[Yak Nicholson]

Well, here we are, second to last episode of Deadliest Catch. But don’t let that bum you out, as Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand’s Discovery special starts tonight! As we wind down on the seventh season of Deadliest Catch, we’re reminded that at this time last year we lost our beloved Captain Phil. Can anyone explain to me why Discovery chose to omit that remembrance from the US version of the series? (I’m hearing the international versions will show it). Comment, or register in our forums HERE to tell us what you think!



So, here we go.



Oh, and this episode of Deadliest Catch was brought to you by Coors Light, the world’s most refreshing beer.



Keith says there’s a lot of kids in the Bering Sea right now that just got kicked out of the nest. Josh wants to keep on fishing, it’s what he was born, bred and corn-fed to do. Josh setting the pots, and Jake, but the crew’s not sure they know what to do. Scott Junior says any little hang up and they won’t make it. Elliott says if they can’t get it fixed they can’t haul gear….Junior in pain, Keith assaulting a camera guy (anyone remember him last season upset about Johnathan pushing him?).



We open with St. Paul. Bad weather. The end is near. On the heels of a long Opie season. Unstable weather creates doubt across the fleet. Sig’s not sure they can get much in 60 knot winds and Nick smells nightmare. On the Seabrooke, Junior says they won’t get much sleep and food will be minimal due to the time-frame of a tight delivery date. Each crew must turn their gear quickly or face another grueling two weeks at sea. Cowboy up and put your big-boy panties on b/c it’s going to be a gnarly ride!



First boat we visit tonight is the Time Bandit, yay!!! Fourtner yawning, Tennison nodding back and forth. Andy says do as much as he can before it blows hard tonight, time is the enemy right now. This is his last trip b/c it’s been a grind. After 5 weeks of shutdowns, and injuries, Captain Andy finally lands on the motherload. Did you expect any less? Working about 20 hours straight and will work another 8 before sleeping 2. The whole year they haven’t slept at all and Mikey says suck it up buttercup. Travis says the natural body cycle says sleep, but not if you’re a crab fisherman. For the crew, the solution is to put your head down and grind, but for Justin Tennison; exhaustion, frustration are starting to show. Mike says when you have one person coming out sour, there’s no point, it gets old and tiring for everyone. Andy says he’s down south, but his gear is 8-10 miles away. He calls everyone into the galley to wait. The 20 minute steam allows the crew a short reprieve. Andy says it’s tough to stay awake but he can do this. It’s up to him to control the pace so they can get in another load, it’s that simple. If he has to keep them up for 24 hours and sleep for 4, then work another 32, that’s what they do. He calls them up, or tries to, but they’re all asleep. Nobody moves. Andy says the last string to pull before sleep, the boys need to wake up. So he throws out a firecracker, while Tennison is at the rail. Andy yells out to JT a good morning, while the rest of the crew come out. JT says he’s glad he’s having fun up there, he’d be doing better if a seal bomb didn’t go off in his ear. Eddie says he’s being pissy and tired, grumpy. Mike says easy turbo, to which JT says he has something to say about everything. Mike says cry me a river buttercup, we got a cry baby on the deck. JT says listening to your mouth, Mikey says you throw one string and think you’re doing something. Andy calls out “Seriously?!?” Mikey tells him to step up and throw more than one a day. Now they’re going back and forth, with Mikey saying hell tell him right now he has an attitude and to knock it off, grow up. JT says to get out of his face. John and Andy watch, Andy says to knock it off. Mikey says he’ll treat him like a 16 year old if he acts like it. Andy says to mention to Fourtner JT doesn’t like being yelled at. Mikey says JT goes through more mood swings than a teenager, Andy says they need to separate. Both Hillstrand brothers agree they’re very tired. Eddie thinks it’s all funny while Scotty asks if they can go back to crab fishing yet. This would be interesting to discuss, if JT hadn’t passed away shortly after that scene was filmed.



We’re on the Ramblin Rose as Captain Neese hauls his last string of the season. He says the catch is decent. After 4.5 weeks of grueling fishing, the finish line is in sight. Suddenly, the line jams, there’s no hydros. Not what the young skipper needs. As he inspects the engine room, something is very hot. After 4 months of grinding through gear, the ten horse power compressor is burned out. He doesn’t know what the deal is, the air pressure isn’t working. He tells the crew and says they might be able to rig it to get it working temporarily, but if they can’t get it fixed, they can’t haul gear. He wants to plug in another compressor and pump it into the hydros. The crew isn’t certain, they describe it as something you’d pump bike tires with. But Neese is determined. With their season just hours from ending, a run to St. Paul would add four days. Captain Neese tries and it worked! He’s a MacGyver, and the crew cheers. He doesn’t know how long it will last, but he’s determined to haul before it overheats. He has 200 pots still in the water, and he has a long way to go even if the motor dies.



We’re back on the Time Bandit. Andy hasn’t slept in 34 hours, they’re working through a crippling fatigue. JT says if someone puts hands on him again he’ll blow. After him and Mike nearly come to blows, full pots do nothing to relieve the tension on deck. Mikey says they’re all hurting, sore, tired, cry me a river and get over it. Andy says they got gear to pull, gotta get it done. Weather’s getting big, and the pots are coming up full. It’ll be the best year he’s had financially in 10 years. He says damn, it’s good fishing today! The weather’s really come up, the guys have to watch out now, they could seriously get hurt. Suddenly a line springs out of the block and they hurry to throw it over. Andy calls it a line of death, a whole line shot out of the block and around Scotty and Mikey as it was attached to a 1000 lb pot. It could have drug them over. Andy’s never seen that in 20 years. The grind continues. Full pots continue to come up. They pulled 112 pots today, over 90,000 pounds. They’re tired, but happy. By morning, the weather calms, Andy tells them they kicked ass, four days of grinding paid off. The storm on deck dies down as well, JT and Mikey are hugging. They say lack of sleep, missing home, they all get those moments. They say guess what? It’s damn near over.



On the Wizard now. They’re in the middle of two storms, winds going different directions and the funnel creates 2X’s as much wind. Unable to escape the clutches of the storm, Keith must fish on to make his deadline. He thinks they’re going to be shut down by weather soon, and really thinks they should now but he has to fish too, for that deadline. Freddie was going the wrong way on the stack, but Soper directed him back. Right now, the most dangerous spot is where Freddie is, so Keith is keeping a close eye on him. Keith is clearly worried as he watches Freddie, who Soper describes as going slow and safe. Keith says this will be a long five hour set. They battle the weather, and Kieth is sitting on a 155 foot boat, says it’s amazing how small you feel when dealing with Mother Nature. It’s scary. They continue to set. The waves keep coming. A green one is coming, Keith yells to hang on. It crashes overboard and man, it’s a doozy. Keith checks to make sure the crew is good. Had the wave come through the middle it would’ve cleaned the crew out. Keith says he must’ve been out of his mind, what is he doing?



Now we’re at the Cornelia Marie. Josh is cooking for the guys, who are starving. The crew fuels up for the last trip of the season. Tony says the boys have been o the boat for awhile, now they have to figure out what they want to do with their lives. He’s helping them learn to run the boat and says while they need more experience, they’re capable of taking over eventually. He brings Jake up to show him how to haul a string. Tells him they need a 200 average and leaves him with the wishes to have fun. But Tony doesn’t rest, he goes to replace Jake at the rail! Josh says this should be interesting, it’s been six years since he’s been on deck. Jake says the captain shouldn’t be out there but no one will say anything. Tony throws the hook, Jake guides the boat and the pot comes up pretty decent! Well, so it seems, but they look dirty and there are some Bairdi. They need one tote of crab per pot, this one will have two. Jake calls out to Tony, says we’ll see if he’s a baseball player. Tony wants Jake to go faster now, so Jake picks it up. Tony throws, pulls the pot in. Another decent pot. But as Tony throws a shot in, he jerks his arm the wrong way, he pulled something. Skipper down. Tony says he’s out of shape. Josh shakes his head, says he doesn’t care how gifted you are 15 years ago, you have to stay where you know best now. While loading the 120 lb shot, Tony tore his bicep! Damn!The crew says back to where he belongs. He goes up to show Jake, who asks if he’s okay. He goes to change and Jake says definitely short lived on that one.



On the Ramblin Rose, Elliott’s entire season is riding on a patch job he did with a compressor motor found on the boat. One little thing could stop the entire operation, the crew’s curious and excited to see what will happen. They bet on how long it will last. The first pot comes up, with over 200 left to haul, the crew must work at a furious pace before the makeshift motor gives out. It’s working so far, but if the motor doesn’t hold, the season grinds on for another 6 days. Fingers crossed everyone! They’re racing against the clock to get it done before the motor goes. Elliott’s going to ram it down their throats, but they know the deal and don’t’ want to delay going home either. 30 pots in and the tiny motor still holds. Better than the crew thought it would. 28 hours later, they have just 5 pots to go. It’s nail biting time! Elliott says the motor hauled 220 pots going full tilt, and still working, that’s impressive. The crew feels better than they did earlier too. The last pot of the season is in the block now…Elliott says the next one stays in the rack and the crew cheers. The pot is coming up, and the compressor is holding. A huge wave hits….the pot emerges from the water….and there’s crab in it. They did it, they’ve made it. With that, it’s official. Elliott Neese has completed his first Opilio season as a captain. The crew congratulates him. He tells everyone else nice job as well. His crew hauled 370,00 pounds worth over $870,000 and for their hardship each man on deck will collect $22,000. Neese says they’re the new bad boys (um, ya did good, but I don’t’ think so).



Here’s the Seabrooke. Scott says they have 48 hours to ;put 120,000+ pounds on or they have to wait seven days. Says they can do it, but be prepared for little sleep and no food. Be ready to make it happen. But Junior is hurting, you could see him limping to his chair. He’s in pain. The crew readies to go out, Junior has never missed a delivery date and doesn’t want this to be his first, but any little hang up and it could happen. The crew hauls the first pot, they need to average 250-300 crab per pot. It comes up light, not good by Junior’s standards. He did not want this. First pot is 100. Next pot comes up, even worse than before. Not what they’re looking for. 75 in that one. At this rate they won’t make delivery with what they want and those pots are very light. Scott thinks they’re in trouble. He’s hurting still, he seizes in pain. Says everyone has their imperfections, why does his have to be kidney stones? Has a crew member come up. Bob comes up, and he shows him where the next pot is, Bob says he’ll figure it out. Junior heads to his bunk, Bob calls to the crew, tells them he’s passing a kidney stone and just fell in the wheelhouse. Apparently he’s had stone problems in the last 4-5 years. The crew can’t compare that pain to anything they know, but Junior says it’s like being jabbed with a knife and then twisted around.



Back to the Cornelia Marie now….Tony is showing Josh how to set pots. He puts the fate of the boat in the hands of it’s owner. Says a lot to pay attention to, pick the color of the string, showing him the recorder button to track the pots. Then he shows him what to write down, all the variables. Josh Harris is about to set gear for the first time. He says they’re setting the little pots. Ryan says it’s easy to set gear, but to know where to set them is something else. The crew has their doubts, they say it’s scary when you’re up there with no one to ask questions. Thankfully, Tony is showing Josh what to do. Jake says he doesn’t know if Josh forgot to beep but he thinks Josh is up there begging Tony to set them. The crew is ready, and they are waiting. Finally Josh beeps, and the crew cheers, but they say they don’t think he has a clue about what’s going on. Tony goes to leave, but Josh says not to go too far. Josh is out of his comfort zone, but this is what he wants to do…it’s just scary. He’s encountered his biggest fear up there, losing his dad, and now he’s in his chair, running his boat. He wants to keep the boat fishing, it’s what he was born, bred and corn fed to do and he will make it happen.



North now, on the Wizard. Free from the grip of the storm, the crew revels under a full moon. They’re literally howling at it and Keith says a full moon brings better fishing. After braving the storm to set his last 75 pots, Keith needs big numbers to send him home. The crew readies to haul, and it comes up light. Keith is not happy. 65 in that pot. Another pot comes up just as light and the crew wonders what is going on. Keith is sure the fleas are wiping them out. Lenny checks the jugs and it is sand fleas. Keith says they go crazy with the moon, they have a bloom and then you’re on them. If you’re in an area with them you could be in serious trouble with catching. The pots continue to come up light, Keith says it’s a waste of time, energy and bait. The string sucks, nothing’s there. It’s a total disaster. He says he won’t make it with these numbers. Keith continues to get upset, says it’s not worth it and as he’s talking, the p hone rings. He picks it up and it’s a camera guy asking for the producer, Keith says he should come up there himself. Then Keith heads downstairs, calling for him, says he doesn’t do anything, asked him to make coffee three times and he’s too busy. The camera guy tries to answer back and Keith SHOVES him all the way down the hallway. Keith says back off, go to bed or on deck, get out of his face. Cam guy says he’s out of line, and says who got in whose face? With that, the episode is over.





Time for the unfortunate feature of the week….”Have you seen us, because our fans sure haven’t…it’s not Where’s Waldo, it’s where was the Northwestern this week?”

But, as always, it would NEVER be appropriate to end any DC recap without this…R.I.P Phil, I hope you get all the time you need to make your birdhouses and ride Harleys in heaven.

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[bertablue]

awwwwwww. man only one more episode? say it isnt so! great recap as usual!
Thanks almighty Yak!

[Mystycl]

and no after the catch really pissed me off..... i wanted to hear keith explain his explosion. that dude should have beat his ass!!!!!!

[Hapyhouswf]

Loved me some DC last night!! My cousin called at 9:15 and I had to cut her short....She always calls when I finally settle down to relax....Help?? LOL