The Season 22 premiere of Deadliest Catch sees the fisherman hunting for pureblood northern king crabs, which are twice as big as their usual prey. The red king crabs are described as “genetic monsters” with “thicker shells” that are “bigger and brighter in color.”
The problem, though, is that these crabs are found in waters farther north than the fleets have been in two decades. Sig Hansen (of the Northwestern) enlists the help of “Wild” Bill Wichrowski to “undertake a scouting mission using a high-tech, underwater, remote-operated vehicle (ROV) to locate the premium northern red king.”
The ROV helps Sig and Bill realize that the crabs are even more northeast (and in even colder water) than they initially thought. “The more north you go, the more dangerous it is, so hopefully these guys are careful and get the job done,” Bill points out.
Since Sig is working with Bill on this mission, he ignores Johnathan Hillstrand‘s (of the Time Bandit) radio calls at sea. “That was my buddy a year ago,” Johnathan says. “We were best friends. Now I’m getting radio silence. I’m getting ghosted.”
While the Northwestern has success thanks to their ROV mission, the Time Bandit and Keith Colburn‘s Wizard aren’t having as much luck. Keith catches wind of the fact that Sig is ignoring Johnathan over the radio and warns him, “He is definitely working with another boat. Sig and the Summer Bay (“Wild” Bill’s boat) are in cahoots. Look at their course right now. They’re right next to each other. They’re only a half mile apart.”
Keith and Johnathan decide to partner up against their new common enemy. “If I can delay Sig, you can come in and just cork the s**t out of that and get it for ourselves and go over there,” Johnathan suggests.
The Time Bandit puts up a literal smokescreen, leaving Sig unable to see anything and forcing him to have to turn his boat away. Now, it’s his turn to start radioing for Johnathan. “Now you’re talking to me?” the Time Bandit captain taunts. He then tangles up all of the Northwestern’s lines and runs Sig off the course.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t pay off, because the Time Bandit and Wizard continue to have no luck in their crabbing mission. Meanwhile, the guys on the Northwestern have to spend some time untangling their lines, but when they check on their string that was previously set to the north, they have another impressive catch in their pot.
“The problem is, we don’t have enough pots here to do what I want. I just need more gear,” Sig surmises. Since the Wizard and Time Bandit are the only other two boats nearby, Sig has no choice but to try and enlist their help. “I wasn’t blindly tracking these crabs to the northeast,” he explains on the radio. “If you want to get back on the trail, you’re going to do exactly as I say.”
At that point, the three boats decide to work together to find the edge of the school of red king crabs. On Sig’s west side, the Time Bandit gets a huge pot, signaling that there’s “no edge in sight” over there. However, Keith and his crew catch nothing on the east side. “I knew I was getting the short end of the stick,” he complains, but Sig points out, “We’re just trying to find the edge of the school, so be patient.” The Wizard’s second pot is much larger, which helps Sig pinpoint exactly where the edge of the school is.
By the end of the episode, Johnathan and Sig are back on good terms. “Sorry about the smoke. We don’t have time to be enemies,” Johnathan admits, and Sig replies, “It’s all good. When you do come together and you can find crab like this, it’s the big picture that matters.”
Deadliest Catch, Season 22, Fridays, 8/7c, Discovery Channel
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