Best Episodes
Forty-foot waves, 700 pound crab pots, freezing temperatures and your mortality staring you in the face…it's all in a day's work for these modern day prospectors. During each episode we will watch crews race to meet their quota and make it home safely.
Written by Sophie and last updated on feb 08, 2023.
PS: The following content contains spoilers!
PPS: I will admit that parts of this page was written with the help of AI - it makes my work so much easier to not start from a blank page!
It's the final 24 hours of the 2009 Opilio crab season. A savage arctic storm causes multiple vessels to send out maydays. The Coast Guard is in a race against the clock to save four men before their boat is pounded into splinters against jagged rocks.
The episode was rated 8.22 from 37 votes.
On the Cornelia Marie Captain Phil comes to grip with his son Jakes's drug addiction. Phil and a couple other skippers contemplate retirement and who can take charge of their legacy. Captain Sig has to deliver some hard news to a deck hand. The fleet returns to unload and is reminded that bad things happen in port too.
The episode was rated 8.23 from 52 votes.
It's winter in Dutch Harbor and the fleet prepares to hunt Opilio crab. The season looks promising with the quota up and the price high, but tensions rise before the lines are thrown as one deckhand quits, two brothers fight and one goes overboard.
The episode was rated 8.24 from 72 votes.
A serious injury forces a crew member to his bunk after the crane breaks on the Kodiak, while the Seabrooke's greenhorn has a mental breakdown.
The episode was rated 8.24 from 54 votes.
In a scramble to help their collapsed greenhorn, the Wizard crew calls in a Coast Guard helicopter. For the rest of the fleet, it's a race to haul crab before a hurricane hits, and the last boat fishing waits too long to leave the grounds.
The episode was rated 8.24 from 66 votes.
Across the Bering Sea crab fleet, bad fishing causes high tensions and low morale as empty pots whittle away profits and nerves among the men
The episode was rated 8.24 from 49 votes.
The polar ice pack invades the opilio crab grounds, forcing the captains to make a decision: grab their gear and run, or keep fishing and fight the floes. Two deckhands fall victim to an ice assault; a captain's troubles are compounded by a call home.
The episode was rated 8.25 from 67 votes.
With the fleet split, a tale of two fisheries emerges. On the Blue grounds, a captains' bet has the boats jockeying for position. On the Red grounds, a returning veteran quickly proves his worth, while another boat copes with a fallen deckhand.
The episode was rated 8.26 from 80 votes.
A deckhand falls asleep at the wheel and sends the boat towards a fleet of vessels.
The episode was rated 8.26 from 57 votes.
The fleet battles a devastating arctic hurricane as the focus shifts from fishing to survival; the captains consider drastic measures as the ice and injuries pile up.
The episode was rated 8.28 from 60 votes.
As the Opilio season winds down exhaustion causes tempers to boil over on the Time Bandit; the skippers of the Seabrooke and the Cornelia Marie both suffer injuries.
The episode was rated 8.39 from 46 votes.
The Seabrooke captain fights a painful illness; the Cornelia Marie returns from what could be its final season as the Harris brothers mull over who will run the boat and the Northwestern exacts some revenge.
The episode was rated 8.43 from 40 votes.
In this special two-hour close to a merciless opilio season, a veteran deckhand pays for a mistake in flesh. Then in the final hours some men rise and some men fall, but not everyone will make it home.
The episode was rated 8.44 from 59 votes.
Tension runs high on the Northwestern, as Edgar Hansen is fed up with the 22 year marathon of pain, confronts his older brother Sig. Josh Harris returns to the Cornelia Marie and the Opilio Season ends with a harrowing mayday.
The episode was rated 8.57 from 37 votes.
Saluting Capt. Phil Harris, who died on Feb. 9, 2010.
The episode was rated 8.80 from 30 votes.
