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deadliest catch tv show
- Thread starter ham
- Start date
Deb and I haved watched this show from the beginning. It's really good. Although this season is lacking something...not sure what though!
It just amazes me the risks these guys take! The reward is amazing, but wow.. I don't think I could do that...40 hours straight, in those conditions....no f'ing way.
They weren't stopping the show (as far as I know), but they did put a cap on the # of crab they could catch (collectively as a fleet) and there are a lot fewer boats able to fish now.
It just amazes me the risks these guys take! The reward is amazing, but wow.. I don't think I could do that...40 hours straight, in those conditions....no f'ing way.
They weren't stopping the show (as far as I know), but they did put a cap on the # of crab they could catch (collectively as a fleet) and there are a lot fewer boats able to fish now.
The money is pretty damn good. My mothers family all do this for a living. Crab, cod and lobster (lawbstah). A busy boat can make $300,000 or more in a single trip and $100,000+ in the short week to 10-day trips. Captain + 4 crew. Each deckhand gets 8%-12% based on experience, deck leader a bit more and the rest goes to the captain who usually owns the boat.
So if youre a 17 year old kid and youre told that you can make $7,500 or more in 2 weeks, you would be on that boat too. Some of them go out for 2 weeks then home for 2 weeks, all year round...the only thing that changes is the type of catch your hauling up. 17 years old making $90,000+ without evening a high school education, PLUS the opportunity to move up to a senior deckhand, PLUS the chance to really hit it big with a nice haul.
A few of my uncles hire these kids and they will work for a year or two after high school and leave for university (as its called in Canada) and be able to pay 4 years of tuition.
Its also a decent job for the kids who couldnt cut it in high school or arent college material...there are great trade jobs available but not one where you can make >$50,000/year. Not to mention the under-the-table cash that isnt seen there as well.
So if youre a 17 year old kid and youre told that you can make $7,500 or more in 2 weeks, you would be on that boat too. Some of them go out for 2 weeks then home for 2 weeks, all year round...the only thing that changes is the type of catch your hauling up. 17 years old making $90,000+ without evening a high school education, PLUS the opportunity to move up to a senior deckhand, PLUS the chance to really hit it big with a nice haul.
A few of my uncles hire these kids and they will work for a year or two after high school and leave for university (as its called in Canada) and be able to pay 4 years of tuition.
Its also a decent job for the kids who couldnt cut it in high school or arent college material...there are great trade jobs available but not one where you can make >$50,000/year. Not to mention the under-the-table cash that isnt seen there as well.
Back in my early 20's I was a commercial fisherman just like the guys in the show. I spent 19 day out in the North Atlantic in Feb scalloping. My check was $4200. Usually the trips were only 15 days. In Feb. the wind in the North Atlantic comes up real quick. The weather forecast on the radio was saying 15 knots and variable all the while the wind gauge on the boat was reading 60 - 65 knots. We had to spend 3 days jogging into the wind and swells, getting our butts kick, because it got so bad. Your stomach muscles would get sore from fighting the violent movement of the boat. (believe it or not, at one time I did have a 6 pack before picking up the double keg). Just before we quit fishing to lay to, one of my buddies, a smaller guy, almost got washed out the scupper after we took a rogue wave. Fortunately he was able to grab the chain bag on the dredge on his way out. I stood helpless thinking he was done. Once I saw he grabbed the chain bag I was able to grab him by his oil skins to be sure he was staying on board with us. It was at night, in the middle of the winter, terrible conditions... had he not caught the bag, with all certainty he would have been gone. About 10 years ago, I heard he went down on a clam boat and was never found.
That was my last trip on a scallop boat.
That summer I got a job on a long line boat fishing for sword and tuna. My last trip on that boat was not unlike "The Perfect Storm". Hook in a guys hand (didn't go overboard like the movie though), window blown out having to wrestle a sheet of plywood to cover it, but that another story for another time.
That was my last trip on a scallop boat.
That summer I got a job on a long line boat fishing for sword and tuna. My last trip on that boat was not unlike "The Perfect Storm". Hook in a guys hand (didn't go overboard like the movie though), window blown out having to wrestle a sheet of plywood to cover it, but that another story for another time.
So how about that TV show, it's definitely a must seeI have two stupid tv addictions right now. LOST and Deadliest Catch.
I don't know why, but I'm very fascinated with these guys and what they do. It also doesn't hurt that the captain of the Time Bandit (Johnathon Hillstrand, I think).. looks and acts like a friend of mine from GA who I think would be hard pressed to step aboard a boat in general, let alone an Alaskan crabber!
I don't know why, but I'm very fascinated with these guys and what they do. It also doesn't hurt that the captain of the Time Bandit (Johnathon Hillstrand, I think).. looks and acts like a friend of mine from GA who I think would be hard pressed to step aboard a boat in general, let alone an Alaskan crabber!
Subliminal
NJRC Member
Back when I lived in Alaska (most of my life) I knew quite a few people who were commercial fishermen/crabbers/etc.
Sometimes the money was awesome, like you mentioned.
Sometimes the money was non-existant.
Sometimes people got put in the hospital for quite some time.
Lol. Was never worth it to this kid. It's cold on the water up there all the time. My dad'd company has had the medi-vac contract up there for quite some time. He flies people from the villages to Anchorage to the hospitals regularly. He's flown quite a few people in for fishing accidents. Most of the one's he's flown in live. They might not retain all their limbs, but at least they're alive!
Sometimes the money was awesome, like you mentioned.
Sometimes the money was non-existant.
Sometimes people got put in the hospital for quite some time.
Lol. Was never worth it to this kid. It's cold on the water up there all the time. My dad'd company has had the medi-vac contract up there for quite some time. He flies people from the villages to Anchorage to the hospitals regularly. He's flown quite a few people in for fishing accidents. Most of the one's he's flown in live. They might not retain all their limbs, but at least they're alive!