Péril en haute mer

October in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, means only one thing: king crab season. Bering Sea weather reports warn of a massive storm and some of the roughest seas the fleet has seen in years, and the captains must decide whether to shove off or batten down.

The captains take advantage of rare, calm weather on the Bering Sea to drop their pots for king crab fishing. But there's an impending storm, and while some boats wait it out, others decide to risk it and fish through the storm.

In spite of a torrential downpour and a blinding snowstorm, the crews push on as they fish for Alaskan king crab. A broken crane slows down the Northwestern, and the Rollo keeps pulling up female crabs, which are illegal to keep.

After a profitable offload on Akutan Island, the Northwestern is back on the trail of Alaskan king crab. The Maverick sees a possible change in command, and the Aleutian Ballad is forced to take a greenhorn back to Dutch Harbor.

The Aleutian Ballad is knocked over by a vicious wave, stripping the ship of power and leaving the crew scrambling in the dark. Meanwhile, the exhausted crews of the Time Bandit, the Maverick and the Rollo endure rough weather.

January in Dutch Harbor, Alaska finds the fishermen returning to their boats for the Opilio Crab fishing season. As crews return, they'll prep their boats, the bait, and the supplies and hope that this season will be even more productive than the last.

The arctic storm continues as the Time Bandit pushes on with a limited amount of bait and the Rollo and the Maverick drop their pots quickly to avoid rolling. With the frustrated Cornelia Marie stuck in port, the Northwestern sticks with successful Cod.

Bad crab and long days fray nerves and cause fights on the Maverick and the Rollo. The trailblazing Time Bandit presses north into the Arctic onslaught, and the Northwestern ends up lost after Edgar sits on wheel watch.

The Time Bandit finds their ice pack as the Rollo fishes through gnarly weather. The crew of the Maverick must work through a shipwide flu epidemic, and the Northwestern moves on from cod to opilio crab.

Freezing weather and severe icing claim their first victim on the Cornelia Marie when a deckhand takes a spill. The Time Bandit navigates the northern ice pack, and the Maverick crew attempts to jury-rig a shattered stiff arm.

The Rollo and the Maverick race back to the crab grounds after heavy offloads on St. Paul Island. The Cornelia Marie offloads an injured deckhand, and fishing cod before crab pays off for the Northwestern.

The Maverick does some precision fishing on the ocean floor cliffs, and the Northwestern pulls up massive pots. But with full holds and iced-over decks full of pots, the risk of tipping over while steaming back to port is high.