water line,
potentially, capsizing the vessel.
More boats than anybody wants to remember or try to count
have sank out here due to icing conditions.
[exhales]
I'm not comfortably setting here,
but if you look at the boat,
we don't really have much of a choice.
[narrator] with thousands of pounds of ice
building on the 204 pot stack...
[monte] okay, we're gonna set into the weather.
These things are way too dicey to play with.
[narrator] monte unloads 50 miles short of his chosen grounds.
[monte] we gotta get these pots off of here.
I don't know if this is a very good spot or not.
We'll just hope it's safe.
Okay, as soon as you're ready, let it go
and keep an eye on it.
Hang left, hang left.
[yelling]
[monte] I don't know, it seems to me that
the weather's getting [bleep] worse, not better.
Heads up. Heads up. Hang on. Hang on, big wave.
[man] watch out.
Watch out.
[monte] is everything good down there?
Well, that was [bleep] ill timed.
Son of a bitch.
Take your eyes off this weather for one second, man.
That's all it takes.
Make it to town safely,
that is really the most important thing
that's ever going to transpire out here.
[narrator] 100 miles from the ice pack,
on the northwestern.
[sig] we're finally back out on the gear,
crane's all fixed up.
I've already moved a lot of our pots down,
away from the ice edge, so we're on the first.
Once we start picking these up
and hopefully there's a few crabs in them.
[narrator] after righting his ship,
captain sig hansen looks to steam his way
out of the red and into the black.
We're already making ice on the boat
and it's blowing from the east-northeast, so it's cold.
Not a lot, and that's okay.
There's a few of them, isn't there?
Big queen crab, but not many of them.
I don't even care if they're setting with the doors open,
as long as they're safe.
[mandy] it's really nice that everyone helps each other out out here
and you never know when you're gonna need a favor in return.
[sig] that's how it should work. And usually it does, you know?
So hopefully all this bad luck is gone.
Get these pots picked up and start fishing, hopefully.
[narrator] 130 miles northwest, on the cornelia marie.
[josh] yo.
Right now we're fishing deep. The deepest we've ever fished in our career.
We're the farthest northwest boat in the entire crab fleet right now.
[narrator] after their last string revealed
bigger numbers in northern waters,
the skippers set 200 pots
straight into the shadow of the descending polar ice pack.
[casey] we gotta finish this out. We gotta finish this strong.
Yeah, we're gonna finish it a man down,
but just cause one man's down doesn't mean you give up.
[cheering]
that is cooking. 19 hours?
Wow.
Stellar, stellar fishing.
The further north we go, the better it gets.
-[man 1] yeah, baby! -[man 2] yeah!
I don't even know what to do, I'm so happy.
Oh, my god.
Very thankful. Thank you, lord.
[phone ringing]
[man whoops]
cornelia marie, this is casey.
[casey] yeah.
[casey] uh-huh.
[man whoops]
[casey] [bleep] ice. It's just--
[grunts]
none of this is good.
I don't wanna risk losing all these new pots. [bleep]
why does this ice has to come [bleep] with it?
Sure, I understand that.
Start shuffling the deck around.
[narrator] on the cornelia marie.
Sure, I understand that.
Start shuffling the deck around.
Yep. Roger-roger.
All right, thanks for the heads up, buddy.
-Take care, bye. -[josh] what's going on?
That was the ice tester. It's coming for us fast.
[narrator] the bad news from the national weather service,
arctic winds and currents are driving ice south faster than anticipated,
extending the floe's reach by 15 miles a day,
threatening the entirety of josh and casey's 200 pot load.
Come look at this real quick.
The ice is gonna be pretty much over to here
and it's coming this way fast, and then it'll hit us up here.
All these is gonna be covered by Thursday.
Oh.
[casey] if we can't get all this gear out of the water,
we're gonna lose it all to the ice.
We have to... We have to pack and move,
there is no other option.
Get the hell out of the way.
That ice don't care who you are, it's coming over.
[grunting]
right now we're in full get-the-pots-on-the-boat mode.
It doesn't matter if the ice is this thick or this thick,
if you can't see the pots, and your boat doesn't turn worth a [bleep]
once you're in the ice, what do you do?
It's all right. We'll get it figured out.
Adapt and overcome.
[narrator] 56 miles southeast.
[bleep]
we've only been out here for, like, three hours and we haven't opened a pot yet.
Everything's covered in ice. You can hardly pick up a bucket in here all night.
[narrator] on the southern wind.
[harley] I'm up here where the best, best fishing was,
but it's worth it.
It's worth it. You've just gotta be able to haul gear.
We wanna find the 5-600 and I think they're close,
but the ice pack is always still gonna be lurking, it's not far.
[narrator] by succumbing to the lure of stuffed pots in the north,
captain harley not only risks losing gear to the on-rushing ice pack.
[narrator] his northern gamble requires constant ice maintenance,
pushing his crew to the brink of exhaustion.
You know? That's what I... That's what I stayed here for.
That one... One or two good picks.
Let's see what we've got.
[harley] oh, yeah. That's what we're doing this for.
How are you doing, johnny?
50-60 miles from us, something like that?
[harley] damn it.
Okay.
We'll go find another playground, I guess.
This changes everything.
I gotta let these guys know we gotta get this gear on and out of here.
Hey, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo!
I just talked to ocean fury, he ran up and saw the ice.
It's coming... It's coming down. It's close.
We're getting the [bleep] on and we'll run about 50-60 miles out of here.
All right, thank you, guys.
We gotta go, go, go, go, go.
We're gonna deck load the boat with gear
and [bleep] move it to the south and west
to get it away from this ice pack.
That would've been the day to do it.
[narrator] after three hours clearing ice,
the crew must now stack and move all 160 pots
or risk losing them to the rapidly approaching ice wall.
[hanlon] the terror will dare to do anything.
[bleep] you!
[narrator] an order not getting rave reviews on deck.
[harley] I don't care what you do, but we're gonna keep moving.
We gotta keep moving.
You gotta have the drive, if you don't have the drive,
and if I don't drive them, push them, we will lose, man.
This is a race. We're on a race right now.
Be careful out there, okay?
[bleep]
oh.
You okay, buddy?
[bleep] you!
[bleep] piece of [bleep].
[bleep]
[laughing]
well it's kinda hard to keep them planted when you're [bleep] on ice.
[harley] damn it. You stupid [bleep].
[bleep]
oh.
[chuckles]
you came to play with me, and this is how we play.
[bleep]
I wanna win, and the only way they're gonna win is
is if I drive them, push them.
These guys, they can do it, I've done it.
I've done the same thing they're doing.
[narrator] 56 miles northwest,
aboard the cornelia marie.
[josh] we've got ice coming down at a really rapid pace,
so we're gonna stack all these pots on.
We're moving down to a place from we have no idea if there's any crab of not.
It's a real bummer we have to do it,
but when the ice chases you out,
the ice chases you out, and that's the end of it.
[narrator] with the pack ice speeding south...
[josh] it doesn't get much worse than this.
[narrator] josh and casey have just 20 hours to stack and run
or watch as half a million dollars in gear and crab disappear.
Five-sixty?
That's a good one.
-[josh] it is. -I'll take it.
We gotta start all over again, which is real sad.
There ain't gonna be nowhere to fish up here,
this will all be covered with ice.
Oh, oh, oh [bleep]. That hurt.
-Oh, you okay, matt? -Damn, man.
Let's keep going.
[narrator] this week on salty takes.
[harley] attack that tower!
[narrator] when it comes to breaking ice.
[harley] woo! That's the way you do it.
[laughing]
[narrator] some take it to a whole new level.
[harley] that's my guy. He's innovative.
[narrator] while others...
The ice is nice, huh?
Oh, my god.
[narrator] well, best leave it to the pros.
-I can't do it. -Whoa!
[man] oh, you almost had it!
[narrator] while harley and the southern wind
take on the bitter freeze from both ice and crew,
it's monte and the wizard that head to town with tanks loaded.
[narrator] on the cornelia marie.
[man] yeah, baby!
[matt] oh, oh, oh [bleep]. That hurt.
Oh, you okay, matt?
[narrator] with the ice gaining speed and 170 pots still in the water...
[narrator] going down a second crewman
brings their already shorthanded operation to a crawl.
Yeah, it looks like it's holding a little fluid.
[matt] yeah.
[casey] does it hurt when I touch it?
[matt] yes, it hurts everywhere.
-[casey] oh, right there? -Hey, hey.
[casey] that's holding fluid.
Why don't you go down and elevate it and ice it.
I'll ask if there's anything we can do for that, okay?
[casey] that's a big loss for us.
We're down our two key guys.
[josh] it's a nightmare on this boat right now.
[monte] we've successfully gotten the load off of here alive.
Just, obviously, the most important thing we do.
[man] all right!
You know, we've got 280,000 lbs. This next trip to take to saint paul
and I have no idea how this trip's gonna go.
[man] my honey hole got covered.
There's no more honey hole.
So I'm down here with the safe zone.
[harley] it's getting so damn crowded here
and we're all on top of each other
and trying to get and fill out quota.
[man] throw it over.
[sig] well, that's the last one, man.
We got them all accounted for. Thank goodness for that.
[narrator] despite his streak of delays,
sig's steel is safe from the ice.
[sig] do you get me, steve? You're there?
Well, we got them all back, so thank you.
Thank you so much for taking the time to do that.
[narrator] courtesy of harley "good-neighbor" davidson.
[sig] that was a big one, I owe you big time on that.
I'll make it up to you somehow.
A lot of the fleet moved way to the south trying to run from that ice, right?
So it's just starting over for most guys.
[narrator] near the russian line...
[josh] put the stack on because the ice is coming down,
so our great fishing is now obsolete.
We gotta go hunting again.
[narrator] the last boat on the north,
the cornelia marie collects her gear, beaten.
[josh] we've got taylor go down with his ankle,
we've got matt now with his leg, so...
Our dreams and hopes of going home
within the next two weeks have now been crushed.
You said it.
[josh] yeah.
In the [bleep]?
Matt woke up this morning, went to the restroom.
He said the water was as red as his jacket, with blood.
And his guts are hurting.
Oh, [bleep].
[josh] this is possibly gonna end our trip right here.
So...
[casey] and that's scary.
It's really scary.
[grunting]
[josh] it's definitely the fight of our lives.