[Warning: The below contains spoilers for Deadliest Catch Season 21]

The October 10 episode of Deadliest Catch kicked off the winter season in Dutch Harbor where the Bering Sea opilio (snow) crab fishery reopened for the first time in three years. This gave the captains of the hit Discovery Channel series even more motivation to the tune of $51 million up for grabs. 

Keith Colburn had his work cut out for him with a 175,000 quota. The Wizard captain was happy with his crew. Although things got off to a rocky start when Monte failed to appear much in the wheelhouse. Keith consulted deckhand “OJ” Pascual Ganuelas to get a report about what his brother was up to. Monte had been pounding alcohol on a bender and was not feeling well. This didn’t sit well with Keith as they were already behind schedule. Making matters worse was the fact a low pressure system was making its way to the area. 

There were pots to drop before conditions really deteriorated. Keith spoke about his family’s history of alcoholism, which was why he was concerned for Monte. The crew worked as the storm made things pretty dicey. One crew member even hurt their shoulder and arm on deck. Monte started to feel better and took over in the wheelhouse while Keith contemplated heading north with his gear. Later on, Monte received word Keith had slipped and fallen near the fridge. He looked to have injured his back, possibly near the kidney, as it turned purple. Keith iced his back, but Monte was worried that he might have to call medevac, given they were so far from Dutch Harbor. 

Rick Shelford was hedging his bets inviting Sig Hansen to the Aleutian Lady. It was a chance to talk about their respective plans. Rick revealed he had acquired the Bountiful. The vessel captained by Bobby was going for codfish, but also provided additional intel for the opilio search. Rick isn’t sure if he will share everything with Sig. By the same token, Sig hoped Rick would be honest and forthright with him. Rick instructed Sig to go east while he went west. Sig’s first pots came in light. In comparison, 

Rick had a big score of 372  to start up a hot streak. Sig came up relatively empty while Rick was living large. His sad results got Sig wondering what was going on. Sig reached out to Rick to see what was happening on his end. “Nothing too great,” Rick replied. Sig was suspicious and checked in with Bobby to confirm. Bobby said it was better to move west. “Ric was sandbagging information,” Sig concluded. Northwestern doesn’t like to be played for a sucker. “Two can play that game,” Sig said. Adding. “Let the games begin.” 

Discovery Channel

Jake Anderson had the go big or go home mentality aboard the Titan Explorer. He traded opilio quota for more bairdi. He made the bet that with the higher price per pound, this strategy will get him closer to the $1.5 million he needed to acquire the boat outright. It was a move he thought would even make him a hero or a “real big loser.” The winter storm had also been causing problems for him and his crew as well. With more vessels moving in, he wanted to get to his quota quickly. 

The first pot didn’t bring encouraging results. Jake had to find a way to move things in the middle of the storm to change his fortunes. His issue was he noticed he couldn’t turn. An alarm goes off. Felipe raced to the engine room to see what was going on. The port solenoid was burned. It would be a two or three hour fix. Jake couldn’t lose that valuable time. He decided to turn to the starboard side and do circles with half the steering. His crew would then be exposed more to 20-foot waves, which added another level of danger on the rails. The mission was then fixing the problem and finding a new home for his gear that will get him more crab. 

Deadliest Catch, Fridays, 8/7c, Discovery Channel