This week on Deadliest catch, a ferocious storm builds out in the Bering Sea as Captain “Wild” Bill Wichrowski navigates while his Summer Bay crew fight the elements and pull up pot after pot of disappointing live crab yields.
Confirming the captain’s fear, the codfish delay has given the dreaded storm time to build.
Now, Captain Wild Bill must test his northern Opilio [crab] gear in the teeth of the gale.
As the wind howls and his crew risk their lives pulling up scant crab-filled pots, Bill says: “We need some numbers.”
Spying a dangerous rogue wave ahead and out of the sight line of his deck hands, he cautions the crew: “There’s a big one down the rail! Be careful!”
The pots are coming up nearly empty. The crew are actually booing the few crab that tumble out.
Wild Bill says: “These [crab] are horrible. Not a lot of volume, not a lot of keepers.”
It is obvious that the churning seas have inspired the crab to move on down the road.
Wild Bill makes the call to load all 80 pots back on deck in these roiling seas.
He says: “I gotta get them in a better spot and hope for the next pick to be a good.”
With enormous waves still crashing over the heads of his men, he cautions: “Hey, nobody gets hurt!”
Crew member Ronnie James takes a moment to stay clear of some of the bigger ones covering the deck.
Seeing that the weather and the miserable crab numbers are not letting up, Wild Bill makes an executive decision, it’s time to pack it in.
He says: “This whole thing is really tough, it’s gonna be a long one. we started so screwed up today everything is all haywire. I’m going to have to head downwind and hope tomorrow is a better day.”
Deadliest Catch airs Tuesday at 9:00 on Discovery