Ep 112. The Bait: Touchdown

The opie season has finally drawn to a close and the fleet has reached the finish line. But the Bering Sea has exacted a steep price on the men and the boats. In this episode of The Bait, the captains gather to discuss their grueling season and what is ahead for season 11 of Deadliest Catch.

First up on The Bait, owner and Captain-in-training, Josh Harris, and Captain Casey McManus talk about the ups and downs of the season for the Cornelia Marie. Highlights of the conversation center around the crew and Josh�??s failure to bait the pots as Captain Casey had asked which sent him through the roof, Captain Casey�??s treacherous and risky maneuver to enter St. Paul harbor under unsafe conditions, and the eerie return of Phil�??s Buoy. Four years ago, to honor Phil Harris, the Wizard put a buoy with Phil�??s name on it into a crab pot and dropped it to the ocean floor. Somehow, the buoy escaped the pot, traveled over 100 miles and ended up on St. Paul island where it was found and returned to Josh. Looking ahead to next season, Captain Casey reveals that he has become part owner of the Cornelia Marie, which will set up a whole new dynamic between him and Josh.

Act two jumps off to a fast start with the first part of our Best of Catch segment: Craziest Catch Moments. Zack Larson of the Cape Caution then joins the captains and the discussion turns to Myles, the greenhorn Zack hired. Myles, it turns out, tried to sabotage the boat. His plan was to over-bait the pots in the hope that the boat would run out of bait and have to return to Dutch. It didn�??t work. The conversation moves on to a rivalry between Captain Sig Hansen of the Northwestern and Zack. Both of them are marketing their own brand of coffee. Sig�??s is called the Northwestern Grind and Zack calls his �??Deadliest Brew�?�. In an exclusive you will see only on The Bait, we held a blind taste test in Seattle. (Sig won.)

Captain Keith and the Wizard lead Act Three. Keith�??s gamble to fish in the far north paid off big time, but he tells us he would never take such a risk again. Huge amounts of ice built up on the boat and exhausted the crew in their attempts to knock it loose. The Wizard was also plagued by crew injuries and a damaged prop. Captain Wild Bill takes us on an interesting side trip to Kruger Prop in Seattle where we see what goes into making and repairing propellers. Captain Keith also took an interesting side trip to visit the Coast Guard cutter Munro where he joined the crew in a variety of rescue exercises. Unfortunately for Keith, he had to play the victim. We then make a more serious turn to Andy Hillstrand and the Time Bandit. The crux of the conversation is Captain Andy�??s relationship with his nephew and deckhand, Scottie. The two had a major falling out over Scottie�??s future on the boat. Andy speaks very honestly about his feelings for Scottie, and from his point of view, Scottie had his chance and blew it.

In Act Four, it�??s Scottie�??s turn to respond. He feels his uncle Andy has misunderstood and misjudged him. Scottie believes his uncle has overlooked his contributions to the Time Bandit over the last 16 years. He knows his future with the boat is up in the air. From the Time Bandit, we turn to the Seabrooke and Captain Scott Campbell, Jr.. Junior talks about financial condition and his physical condition. Debt forced him to return to the wheelhouse sooner than he would have liked, and his back is still painful. Junior�??s plan for the future is to find a young captain that can help share the load. As Junior exits stage R, the youngest captain in the fleet, Elliott Neese, enters stage L.. Elliott talks to the captains about his crazy year which included his decision to finally go to a rehab facility in New Mexico, the rescue of the crew from the Arctic Hunter, an incompetent deckhand who broke the Saga�??s picking boom and Elliott�??s decision to hire his girlfriend Jessica to cook for the crew.

We wrap things up in Act Six with a piece about The Elbow Room, a by-gone Dutch Harbor hangout that Playboy Magazine once called the most dangerous bar in America. The Captains have some great stories about their Elbow Room experiences. From there we conclude the show with our second installment of Best of Catch: Craziest Catch Moments.