As the captains recall, last season was one of the worst in crabbing history. Prior to the season, the captains discussed fishing for red crab or the elusive and more lucrative blue crab. Scott Campbell Jr., better known as Junior, ventured into the blue crab waters. With him in the northern waters will be Elliott Neese, a rival fisherman.
Last season Jake Harris joined the crew of the Northwestern, and his brother Josh was a deckhand on the Time Bandit. They spent time mourning the death of their father and lost ownership of the Cornelia Marie. As Johnathan stated, they could not keep the boat running, and the other owner took it from them. Sig drug tested the entire crew before shipping out, and Jake Harris was clean. Now it is up to Jake to prove what he can do on another ship with another captain. Sig knows that Jake is different from when he worked on his boat while Phil was still alive. That was when they switched Jake's; sending their bright star, Jake Anderson to the Cornelia Marie for part of the season.
Wild Bill Wichrowski cleaned house in the off-season and started off with a new crew. Bill's son, Zack Larson is Bill's hope for a future. Zack and him lock horns at times, but Zack is a good kid.
As the boats head out, Time Bandit, Northwestern and Kodiak headed to the red crab waters, while Ramblin' Rose, Seabrooke and as a last-minute change, the Wizard heads north for the blue crab. Keith decided to split his season between red and blue crab and went furthest north for the first haul.
As the Ramblin' Rose is hit by a huge wave, their greenhorn is knocked unconscious as he is thrown into the sorting table. Kevin Davis, the same Kevin Davis who went overboard on the Saga in season one and also snapped his ankle on the missing floorboards of the deck of the Lucky Lady in season two, has affirmed that Elliott does not care for his men and is seeking fame for himself in the blue crab grounds.
On the Wizard, as soon as the new greenhorn, Chris Scambler goes on the boat, Keith tells him that he is stepping into hell. It did not take long to find out how true that was when he was convulsing on the deck, and the Coast Guard had to medivac him to a hospital. Keith was visibly shaken and did not want to see him die on his watch. Chris made it that day and recovered.
Josh Harris has to work his way up on the Time Bandit and now is the bait boy. He will make his father proud of the job he does for Johnathan and Andy, who promised Phil that they would take care of his boys and make him proud. Fans have all their faith in Josh and hope for the best from Jake.
The entire Bering Sea was on red alert. An arctic hurricane labeled the "storm of the century," came through; Elliott was braving the weather, and the crew had so little to show for the pounding they took.
Now Junior's sanity is in question as he drove through the storm through the rocky reefs of the narrow strait with only one engine. Finally, after five hours, the crippled boat made it through. Now to make it back to Dutch Harbor to end the king crab season and await the opilio season just a few months away.
The weather for opilio season was worse than ever, Andy never expected the ice to move into the crab grounds on January 7th. Usually the ice comes around February. Ice is the worst of the problems for a captain and crew. Kevin Davis left Elliott after king crab season and joined the crew of the Seabrooke.
On the Time Bandit, as they came to the dock, Travis Lofland, slipped on the ice and fell overboard in the 28 degree water. Suffering from hypothermia after spending a few minutes in the Bering Sea, he could have been dead. He was shaking uncontrollably until they got his core temperature back up.
As the boats tried to find their pots, the ice was swallowing them up. Opilio season was only starting, and the ice was winning as the crews were losing. As the Time Bandit was trying to pull into port for an offload, the boat started to list as the wind blew the snow sideways. As they neared the dock, they tried to pin the ship to the dock before it rolled over from the weight of the ice. As most captains were waiting at the dock, several crews went home to wait for the ice to subside.
Elliott hoped to patch things up with his family, but his wife was not happy to see him and asked him to leave. Junior has been married and divorced to the same woman three times because she could not accept his life as a fisherman. Josh visited his brother Jake; they spoke about running their own boat. Jake Anderson visited the place where his father's truck was found. Two years after he went missing, his remains were found by a hiker about a mile from the truck. Finally, after all that time, his dad's remains were put out to sea, exactly in the manner he would have been proud of. Finally, the Anderson family has closure.
While the rest of the fleet went home, the Wizard and the Seabrooke stayed and fought the ice and reaped the bounty of the sea. After three weeks, the entire fleet was back on the fishing grounds; too bad the worst was yet to come. As the Hillstrand brothers were at each other's throats, Johnathan finally took his shotgun and fired some rounds at the ice. Just the release he needed, back in the wheelhouse, they were best buddies again.
On the Northwestern, Edgar notices something wrong with the boat and goes below to find the leveler tank is full of water. Edgar pumps out the tank and recalls how another boat sank for the same reason. On the Kodiak, deck boss Mike lost the tip of his finger when it was smashed against the launcher and a crab pot, a true crabber, he made it back to port, but his season was over. The Northwestern had a great season, but one they would never want to live over. In true Hillstrand fashion, they celebrated with fireworks at the end of the season. Captain Sig had one last job to do, as he performed the marriage ceremony of Jake Anderson and his wife Jenna. Stay tuned for the April 16th premiere of season nine of "Deadliest Catch."