Last of the Giants (2022-…): Season 1, Episode 7 - Edge of Disaster - full transcript
It's a battle for survival when a massive piraiba pulls the team down a raging river before they can sample it. Potential disaster greets them at every turn, and the guys are forced to change strategies. Merciless rapids, hidden stingrays, motor failures, lightning strikes, black piranhas and massive falling trees are just some of the dangers the crew must overcome in their quest to sample a giant piraiba for their research. And with a mysterious fish on his line, Cyril gets much more than he bargained for, in a truly dangerous battle.
CYRIL: Big fish, big fish.
Oh. Oh, my God. Ohh.
God, look at those head shakes,
that's a giant fish.
Guys, this is a monster fish.
Boy, oh.
Oh, my God.
Look at the wake. Look at the wake.
Oh!
-Oh!
-BRANDON: Oh, yeah.
Jeroen, I need the net, man.
I need the net, it's too big of a fish.
I can't land it. (grunts)
NARRATOR: Cyril Chauquet spends
his life traveling the world...
CYRIL: Easy, big guy.
NARRATOR: In search of massive fish.
CYRIL: Ah! Look at the size of that thing.
NARRATOR: No matter the danger.
Look at the amount of venom on that barb.
Careful!
NARRATOR: He'll do whatever it takes
to see these giants up close.
CYRIL (over radio): He could
almost swallow me whole.
NARRATOR: But many of these
animals are also in danger.
They're facing a lot
of challenges as fish.
NARRATOR: From habitat
destruction, pollution,
and commercial overfishing.
Now, Cyril and his team
of adventure filmmakers
are on a grueling mission
across the globe...
CYRIL: Look out!
GEOFF: Unbelievable.
CYRIL: Whoa! Oh, yeah!
NARRATOR: To help scientists study these
fantastic creatures and protect them.
We have the choice,
whether we preserve those fish
or we let them go extinct.
NARRATOR:
Together, they'll fight to save
the last of the Giants.
NARRATOR: Previously...
-CYRIL: Yeah, oh, yeah.
-GARRETT: Oh, yeah.
NARRATOR: Cyril and the team
had to cut short their mission
to tag giant white sturgeon
on the Fraser River
in western Canada.
CYRIL: Oh, you want
an even bigger fish, right?
COLIN: For me, bigger the better.
NARRATOR: A massive windstorm
shut down the river
before they could tag a true giant.
I guess the fishing plans
will have to change.
NARRATOR: They'll be back
to catch a huge sturgeon.
But for now, they've gone
far north
to protect the sturgeon's
main food source,
the Pacific salmon.
Its stocks have dropped drastically.
There used to be so many,
you used to be able to walk on them.
NARRATOR: And if it continues,
the sturgeon will starve.
♪♪
♪♪
(birds squawking)
Usually when I go out
fishing in the ocean,
it's nice, it's beautiful, it's hot.
Here, it's beautiful for sure,
but hot, not here.
NARRATOR: The team is on
a mission to collect samples
for one of the world's
leading salmon researchers,
Doctor Tanya Brown,
who is studying the effects
of manmade contaminants
that bioaccumulate
in Pacific salmon,
damaging animal health
across the ecosystem,
including the white sturgeon.
The team already sampled a Coho salmon.
-All right, guys.
-GEOFF: One down.
NARRATOR: But with pink and chum salmon
still left to find before going
back after giant sturgeon,
they need to change their strategy.
Pacific salmon are born far upriver,
but swim out here to the ocean
to feed and mature
before finally returning
to their birthplace
to spawn and die.
Since the team didn't find
the pink and chum salmon
they're after in the rivers,
they've moved downstream
to the vast Northern Pacific
where the salmon spend
most of their lives.
Maybe it will be easier here
near the mouths
of several large river systems
on the Alaskan border.
But fishing for salmon
in the rough North Pacific
is not going to be easy.
So to help them,
they're out with John,
a no-nonsense local fisherman.
When these two motors are fired up,
it's your responsibility
to maintain three points
of contact
with this vessel at all times.
To fall on this deck is usually
a trip to the hospital.
Do you have a throw bag?
Yeah, right behind you.
NARRATOR: A throw bag is a rescue device
with a rope stuffed into a bag.
If someone goes overboard,
the team can pull them in
by throwing them the bag
while holding on
to one end of the rope.
Out here in the frigid
North Pacific,
falling out of the boat
is a worst-case scenario.
JOHN: Hey, right off the bow!
CYRIL: Humpbacks.
Here comes your tail.
Wow.
Stunning.
Hey, if the whales are
in the neighborhood,
there's got to be bait, right?
So there might be some salmon around.
JOHN: That's right.
Salmon and whales eat the same things.
NARRATOR: Pacific salmon
like to eat bait fish.
And so do humpback whales.
CYRIL:
And those sea lions too, right?
I mean, they eat salmon.
So if there's that many around,
it might be a good sign.
JOHN: Pretty much.
Okay, here we go.
CYRIL: It's all herring on a ...
on a jig head
with a treble hook in the back
and a single trailer hook.
And all of it, barbless.
It's got to be pretty efficient.
NARRATOR: Barbless hooks are
more gentle on the animal.
CYRIL: So you ... that's where
you usually find them, right,
this close to the shoreline?
JOHN: You betcha.
CYRIL: Nice.
I'm really paying close
attention to the rods,
because if we get a hit,
it's going to go poof!
And you really gotta ... got to
grab the rod right away and ...
and be in contact
with the fish.
Otherwise you lose it
'cause we have no barbs.
So they can easily get off.
Come on, fish.
NARRATOR: Somewhere beneath them might
be the salmon they're looking for.
But if they're around,
they're not taking the bait.
JOHN: So I think
we might wanna relocate,
this is beginning to look a
little bit like a dry hole here.
NARRATOR: Cyril brings in the lines,
and the team leaves
the whales to move spots.
CYRIL: With that point
that juts out here, looks good.
JOHN: Wow, check out that wave.
CYRIL: Think we got a system coming in.
NARRATOR: This spot has waves and whales.
CYRIL: That's beautiful.
NARRATOR: But no salmon.
CYRIL: We should have
gotten bit already, right?
JOHN: Yeah.
NARRATOR: So they move spots.
JOHN: So it's pretty difficult.
NARRATOR: Again.
And again.
And once more, they are faced
with the same mystery.
Where are the salmon?
CYRIL: Do you think that
most of the salmon
have already migrated up?
JOHN: Yeah, with the abundance
of fresh water
that we've had this year,
I believe that the salmon didn't
really stick around a whole lot.
Yeah, those fish have been around
for millions of years, right?
So they know when it's
the right time to go.
I think they smell their home.
CYRIL: Yeah, right.
JOHN: They all ... they go back
to the spot they were born.
NARRATOR: The team has already
fished some mountain rivers,
but they may not have gone
far enough upriver
to where the salmon are migrating.
They need to shift strategy yet again.
You wouldn't be late normally,
and this time of year
is still a good time,
but this year it was
an exceptional amount of rain
in the mountains.
It creates a big influx
of fresh water in the ocean,
and the salmon can sense that.
They know it's the suitable conditions for
them
to go upstream
to where they spawn.
So I think they're inland,
deeper inland in the mountains.
NARRATOR: It looks like the team
will have to venture
even farther upriver than before.
But since they're already out here,
Cyril wants to see what other
giant fish he can find.
A good way to check
on the health of the ecosystem.
Everything is totally connected
from the herring
and the needlefish and all
the way up to the killer whales.
Right?
All these game fish,
they all depend on the salmon.
All these people depend on the salmon.
It's everything to us people
who live here.
100%, yeah.
NARRATOR: They're headed
further out to sea
despite an incoming storm
to where large predator fish
might be lurking.
If they can find truly giant fish
that are known to feed on salmon,
that would be a sign that
there is still enough salmon
and other fish to sustain
the ecosystem here.
CYRIL:
Nice day for a little picnic.
-JOHN: Yeah.
-Hey, it beats, uh,
it beats a day at the office, right?
-(laughs)
-TERRY: Whoo-hoo.
JOHN: All right. I got to go.
-Cyril.
-CYRIL: Yeah.
-Excuse me.
-CYRIL: Careful out there, John.
NARRATOR: John needs to get
the anchor in the water
quickly to stabilize the boat.
It's an extremely risky maneuver
in this weather.
And the crew prepares
for anything,
including captain overboard.
GEOFF: What's the drill again
for if he goes overboard?
-CYRIL: Hook him with this.
-GEOFF: Yeah.
(laughs)
Holy cow.
I'm sure that everything here
depends on the salmon.
NARRATOR: To target predators
like the white sturgeon
that feed on salmon...
CYRIL: Send them down there.
NARRATOR: Cyril's using salmon
scraps as bait.
CYRIL: And see what kind of giant
is going to eat it.
NARRATOR: They're fishing in
200 feet of water.
And everyone on the boat is wondering,
are there giant predators down there?
♪♪
Nothing is touching it.
GEOFF: No, nothing.
NARRATOR: John gets another line ready
while the relentless waves
start taking a toll on the team.
GEOFF: Oh, this is miserable.
NARRATOR: Despite years
of experience on boats,
they're all looking a little green.
You look kind of like the salmon
that we found
the other day, remember?
Yeah. Yeah.
The ... The zombie salmon.
CYRIL: The zombie salmon.
Yeah, that one.
(laughter)
CYRIL: Having the eyes
in the viewfinder
in this condition is ...
is pretty rough.
Because you lose your sense
of where you are, right?
GEOFF: Yeah, and I'm going
to lose my breakfast.
(laughter)
JOHN: Hey, hey, there's one!
CYRIL: Okay, I got a big fish on, guys.
NARRATOR: Sick or not,
the team has to work.
Something's taken
Cyril's piece of salmon.
CYRIL: Yeah, we're on.
JOHN: Good job.
CYRIL: Here we go. Yeah.
(groans) It's a big fish.
JOHN: It looks like a pretty good one.
-Getting big head shakes?
-CYRIL: Yeah.
NARRATOR: With powerful head shakes
and serious weight,
there's definitely
something huge on the line.
CYRIL: (grunts) Strong fish, man.
JOHN: Oh, yeah.
CYRIL: (sighs)
NARRATOR: It's so big,
Cyril can barely move it,
and it's wearing him out.
CYRIL: You know,
it's a long way to the surface.
NARRATOR: But he can't let the team down,
so he keeps fighting.
(grunting)
CYRIL: Here we go. Yeah.
(grunts) It's a big fish.
NARRATOR: Cyril and the team
are out in the Northern Pacific
looking for giant predators
that feed on salmon,
just like the white sturgeon
that they're trying to protect.
-CYRIL: Strong fish, man.
-JOHN: Oh, yeah.
NARRATOR: And Cyril's got
something huge on his line.
CYRIL: I see it. It's coming up.
JOHN: There's your monster right there.
CYRIL: It's a giant halibut.
Now I understand why this fish
kicked my butt.
It's huge.
NARRATOR: Halibut are
bottom-dwelling flatfish
that can grow up to 450 pounds.
But the fish isn't ready
to give up the fight.
JOHN: Doing big head shakes?
CYRIL: Yeah.
Man, talk about a giant.
I want to see it, I want to show
the audience that,
you know, if the salmon go,
even those fish are gonna
get affected down the line.
NARRATOR: To bring the fish
safely onto the boat,
John has to use a rope.
CYRIL: I'll go around the back.
If I go overboard, guys,
throw me the bag.
MANU: Yeah.
Because I got to bring this thing
around the motors here.
NARRATOR: With the boat anchored,
if Cyril falls in,
the current could
pull him away quickly.
JOHN: Keep some tension on her.
-CYRIL: Yeah.
-JOHN: Come on, fish.
CYRIL: Everything I'm doing
right now is pretty dangerous.
But I really want to show you this fish.
JOHN: So we got to get her head started
a little bit and give her a tug.
CYRIL: Yeah, I'll wait for a wave.
-JOHN: Yeah.
-CYRIL: Okay.
Let's do it now.
-JOHN: Here she comes.
-CYRIL: Yeah.
(laughs) Unreal.
The size of this fish, man.
(sighs) You're ... You're the man.
Look at the size of this halibut.
This is also a fish
that depends on the salmon.
If the salmon go, this fish
will get affected, too.
This is a giant.
It's got to be close to 200 pounds,
200 pounds of halibut right now.
You know, these fish are born
with their eyes
on each side of the head,
just like a regular fish.
And then since they're flat,
since they're used to living
on the bottom there,
it's a transformation
that happens when they're small.
The eyes migrate to the top of the head
so they can basically be laying flat,
but they still have two ...
both eyes looking up,
at prey that pass over them.
Incredible creature.
Incredible giant.
-JOHN: Yeah, watch out.
-CYRIL: Yeah. Yeah.
JOHN: If it starts to get angry.
CYRIL: It could start flipping around
-and break your leg, right?
-JOHN: That's right.
CYRIL: I know, this is a powerful fish.
JOHN: There you go.
-There she goes. Whoo!
-CYRIL: Oh, my God!
Did you see that kick?
NARRATOR: After a tough day
on the high seas...
CYRIL: He kicked my butt.
NARRATOR: Cyril's ready for a break.
And he's not the only one.
GEOFF: I think I'm going to barf.
Yeah, here it comes.
(retches)
CYRIL: Oh, my rod, Geoff.
(laughter)
GEOFF: (groans)
It's better you let it out, right?
-GEOFF: Oh, yeah.
-CYRIL: It's...
I'm sure you feel
much better now, right?
-You know?
-GEOFF: In a minute.
CYRIL: In a minute.
See what the team has to
go through to get the fish?
They're warriors.
These guys are warriors.
-(exhales)
-CYRIL: Feel better?
-Yeah.
-CYRIL: Seriously though...
-GEOFF: Yeah, way better.
-CYRIL: It's the best thing
-is to let it out.
-GEOFF: Yeah.
Did I puke on my headphones?
(laughter)
NARRATOR: Luckily for the team,
it's time to head back.
The giant halibut was a good sign
that the ecosystem here is still healthy.
And John might be right.
Maybe the salmon have
moved farther upriver.
So the team will need to head
even deeper into
the rugged, cold mountains
where they have to be ready
for the worst-case scenario.
TERRY: (screaming)
CYRIL: Hey, guys.
GEOFF: Terry, you okay?
-CYRIL: What's happening?
-GEOFF: Terry, are you okay, man?
TERRY: I don't know,
I can't move my foot.
GEOFF: That was a pretty hard
fall there, Terry.
-TERRY: (groaning)
-GEOFF: Oh, man.
Okay, he's ... he's definitely breathing.
CYRIL: Where ... What ... What ...
Where are you hurting?
-TERRY: Everywhere, my leg.
-CYRIL: Any other pain?
-TERRY: I-I don't know.
-CYRIL: Can you move?
-TERRY: Ow!
-CYRIL: Can you move your legs?
-TERRY: Can't move my foot. Oh, no.
-GEOFF: I'm gonna check his leg here.
-TERRY: No, no. Don't move. No!
-GEOFF: Your leg.
I'm gonna to move this log, okay?
TERRY: (screams) (groans)
-CYRIL: Oh, yeah.
-GEOFF: Yup, you got...
CYRIL: That's a broken bone.
It's a broken bone.
-GEOFF: Broken bone.
-CYRIL: Yeah, open fracture.
But it's okay, man.
Terry, we're going to be all right, man.
You're going to be fine.
(sighs)
(screams)
-CYRIL: Move it.
-TERRY: (screaming)
GEOFF: Okay, whoa.
-TERRY: (screaming)
-GEOFF: You want me to do it, ready?
CYRIL: Yeah, yeah.
-Good actor, huh?
-GEOFF: He's really good.
-(laughter)
-RON: Okay, we're going to stop.
-GEOFF: Okay.
-RON: That's good.
Nice ... nice work.
Okay, way better than
the first time around, right?
-GEOFF: Okay, yeah.
-RON: Much better.
So when we walk in, we know
he's screaming even this time,
-like, you know, I can see that we're...
-CYRIL: Good job.
RON: It's stressful, right?
When we get here.
NARRATOR: Before embarking on
their most challenging journey yet,
the team takes the opportunity
to sharpen their survival skills
with instructor Ron Morrison.
RON: We start with
the respiratory system.
-What can kill you quicker?
-GEOFF: Not breathing.
-RON: Not breathing.
-CYRIL: Not breathing.
RON: Or loss of airway now. So...
NARRATOR: Ron has decades of
survival experience in the bush,
and he runs the team
through a series of simulations
that test their survival knowledge.
RON: We need to get a big picture,
especially where we are.
This isn't just a hold them still,
call 911 where you guys are
and let somebody else
come and check it out.
That takes too much time.
You need to find the bleed yourself.
-CYRIL: Yeah.
-GEOFF: Yeah.
-RON: For what we're doing.
-TERRY: I tell you one thing,
I do have a stick stuck
in the side of my ass.
(laughter)
GEOFF: Oh, good work.
NARRATOR: Every one of the group has years
of experience in wilderness survival,
but they're heading into
some extremely remote areas
where an injury can be life threatening
if not properly treated.
The idea here is to make a splint
so that we can get Terry out
without having to call for air ...
an air evac or anything like that
so we can get it mobile again.
NARRATOR: The team reviews many
different survival techniques,
such as creating a tarp stretcher
to carry someone with hypothermia.
RON: One, two, three.
NARRATOR: Because where they're going,
medical help will be hours,
if not days away.
CYRIL:
Pretty good, very efficient.
RON: Yeah, this is absolutely
a high-risk environment.
We're dealing with cold water.
We've got, you know,
the ruggedness of the terrain.
We're dealing with wild animals
that are out here,
potential for wounds, for hypothermia.
Everything out here
is going to be more complex
and harder to deal with than it would be
when we're just back in the cities.
-Thanks, buddy.
-Yeah.
-Take care.
-You saved my life one day.
Oh, hopefully you don't need it,
but if you do,
-it'll come in handy.
-TERRY: Thank you.
(indistinct conversations]
NARRATOR: Understanding
the danger awaiting them,
the team makes the long drive
farther into the mountains
than they've been before to try
to find the salmon far upriver
near their extremely remote
spawning grounds.
CYRIL: Mm, lot of country here.
Wow, look at that guy.
NARRATOR: Giants like the white sturgeon
need salmon for food.
And so far, the team has only caught one
of the three species they're after.
Their best chance to find them now
is in rivers
only accessible by raft.
So to help them start out,
the team is meeting two expert
local fishermen who are very familiar
with the perils of this environment.
-CYRIL: Jeroen.
-JEROEN: Hey, buddy.
CYRIL: How are you doing, man?
JEROEN: Welcome to the north.
CYRIL: Good to see you, man, finally.
-JEROEN: Finally.
-CYRIL: Brandon, how are you doing, man?
-Good to meet you, too.
-(speaks indistinctly)
Yeah, it's really cool.
NARRATOR: Jeroen and Brandon
have both fished
this massive wilderness for decades,
and they know the best spots for salmon.
-You're ready for the north?
-Yeah.
You know the north's
a dangerous place, right?
Everything here is trying to kill you.
You've got the mountain lions,
the wolves, the rapids,
the weather, got the bears.
We had some bear attacks
already this year.
-Grizzlies?
-Grizzlies, black bears.
So I want to make sure you guys
are ready and prepared.
We have bear bangers.
Show me.
CYRIL: So I have this kind here.
Okay.
(bang)
Okay.
There's no projectile,
just makes a big,
loud, uh, noise,
and I got this one, too.
But this one has a little bit
of a projectile.
(bang)
-That'll work?
-That should do it.
It's just to scare them off.
Yeah, that's the only thing
you want to do.
CYRIL: That's the last resort, though,
that and bear spray, yeah.
NARRATOR: But out here, Jeroen prefers
a different last resort.
Oh, man, you're not kidding.
That's not a bear banger.
12-gauge semi-automatic.
So when you get charged,
like your last defense,
then you have no other option.
NARRATOR: The team won't be
taking a rifle with them,
and Cyril's feeling a bit underprepared.
It's kind of hard
to compete with you, man.
Yeah, I know, size does matter.
(laughter)
Seriously.
I'll have to use this...
NARRATOR: Jeroen confirms what
the team has already witnessed.
The salmon stocks are
dramatically lower this year.
CYRIL: Not as many salmon
as there used to be?
Not as many salmon.
Yeah, it's definitely declining
in the last decade or so.
So, yeah, they definitely can
use all the help they can get.
That's why we're here.
NARRATOR: The team swaps out
Jeroen and Brandon's boats
for rafts which can access
the most remote
and rugged rivers
where the salmon are migrating.
They're heading to a secret
launching point deep in the mountains
where Jeroen says
he's seen massive salmon.
CYRIL: When was the last time
you came to this, uh, place?
JEROEN: It's a long time ago.
It's a special place.
I don't take anybody else here.
Only special people.
-(laughs)
-JEROEN: Special guys.
So I don't know how the road
is going to be.
But, uh, it's always a challenge
to get in there.
CYRIL: A challenge in what way?
Like, it's overgrown and stuff?
JEROEN: Yeah, it's ...
it's a deactivated road, right?
So it might be overgrown.
Um, you know, you never know
what you're going to find,
especially up here.
CYRIL: Oh, man, look there, bear.
Do you see it? There.
JEROEN: Oh, that's a big boy.
That was a big boy.
Yeah, it was a big bear, man.
JEROEN: Yeah.
NARRATOR: They finally get
to the turn-off,
and no one has been here
for quite some time.
CYRIL: Oh, you were pretty right
about the overgrown stuff too.
JEROEN: Yeah, yeah.
Not your average road.
CYRIL: I have a machete.
All right, you're clear.
Oh, man.
JEROEN: Yeah, it's getting
pretty tight in here.
I told you guys.
NARRATOR: The bush is so thick that Jeroen
turns on his headlights
to be able to see.
-CYRIL: Let me clear that tree there.
-JEROEN: Yeah.
NARRATOR: It's obvious that this spot
has been untouched for a long time.
CYRIL: You're clear.
NARRATOR: The road is almost impassable.
BRANDON: This is a real problem.
I don't think you're going to be
cutting through that one
with that machete, Cyril.
CYRIL: Definitely not, no.
NARRATOR: So there's a really good chance
they'll find the fish
they need to sample.
BRANDON: Think we could
squeeze through there now?
CYRIL: I think we're clear.
-Great job, man.
-BRANDON: Hey, thank you.
CYRIL: It's not the first,
uh, your first picnic.
BRANDON: Not my first rodeo here, no.
(laughter)
CYRIL: It's a lot of effort
to get to a fishing spot,
but I hope we catch fish now.
All right, let's do it.
NARRATOR: It's too late in the day
for the guys to head out on the rafts,
but there's still time for some fishing.
CYRIL: Oh, man.
BRANDON: Hey, Cyril,
this is a great spot here.
-CYRIL: You think it ... it's worth it?
-BRANDON: Absolutely.
-It's a good spot? We need those fish.
-Yeah, do what you can.
-Just watch those trees, eh?
-Yeah.
NARRATOR: The current here is fast,
and the trees overhang the water,
so Cyril has to improvise.
The technique I am about to use
is a little unconventional.
That's the least I can say.
You know, it's a ...
a sliding sinker on my main,
uh, running line, a, uh, swivel here,
then, uh, a piece of, uh,
25-pound fluorocarbon leader
and a ... a fly, a single hook fly
with no barb on it.
You know, the idea is that the ...
the sinker will bring the ...
the rig all the way to the bottom to ...
to where the fish are,
especially right now that the ...
the water level is really high.
That should, uh, that should get
the, uh, the fly
to where it needs to be,
which is at the bottom.
♪♪
♪♪
Fish. Fish, fish, fish, fish.
Big fish, big fish.
Ooh! Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. Serious fish here.
I gotta be careful.
This fish could very well pull me
if it goes into the current,
which is what it's doing right now.
Can't lose it.
Problem is that my options
to land this fish
are very, very, very limited.
There's nowhere on the shore
that I can ...
where I can possibly land this fish.
There's so much current, the water's level
is so high right now.
(reel unspooling rapidly)
Definitely too big to be a Coho.
Can only be a Chinook,
and it's got to be a big one.
It's a tank.
I'm gonna try to get this fish
away from the logjam there.
NARRATOR: Since there's nowhere
to land the fish downstream,
Cyril backtracks to make sure
the line doesn't snag on the fallen tree.
Oh. Oh, my.
Oh.
Big fish.
God, look at those head shakes,
that's a giant fish.
You guys, something's telling me
that this is a monster fish
because we haven't seen a jump.
Usually big fish, they stay down.
I have a feeling it's a giant.
Come, come here, little fish.
Okay, it's coming here,
it's coming here.
It's right here.
Oh, yeah. Hold on, oh, my God.
All right, look at the wake,
look at the wake.
Jeroen!
Jeroen!
I need the net, man.
I need the net, it's too big of a fish.
I can't land it.
Don't go anywhere, fish.
CYRIL: He's right here.
He's right here.
Don't go anywhere, fish.
Oh!
-Oh!
-JEROEN: Oh, yeah.
-Whoo-hoo!
-(laughter)
JEROEN: Awesome!
-GEOFF: That's a tank!
-JEROEN: Yeah, good fish.
CYRIL: Scoop him out,
scoop him out, scoop him up.
Come in, come in,
come in, come in.
JEROEN: Yep.
Scoop him up.
Oh, yeah!
Oh, my lord. Oh.
-BRANDON: We need a bigger net than this.
-Whoo!
Oh, look at the size
of this tank, man.
Look at the size of this fish.
Whoo-hoo!
-(laughter)
-CYRIL: That's a giant!
That's not the fish I wanted but,
man, that's a personal record.
Look at the size of this Chinook.
(sighs)
Oh, my God, look at that!
JEROEN: Keep it in the water.
(laughs) This is un ...
What, wait, help me,
help me with the net.
I can't, I can't even lift this fish!
(laughter) Seriously, guys.
That's not what we're looking for,
but, man, as a bycatch, I can take
a bycatch like this any day.
JEROEN:
Oh, my lord.
Go... (speaks indistinctly)
♪♪
CYRIL: Oh!
Oh, my God.
(laughter)
That was a giant fish, man.
Over 50 pounds, no?
Easy. Must have been 55, Cyril.
That fish was,
like, an unbelievable giant.
I couldn't get my hand
around its tail.
Seriously.
Unbelievable fish, Cyril.
That's the second biggest
salmon I've ever seen.
-CYRIL: Really?
-In all my years,
-that's the second biggest fish.
-Oh, my God.
Guys, thank you so much. Geoff.
Hey, man.
That was awesome.
CYRIL: Yeah, it's not the one
I wanted for science,
but that's the one I wanted
to put my hands, yeah.
-GEOFF: Yeah.
-CYRIL: That's the fish of a lifetime.
-Brandon...
-Nice catch, great job.
CYRIL: Thank you so much, man.
You guys, uh, you ...
you know your spots.
NARRATOR: Jeroen's spot has
turned out to be worth
all the effort it took to get here.
But with night quickly falling,
the team needs to set up camp
and make a fire
to keep the cold at bay.
All right, feels good, some fire, man.
Guys, we're going to be hot.
Just a few minutes.
NARRATOR: Ever the survivalist,
Terry breaks out his gear
to speed things along.
GEOFF: Superman breath strikes again.
NARRATOR: The team celebrates catching
the giant Chinook salmon.
It's not one of the three species
they need to sample for the biologist,
but it lifted everyone's
spirits just the same.
Jeroen and Brandon have been
fishing these waters for many years.
Having witnessed firsthand
the steady decline
of the salmon and white
sturgeon populations,
they want to be part of
the fight to save these fish.
BRANDON: I was born in British Columbia
and, like, brought up fishing,
going out with my dad
down in the Fraser Valley.
We'd catch him lots of fish.
-And it's gone?
-And it just went boom.
It's very, very important,
not for me, not for you,
not for Brandon,
but also for my kids and their kids.
They have a healthy fishery.
They can enjoy the same things
we are doing right now.
You know, we can't keep
going on forever like this.
And then there's nothing left,
we can't eat money.
That's exactly it.
They're cutting trees down for ...
for money,
or depleting the oceans for money,
or over-exploiting the resources
in general for money.
It's the short-term profit making
that kills it all.
JEROEN: Yeah.
CYRIL: But I'm going to try to help them
as much as I possibly can
by helping the scientist.
And in order for me to do that,
we need to catch some fish.
Cheers to that, guys.
-Cheers.
-Thanks a lot.
♪♪
Here we go for another day.
-Did you sleep?
-GEOFF: Well...
-(laughter)
-Did you sleep?
CYRIL: Yes.
NARRATOR: The next morning, the team is
off to try the river near the camp again
to hopefully catch one of
the two salmon species
they still need before
they head out on the raft.
♪♪
♪♪
CYRIL: Oh, got something.
BRANDON: Pikeminnow.
CYRIL: Yeah, it's a pikeminnow.
BRANDON: Very aggressive fish.
CYRIL: Yeah, it hit hard.
Nice fish, but it's not
what I'm looking for.
See you, buddy.
NARRATOR: There are
definitely fish around.
And today, the team is confident
they will find the chum
and pink salmon they're after.
(reel unspooling rapidly)
CYRIL: Here we go.
Oh, I think it's a steelhead.
Wow, the jump.
Wow.
(grunting)
♪♪
Might not be what we're looking for,
but, uh, it's a beautiful fish.
All right.
Wow.
(grunts) It's a steelhead.
Ooh!
My legs.
It went through my legs.
(grunts)
(laughs)
(sighs)
It went right in between my legs.
Beautiful steelhead.
Tanya doesn't need any samples
on these fish,
but, man, that's a beautiful catch.
They're migratory rainbow trout.
They go back and forth to the ocean.
They can do that multiple
times in their lives.
There you go, buddy.
They're incredible fish.
NARRATOR: This area has
delivered some nice fish,
but none were the right species.
So it's time to head out on the rafts.
But first, Jeroen wants
to share a coffee
and some words of warning with Cyril.
JEROEN: Oh, yeah.
This is good, this is good to go.
Fresh coffee on a cold day
like today, it's hard to beat.
-Thank you very much.
-JEROEN: Cheers.
Beautiful day in paradise.
If you're an adventurer,
I guess you can call this paradise.
-JEROEN: Yeah.
-(laughter)
NARRATOR: This sprawling paradise
is home to some land predators
that the team needs to watch out for.
JEROEN: And this is the time you're gonna
have lot of bear encounters.
So you have to be really
cautious and really careful.
Have you ever, uh, gotten charged?
-JEROEN: Oh, yeah, yeah.
-Really?
JEROEN: Similar day like today,
this time of the year
when all the salmon are running,
spawning and dying,
I was fishing for steelheads
and I could hear the sounds.
(bellowing)
I wasn't sure if it was
a moose or a bear.
Walked upstream
and there's this kind of little,
little creek
coming back in the river, right?
And it was full of sa...
of spawning, uh, sockeye.
And I noticed this grizzly bear
and I was, like, filming.
I have it on my cellphone.
It's probably four-year-old, like, boar,
and as soon as it noticed me,
checked me out,
stand on the back legs,
and basically did a charge,
like a false charge.
And I was running like ...
like Usain Bolt.
I was running for my life.
(growling)
Luckily it was a false charge.
If it was a real charge,
I wouldn't be sitting here
talking to you right now.
CYRIL: Because he stopped.
JEROEN: Yeah, it stopped.
NARRATOR: Cyril and the team know
what it's like
to be charged by wild animals.
In Africa, they were almost
crushed by charging elephants.
CYRIL: Run!
NARRATOR: Out here, bears
aren't used to human beings
and can perceive them as competition
for their food sources.
MAN: Stay back, bear.
NARRATOR: Which they defend violently.
(man screaming)
When you guys go and do this by your own,
and walk down the river
and through the woods, be careful.
This is the north,
this is a dangerous place.
Yeah.
CYRIL: Yeah.
GEOFF: Hey, guys. Good luck!
-Yeah.
-CYRIL: Thanks a lot, man.
NARRATOR: The time has come
for the team to head out on their own.
-Just relax.
-GEOFF: I will.
If you panic,
you're gonna (bleep) up, right?
-GEOFF: Right.
-CYRIL: Thanks, Brandon.
NARRATOR: On a very dangerous journey.
-GEOFF: All right.
-Nice knowing you.
(laughter)
NARRATOR: With all the rain, the rivers
are much higher than usual
and could easily flip their raft.
Last week, the team sharpened
their swift water survival
skills with the squad
at Terrace Water Rescue.
CYRIL: Oh!
NARRATOR: The frigid, extremely fast
waters here are a constant danger.
MAN: One, two, three, go!
NARRATOR: So they practiced
many survival drills,
including how to cross
fast water as a group.
CYRIL: I got you, I got you.
NARRATOR: And what to do if your
waders start to fill with water,
which is to immediately
raise your feet to the surface,
trapping air inside your boots
so they can't pull you down.
Tragically, every year,
even experienced fishermen
lose their lives to the river.
CYRIL: Watch your leg, Terry, man.
Watch your leg.
Don't push it too hard.
NARRATOR: As they get
closer to the water...
-CYRIL: Oh, man, it's ripping.
-GEOFF: It's really ripping.
He needs to vent some anxiety.
NARRATOR: Terry kicks into
survivalist mode.
Better the tree than me.
-NARRATOR: High gear.
-CHRIS: Nice.
Always secure your knives.
Let's go.
Your foot is about to trip.
I'll just walk right around here.
No, there's a log there, buddy.
Step over it.
I'm holding it, you can go.
CYRIL: We love each other
with our Terry.
We've known each other
for a long time, you know.
I don't know why I hired him again.
-TERRY: You know why?
-CYRIL: Yeah?
Because I found a rock that writes.
Seriously, guys,
this is a serious thing.
If we get separated, you can
leave arrows on a path on a rock.
So this is important to have
in your pocket.
It is a rock that allows you
to write a message.
MANU: Oh, no.
CYRIL: Uh, I think I know
where you're going with.
G.F.Y.
Which does not mean
"good for you."
(laughter)
CYRIL: 'Cause I ...
I would just remind you guys
that we're about to get into
this massive rapid there.
GEOFF: I think that's why
we're procrastinating.
CYRIL: I-I think
that's why we keep talking,
'cause no one really
wants to get in there.
-GEOFF: That's fast water.
-CYRIL: It is.
NARRATOR: The team is about to set out
on a very serious river
littered with potentially
deadly obstacles.
And one waits just ahead.
CYRIL: So the idea here
is that we have a ...
a big bend in the river
coming up right there.
That's the only place
where we could put the boats,
get the boats down to the river.
But the problem is that we ...
yeah, we don't have enough time
to actually maneuver the boat.
And this is a big boat.
It's got a lot of weight to it.
So we're going to have to
maneuver the boat quick enough
so we don't get dragged into
the, uh, the bend there.
NARRATOR: The team will be
split up on two rafts.
The big raft that carries
all the gear and supplies.
-I'll follow your line.
-CYRIL: Yeah.
If we don't make it,
I'll do something different.
CYRIL: Yeah, do something else.
NARRATOR: And a smaller,
more maneuverable scouting raft
manned by Cyril and Chris
that will go first.
Okay, guys, you're good?
You're comfortable there?
CHRIS: Yup.
Let's go.
♪♪
Okay, obstacle coming up.
NARRATOR: Cyril has to squeeze
through a gap
between a fallen tree
and the rocky shoreline
as his team watches anxiously.
GEOFF: Oh, man.
They're going to slam into the rocks.
CYRIL: Hang on, Chris,
I think being in the current
is probably the safest lane right now.
Whoo!
Hang on.
♪♪
♪♪
Okay, we made it.
GEOFF: Be positive, guys.
-Let's go.
-Stay positive, we'll do this.
-TERRY: Ready?
-I am, I am.
Don't worry.
-I trust you.
-TERRY: Let's go.
GEOFF: All right, let's do it.
NARRATOR: Now, it's the big raft's turn.
GEOFF: Yeah, this raft is pretty heavy.
NARRATOR: It's much heavier
and less nimble.
TERRY: Well, this is nice, buddy.
You're doing it.
NARRATOR: But Geoff does his
best to follow Cyril's line.
-TERRY: Hard right. Hard right.
-(bleep)
TERRY: Okay.
-Terry, you're freaking me out.
-TERRY: Take it back.
Left, left.
Doing good, buddy.
Perfect, the perfect line.
Good job, buddy. Nice.
Unreal.
This is what came down
the river with the rains.
This is new, came down
from their last rain.
You can see the old stuff.
That's a quite a logjam.
Telling you, when there's
a lot of rain here,
comes down really heavy
and the rivers swell
like a ... super-fast.
You definitely don't want to be camping
on the shore of the river.
NARRATOR: The river suddenly narrows
and starts to get really rough.
CYRIL: Watch out, guys!
-Sweeper!
-GEOFF: Oh, (bleep)
There's, uh, a sweeper coming up.
NARRATOR: When whitewater rafting,
one of the most
dangerous obstacles in the water
are fallen trees called sweepers,
and the current is dragging
Geoff's raft toward a big one.
GEOFF: Okay, boys, hang on.
Hang on.
That would have sucked.
That would have not been good.
CYRIL: Good job, man, good job.
-TERRY: That was great, buddy.
-Wow.
NARRATOR: The day progresses
as they make their way down river
past several tributaries,
looking for a good spot for salmon.
But an hour later, the river
gets a little intense.
I don't know what's around
the corner there. I can't see.
Chris, you want
to fly the drone?
-GEOFF: The drone, no?
-CHRIS: Yeah, drone!
Can't really see what's, uh,
around the corner over there,
so we're going to send
a drone up in the air
to see if there's any
bad rapids over there.
-You're ready, Chris?
-CHRIS: Yeah.
NARRATOR: It's a risky maneuver.
The team has already crashed this drone
once before in the Fraser River.
CHRIS: Whoa, it's going down.
It's going down.
(groans)
There we go.
NARRATOR: But it's a small risk
when compared
to the safety of the team.
CYRIL: We could kill ourselves here.
We don't really know
what's around the corner there.
For all I know it,
it might be a drop, falls.
GEOFF: That looks ... that looks doable.
-CYRIL: It ... it is.
-GEOFF: Here looks doable.
TERRY: It is, yeah.
GEOFF: It's above that looks
a little sketchy.
CYRIL: Think we're good.
Okay, there's no rapids.
-It's clear.
-CHRIS: Okay, I'm coming back.
CYRIL: Yeah, yeah. We need a drone
as a scouting device.
-It's perfect for this.
-CHRIS: Yeah.
-TERRY: Okay, grab it.
-CYRIL: Whoo-hoo!
All right. Nice flight, man.
-CHRIS: Looking all right.
-CYRIL: Nice flight.
♪♪
NARRATOR: The team makes it
to the mouth of a wider,
calmer tributary of the main river,
and they beach the rafts
to try some fishing.
So far, they've managed to catch
and sample
a Coho salmon
for Doctor Brown's research,
but they still need samples
from both pink and chum salmon.
But they may have arrived too late.
CYRIL: Oh, man.
Look at all these dead fish.
NARRATOR: What they find
is a macabre graveyard.
♪♪
The shoreline is littered with
the rotting corpses of pink salmon.
CYRIL: This is totally unreal.
NARRATOR: The salmon's long
journey from the sea
to their spawning ground
is their last voyage,
because once they've spawned,
their bodies begin decomposing
and they never live
to see their offspring.
TERRY: Hey, check this out.
-GEOFF: This is a grizzly print?
-TERRY: Yeah.
GEOFF: You got the palm.
-CYRIL: That's for sure a grizzly.
-GEOFF: Yeah.
CYRIL: And not ... not a small one, too.
NARRATOR: The massive
accumulation of dead fish
has attracted every
large carnivore for miles.
TERRY: A lot of it's walking that way.
CYRIL: Well, except for this one.
TERRY: Except for this one
walking this way.
GEOFF: Well, there may not
be any humans around,
but we're definitely not alone.
So I want to keep the bear bangers ready,
keep it accessible
and not tucked away in here,
you know, stashed away into your pocket.
NARRATOR: Not only does this
make it dangerous for the team.
CYRIL: Keep making noise, guys.
NARRATOR: But it might mean
they're too late
after such a big spawning event
to find a healthy fish to sample.
CYRIL: Oh, look, look over there.
GEOFF: And it's a grizzly.
It's going away from us, though.
But, uh, keep your eyes open, guys.
CYRIL: Oh, wow.
Look at that.
That's, uh, that's
definitely a grizzly.
You see?
Those are the claws, here.
A black bear would be way closer,
the claws would be way closer
to the, uh, to the fingers.
I mean, look at the size of that
thing compared to my hand,
and it's not even, uh ...
that's not even a giant.
(rustling)
GEOFF: What's that?
CYRIL: What do you mean, what's that?
Oh.
Watch out, watch out,
watch out, watch out.
Back up, back up, back up.
Back up, guys.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-(bang)
-(bear growls)
Back up, don't stay here.
Seriously, it could come
charging full speed.
Terry, let's go, let's go, man.
Let's go. Keep going.
Come on, move, move.
Terry!
Terry! Move, man!
-Get moving.
-GEOFF: Let's go.
CYRIL: You've got your bear bangers?
-MANU: I got it.
-CYRIL: Yeah?
CHRIS: Mine's here.
-GEOFF: He sounded big.
-CHRIS: It's big.
CYRIL: Yeah, it's ... it's big.
♪♪
♪♪
It's probably gone now.
(sighs)
Ooh.
GEOFF: How's your heart?
-Pumping good?
-CYRIL: Yeah, it's pumping.
(laughs) It's pumping for sure.
Manu, you all right?
Did you have your earphones?
Were they, uh...
Yeah, you deafened Manu.
Yeah, it was hard on the ears.
Let's go.
NARRATOR: With all the predators around,
the team wants to get out of there,
but they can't afford
another wasted day.
They need salmon samples,
so they press onward.
CYRIL: Keep an eye out for bears, guys.
NARRATOR: And after days of
searching the ocean and rivers,
navigating freezing rapids,
and avoiding hungry bears...
GEOFF: There's a bear in there.
(bang)
NARRATOR: Cyril and the team
finally find what they're looking for.
CYRIL: Here they are, finally.
NARRATOR: There are
hundreds of pink salmon.
They've begun to decay
after having spawned.
But some still look
fresh enough for sampling.
CYRIL: Look at that, this is amazing.
These fish are so resilient.
Slowly rotting alive.
And yet they have their heads
in the current,
they're fighting the current,
and they're not giving up.
Their entire lives
are dedicated to this.
They ... They're born here in this
river, they go to the ocean,
and then they come back
a few years after to spawn
and then die.
The entire food web depends on 'em.
They feed the birds,
they feed the eagles,
they feed the bears,
the wolves, everything.
Even the forest. Even the trees.
And yet, because of
commercial overfishing,
their stocks are plummeting,
like, going like this.
Can't let that happen.
NARRATOR:
In such advanced states of decay,
the fish usually stop eating.
So even with this abundance,
a bite is far from guaranteed.
CYRIL: Yep, fish.
It's a little pink.
Looks like we're going to get
our samples after all, guys.
Oh, no.
Got off.
Keep an eye out for bears, guys.
We need those samples.
♪♪
Ooh, fish on.
That's a good fish.
Yeah, I think it's a pink...
Yes, it is a pink.
NARRATOR: This might be the last chance
Cyril has to get the samples.
He can't afford to lose this fish.
CYRIL: I don't want to lose it.
It looks like a good fish to sample.
I think I saw a big hump on the ...
on it's back, a male pink salmon.
That's what we want.
♪♪
♪♪
Oh, my God, look at this fish.
A pink salmon, the smallest
of all North American salmon species
and yet the most abundant.
This is a male.
You can see that ...
that big hump on the back
and, uh, those teeth and the hook jaw
tells me it's a male.
This fish has already spawned
and it's going to die.
I can tell.
Look at the, uh,
the dorsal fin is ... is decaying.
And I see in the back here,
there's fungus already.
Soon going to be dead,
so I'm going to keep it
for Tanya's research.
GEOFF: All right, fin clipping.
NARRATOR: Finally,
the team can get to work
on their sampling protocols
for the pink salmon.
Okay, so we got the fin clipped.
-Yeah.
-So now it's surgery time.
The data that Doctor Brown
can extract from these samples
taken deep in the wilderness
will help her better understand
and protect the species.
GEOFF: Okay, it's done.
-Let's get it in the dry shipper.
-CYRIL: All right.
NARRATOR: And if the salmon survive,
the animals that feed on them,
like the white sturgeon
will have a better chance
of survival, too.
They now have samples
from Coho and pink salmon.
But they still need samples
from chum salmon
to fully complete their mission.
-Good job.
-Yeah, good job.
Good job, man.
Just one more fish to go.
But with less than a week left on the dry
shipper, their quest is far from over.
Oh. Oh, my God. Ohh.
God, look at those head shakes,
that's a giant fish.
Guys, this is a monster fish.
Boy, oh.
Oh, my God.
Look at the wake. Look at the wake.
Oh!
-Oh!
-BRANDON: Oh, yeah.
Jeroen, I need the net, man.
I need the net, it's too big of a fish.
I can't land it. (grunts)
NARRATOR: Cyril Chauquet spends
his life traveling the world...
CYRIL: Easy, big guy.
NARRATOR: In search of massive fish.
CYRIL: Ah! Look at the size of that thing.
NARRATOR: No matter the danger.
Look at the amount of venom on that barb.
Careful!
NARRATOR: He'll do whatever it takes
to see these giants up close.
CYRIL (over radio): He could
almost swallow me whole.
NARRATOR: But many of these
animals are also in danger.
They're facing a lot
of challenges as fish.
NARRATOR: From habitat
destruction, pollution,
and commercial overfishing.
Now, Cyril and his team
of adventure filmmakers
are on a grueling mission
across the globe...
CYRIL: Look out!
GEOFF: Unbelievable.
CYRIL: Whoa! Oh, yeah!
NARRATOR: To help scientists study these
fantastic creatures and protect them.
We have the choice,
whether we preserve those fish
or we let them go extinct.
NARRATOR:
Together, they'll fight to save
the last of the Giants.
NARRATOR: Previously...
-CYRIL: Yeah, oh, yeah.
-GARRETT: Oh, yeah.
NARRATOR: Cyril and the team
had to cut short their mission
to tag giant white sturgeon
on the Fraser River
in western Canada.
CYRIL: Oh, you want
an even bigger fish, right?
COLIN: For me, bigger the better.
NARRATOR: A massive windstorm
shut down the river
before they could tag a true giant.
I guess the fishing plans
will have to change.
NARRATOR: They'll be back
to catch a huge sturgeon.
But for now, they've gone
far north
to protect the sturgeon's
main food source,
the Pacific salmon.
Its stocks have dropped drastically.
There used to be so many,
you used to be able to walk on them.
NARRATOR: And if it continues,
the sturgeon will starve.
♪♪
♪♪
(birds squawking)
Usually when I go out
fishing in the ocean,
it's nice, it's beautiful, it's hot.
Here, it's beautiful for sure,
but hot, not here.
NARRATOR: The team is on
a mission to collect samples
for one of the world's
leading salmon researchers,
Doctor Tanya Brown,
who is studying the effects
of manmade contaminants
that bioaccumulate
in Pacific salmon,
damaging animal health
across the ecosystem,
including the white sturgeon.
The team already sampled a Coho salmon.
-All right, guys.
-GEOFF: One down.
NARRATOR: But with pink and chum salmon
still left to find before going
back after giant sturgeon,
they need to change their strategy.
Pacific salmon are born far upriver,
but swim out here to the ocean
to feed and mature
before finally returning
to their birthplace
to spawn and die.
Since the team didn't find
the pink and chum salmon
they're after in the rivers,
they've moved downstream
to the vast Northern Pacific
where the salmon spend
most of their lives.
Maybe it will be easier here
near the mouths
of several large river systems
on the Alaskan border.
But fishing for salmon
in the rough North Pacific
is not going to be easy.
So to help them,
they're out with John,
a no-nonsense local fisherman.
When these two motors are fired up,
it's your responsibility
to maintain three points
of contact
with this vessel at all times.
To fall on this deck is usually
a trip to the hospital.
Do you have a throw bag?
Yeah, right behind you.
NARRATOR: A throw bag is a rescue device
with a rope stuffed into a bag.
If someone goes overboard,
the team can pull them in
by throwing them the bag
while holding on
to one end of the rope.
Out here in the frigid
North Pacific,
falling out of the boat
is a worst-case scenario.
JOHN: Hey, right off the bow!
CYRIL: Humpbacks.
Here comes your tail.
Wow.
Stunning.
Hey, if the whales are
in the neighborhood,
there's got to be bait, right?
So there might be some salmon around.
JOHN: That's right.
Salmon and whales eat the same things.
NARRATOR: Pacific salmon
like to eat bait fish.
And so do humpback whales.
CYRIL:
And those sea lions too, right?
I mean, they eat salmon.
So if there's that many around,
it might be a good sign.
JOHN: Pretty much.
Okay, here we go.
CYRIL: It's all herring on a ...
on a jig head
with a treble hook in the back
and a single trailer hook.
And all of it, barbless.
It's got to be pretty efficient.
NARRATOR: Barbless hooks are
more gentle on the animal.
CYRIL: So you ... that's where
you usually find them, right,
this close to the shoreline?
JOHN: You betcha.
CYRIL: Nice.
I'm really paying close
attention to the rods,
because if we get a hit,
it's going to go poof!
And you really gotta ... got to
grab the rod right away and ...
and be in contact
with the fish.
Otherwise you lose it
'cause we have no barbs.
So they can easily get off.
Come on, fish.
NARRATOR: Somewhere beneath them might
be the salmon they're looking for.
But if they're around,
they're not taking the bait.
JOHN: So I think
we might wanna relocate,
this is beginning to look a
little bit like a dry hole here.
NARRATOR: Cyril brings in the lines,
and the team leaves
the whales to move spots.
CYRIL: With that point
that juts out here, looks good.
JOHN: Wow, check out that wave.
CYRIL: Think we got a system coming in.
NARRATOR: This spot has waves and whales.
CYRIL: That's beautiful.
NARRATOR: But no salmon.
CYRIL: We should have
gotten bit already, right?
JOHN: Yeah.
NARRATOR: So they move spots.
JOHN: So it's pretty difficult.
NARRATOR: Again.
And again.
And once more, they are faced
with the same mystery.
Where are the salmon?
CYRIL: Do you think that
most of the salmon
have already migrated up?
JOHN: Yeah, with the abundance
of fresh water
that we've had this year,
I believe that the salmon didn't
really stick around a whole lot.
Yeah, those fish have been around
for millions of years, right?
So they know when it's
the right time to go.
I think they smell their home.
CYRIL: Yeah, right.
JOHN: They all ... they go back
to the spot they were born.
NARRATOR: The team has already
fished some mountain rivers,
but they may not have gone
far enough upriver
to where the salmon are migrating.
They need to shift strategy yet again.
You wouldn't be late normally,
and this time of year
is still a good time,
but this year it was
an exceptional amount of rain
in the mountains.
It creates a big influx
of fresh water in the ocean,
and the salmon can sense that.
They know it's the suitable conditions for
them
to go upstream
to where they spawn.
So I think they're inland,
deeper inland in the mountains.
NARRATOR: It looks like the team
will have to venture
even farther upriver than before.
But since they're already out here,
Cyril wants to see what other
giant fish he can find.
A good way to check
on the health of the ecosystem.
Everything is totally connected
from the herring
and the needlefish and all
the way up to the killer whales.
Right?
All these game fish,
they all depend on the salmon.
All these people depend on the salmon.
It's everything to us people
who live here.
100%, yeah.
NARRATOR: They're headed
further out to sea
despite an incoming storm
to where large predator fish
might be lurking.
If they can find truly giant fish
that are known to feed on salmon,
that would be a sign that
there is still enough salmon
and other fish to sustain
the ecosystem here.
CYRIL:
Nice day for a little picnic.
-JOHN: Yeah.
-Hey, it beats, uh,
it beats a day at the office, right?
-(laughs)
-TERRY: Whoo-hoo.
JOHN: All right. I got to go.
-Cyril.
-CYRIL: Yeah.
-Excuse me.
-CYRIL: Careful out there, John.
NARRATOR: John needs to get
the anchor in the water
quickly to stabilize the boat.
It's an extremely risky maneuver
in this weather.
And the crew prepares
for anything,
including captain overboard.
GEOFF: What's the drill again
for if he goes overboard?
-CYRIL: Hook him with this.
-GEOFF: Yeah.
(laughs)
Holy cow.
I'm sure that everything here
depends on the salmon.
NARRATOR: To target predators
like the white sturgeon
that feed on salmon...
CYRIL: Send them down there.
NARRATOR: Cyril's using salmon
scraps as bait.
CYRIL: And see what kind of giant
is going to eat it.
NARRATOR: They're fishing in
200 feet of water.
And everyone on the boat is wondering,
are there giant predators down there?
♪♪
Nothing is touching it.
GEOFF: No, nothing.
NARRATOR: John gets another line ready
while the relentless waves
start taking a toll on the team.
GEOFF: Oh, this is miserable.
NARRATOR: Despite years
of experience on boats,
they're all looking a little green.
You look kind of like the salmon
that we found
the other day, remember?
Yeah. Yeah.
The ... The zombie salmon.
CYRIL: The zombie salmon.
Yeah, that one.
(laughter)
CYRIL: Having the eyes
in the viewfinder
in this condition is ...
is pretty rough.
Because you lose your sense
of where you are, right?
GEOFF: Yeah, and I'm going
to lose my breakfast.
(laughter)
JOHN: Hey, hey, there's one!
CYRIL: Okay, I got a big fish on, guys.
NARRATOR: Sick or not,
the team has to work.
Something's taken
Cyril's piece of salmon.
CYRIL: Yeah, we're on.
JOHN: Good job.
CYRIL: Here we go. Yeah.
(groans) It's a big fish.
JOHN: It looks like a pretty good one.
-Getting big head shakes?
-CYRIL: Yeah.
NARRATOR: With powerful head shakes
and serious weight,
there's definitely
something huge on the line.
CYRIL: (grunts) Strong fish, man.
JOHN: Oh, yeah.
CYRIL: (sighs)
NARRATOR: It's so big,
Cyril can barely move it,
and it's wearing him out.
CYRIL: You know,
it's a long way to the surface.
NARRATOR: But he can't let the team down,
so he keeps fighting.
(grunting)
CYRIL: Here we go. Yeah.
(grunts) It's a big fish.
NARRATOR: Cyril and the team
are out in the Northern Pacific
looking for giant predators
that feed on salmon,
just like the white sturgeon
that they're trying to protect.
-CYRIL: Strong fish, man.
-JOHN: Oh, yeah.
NARRATOR: And Cyril's got
something huge on his line.
CYRIL: I see it. It's coming up.
JOHN: There's your monster right there.
CYRIL: It's a giant halibut.
Now I understand why this fish
kicked my butt.
It's huge.
NARRATOR: Halibut are
bottom-dwelling flatfish
that can grow up to 450 pounds.
But the fish isn't ready
to give up the fight.
JOHN: Doing big head shakes?
CYRIL: Yeah.
Man, talk about a giant.
I want to see it, I want to show
the audience that,
you know, if the salmon go,
even those fish are gonna
get affected down the line.
NARRATOR: To bring the fish
safely onto the boat,
John has to use a rope.
CYRIL: I'll go around the back.
If I go overboard, guys,
throw me the bag.
MANU: Yeah.
Because I got to bring this thing
around the motors here.
NARRATOR: With the boat anchored,
if Cyril falls in,
the current could
pull him away quickly.
JOHN: Keep some tension on her.
-CYRIL: Yeah.
-JOHN: Come on, fish.
CYRIL: Everything I'm doing
right now is pretty dangerous.
But I really want to show you this fish.
JOHN: So we got to get her head started
a little bit and give her a tug.
CYRIL: Yeah, I'll wait for a wave.
-JOHN: Yeah.
-CYRIL: Okay.
Let's do it now.
-JOHN: Here she comes.
-CYRIL: Yeah.
(laughs) Unreal.
The size of this fish, man.
(sighs) You're ... You're the man.
Look at the size of this halibut.
This is also a fish
that depends on the salmon.
If the salmon go, this fish
will get affected, too.
This is a giant.
It's got to be close to 200 pounds,
200 pounds of halibut right now.
You know, these fish are born
with their eyes
on each side of the head,
just like a regular fish.
And then since they're flat,
since they're used to living
on the bottom there,
it's a transformation
that happens when they're small.
The eyes migrate to the top of the head
so they can basically be laying flat,
but they still have two ...
both eyes looking up,
at prey that pass over them.
Incredible creature.
Incredible giant.
-JOHN: Yeah, watch out.
-CYRIL: Yeah. Yeah.
JOHN: If it starts to get angry.
CYRIL: It could start flipping around
-and break your leg, right?
-JOHN: That's right.
CYRIL: I know, this is a powerful fish.
JOHN: There you go.
-There she goes. Whoo!
-CYRIL: Oh, my God!
Did you see that kick?
NARRATOR: After a tough day
on the high seas...
CYRIL: He kicked my butt.
NARRATOR: Cyril's ready for a break.
And he's not the only one.
GEOFF: I think I'm going to barf.
Yeah, here it comes.
(retches)
CYRIL: Oh, my rod, Geoff.
(laughter)
GEOFF: (groans)
It's better you let it out, right?
-GEOFF: Oh, yeah.
-CYRIL: It's...
I'm sure you feel
much better now, right?
-You know?
-GEOFF: In a minute.
CYRIL: In a minute.
See what the team has to
go through to get the fish?
They're warriors.
These guys are warriors.
-(exhales)
-CYRIL: Feel better?
-Yeah.
-CYRIL: Seriously though...
-GEOFF: Yeah, way better.
-CYRIL: It's the best thing
-is to let it out.
-GEOFF: Yeah.
Did I puke on my headphones?
(laughter)
NARRATOR: Luckily for the team,
it's time to head back.
The giant halibut was a good sign
that the ecosystem here is still healthy.
And John might be right.
Maybe the salmon have
moved farther upriver.
So the team will need to head
even deeper into
the rugged, cold mountains
where they have to be ready
for the worst-case scenario.
TERRY: (screaming)
CYRIL: Hey, guys.
GEOFF: Terry, you okay?
-CYRIL: What's happening?
-GEOFF: Terry, are you okay, man?
TERRY: I don't know,
I can't move my foot.
GEOFF: That was a pretty hard
fall there, Terry.
-TERRY: (groaning)
-GEOFF: Oh, man.
Okay, he's ... he's definitely breathing.
CYRIL: Where ... What ... What ...
Where are you hurting?
-TERRY: Everywhere, my leg.
-CYRIL: Any other pain?
-TERRY: I-I don't know.
-CYRIL: Can you move?
-TERRY: Ow!
-CYRIL: Can you move your legs?
-TERRY: Can't move my foot. Oh, no.
-GEOFF: I'm gonna check his leg here.
-TERRY: No, no. Don't move. No!
-GEOFF: Your leg.
I'm gonna to move this log, okay?
TERRY: (screams) (groans)
-CYRIL: Oh, yeah.
-GEOFF: Yup, you got...
CYRIL: That's a broken bone.
It's a broken bone.
-GEOFF: Broken bone.
-CYRIL: Yeah, open fracture.
But it's okay, man.
Terry, we're going to be all right, man.
You're going to be fine.
(sighs)
(screams)
-CYRIL: Move it.
-TERRY: (screaming)
GEOFF: Okay, whoa.
-TERRY: (screaming)
-GEOFF: You want me to do it, ready?
CYRIL: Yeah, yeah.
-Good actor, huh?
-GEOFF: He's really good.
-(laughter)
-RON: Okay, we're going to stop.
-GEOFF: Okay.
-RON: That's good.
Nice ... nice work.
Okay, way better than
the first time around, right?
-GEOFF: Okay, yeah.
-RON: Much better.
So when we walk in, we know
he's screaming even this time,
-like, you know, I can see that we're...
-CYRIL: Good job.
RON: It's stressful, right?
When we get here.
NARRATOR: Before embarking on
their most challenging journey yet,
the team takes the opportunity
to sharpen their survival skills
with instructor Ron Morrison.
RON: We start with
the respiratory system.
-What can kill you quicker?
-GEOFF: Not breathing.
-RON: Not breathing.
-CYRIL: Not breathing.
RON: Or loss of airway now. So...
NARRATOR: Ron has decades of
survival experience in the bush,
and he runs the team
through a series of simulations
that test their survival knowledge.
RON: We need to get a big picture,
especially where we are.
This isn't just a hold them still,
call 911 where you guys are
and let somebody else
come and check it out.
That takes too much time.
You need to find the bleed yourself.
-CYRIL: Yeah.
-GEOFF: Yeah.
-RON: For what we're doing.
-TERRY: I tell you one thing,
I do have a stick stuck
in the side of my ass.
(laughter)
GEOFF: Oh, good work.
NARRATOR: Every one of the group has years
of experience in wilderness survival,
but they're heading into
some extremely remote areas
where an injury can be life threatening
if not properly treated.
The idea here is to make a splint
so that we can get Terry out
without having to call for air ...
an air evac or anything like that
so we can get it mobile again.
NARRATOR: The team reviews many
different survival techniques,
such as creating a tarp stretcher
to carry someone with hypothermia.
RON: One, two, three.
NARRATOR: Because where they're going,
medical help will be hours,
if not days away.
CYRIL:
Pretty good, very efficient.
RON: Yeah, this is absolutely
a high-risk environment.
We're dealing with cold water.
We've got, you know,
the ruggedness of the terrain.
We're dealing with wild animals
that are out here,
potential for wounds, for hypothermia.
Everything out here
is going to be more complex
and harder to deal with than it would be
when we're just back in the cities.
-Thanks, buddy.
-Yeah.
-Take care.
-You saved my life one day.
Oh, hopefully you don't need it,
but if you do,
-it'll come in handy.
-TERRY: Thank you.
(indistinct conversations]
NARRATOR: Understanding
the danger awaiting them,
the team makes the long drive
farther into the mountains
than they've been before to try
to find the salmon far upriver
near their extremely remote
spawning grounds.
CYRIL: Mm, lot of country here.
Wow, look at that guy.
NARRATOR: Giants like the white sturgeon
need salmon for food.
And so far, the team has only caught one
of the three species they're after.
Their best chance to find them now
is in rivers
only accessible by raft.
So to help them start out,
the team is meeting two expert
local fishermen who are very familiar
with the perils of this environment.
-CYRIL: Jeroen.
-JEROEN: Hey, buddy.
CYRIL: How are you doing, man?
JEROEN: Welcome to the north.
CYRIL: Good to see you, man, finally.
-JEROEN: Finally.
-CYRIL: Brandon, how are you doing, man?
-Good to meet you, too.
-(speaks indistinctly)
Yeah, it's really cool.
NARRATOR: Jeroen and Brandon
have both fished
this massive wilderness for decades,
and they know the best spots for salmon.
-You're ready for the north?
-Yeah.
You know the north's
a dangerous place, right?
Everything here is trying to kill you.
You've got the mountain lions,
the wolves, the rapids,
the weather, got the bears.
We had some bear attacks
already this year.
-Grizzlies?
-Grizzlies, black bears.
So I want to make sure you guys
are ready and prepared.
We have bear bangers.
Show me.
CYRIL: So I have this kind here.
Okay.
(bang)
Okay.
There's no projectile,
just makes a big,
loud, uh, noise,
and I got this one, too.
But this one has a little bit
of a projectile.
(bang)
-That'll work?
-That should do it.
It's just to scare them off.
Yeah, that's the only thing
you want to do.
CYRIL: That's the last resort, though,
that and bear spray, yeah.
NARRATOR: But out here, Jeroen prefers
a different last resort.
Oh, man, you're not kidding.
That's not a bear banger.
12-gauge semi-automatic.
So when you get charged,
like your last defense,
then you have no other option.
NARRATOR: The team won't be
taking a rifle with them,
and Cyril's feeling a bit underprepared.
It's kind of hard
to compete with you, man.
Yeah, I know, size does matter.
(laughter)
Seriously.
I'll have to use this...
NARRATOR: Jeroen confirms what
the team has already witnessed.
The salmon stocks are
dramatically lower this year.
CYRIL: Not as many salmon
as there used to be?
Not as many salmon.
Yeah, it's definitely declining
in the last decade or so.
So, yeah, they definitely can
use all the help they can get.
That's why we're here.
NARRATOR: The team swaps out
Jeroen and Brandon's boats
for rafts which can access
the most remote
and rugged rivers
where the salmon are migrating.
They're heading to a secret
launching point deep in the mountains
where Jeroen says
he's seen massive salmon.
CYRIL: When was the last time
you came to this, uh, place?
JEROEN: It's a long time ago.
It's a special place.
I don't take anybody else here.
Only special people.
-(laughs)
-JEROEN: Special guys.
So I don't know how the road
is going to be.
But, uh, it's always a challenge
to get in there.
CYRIL: A challenge in what way?
Like, it's overgrown and stuff?
JEROEN: Yeah, it's ...
it's a deactivated road, right?
So it might be overgrown.
Um, you know, you never know
what you're going to find,
especially up here.
CYRIL: Oh, man, look there, bear.
Do you see it? There.
JEROEN: Oh, that's a big boy.
That was a big boy.
Yeah, it was a big bear, man.
JEROEN: Yeah.
NARRATOR: They finally get
to the turn-off,
and no one has been here
for quite some time.
CYRIL: Oh, you were pretty right
about the overgrown stuff too.
JEROEN: Yeah, yeah.
Not your average road.
CYRIL: I have a machete.
All right, you're clear.
Oh, man.
JEROEN: Yeah, it's getting
pretty tight in here.
I told you guys.
NARRATOR: The bush is so thick that Jeroen
turns on his headlights
to be able to see.
-CYRIL: Let me clear that tree there.
-JEROEN: Yeah.
NARRATOR: It's obvious that this spot
has been untouched for a long time.
CYRIL: You're clear.
NARRATOR: The road is almost impassable.
BRANDON: This is a real problem.
I don't think you're going to be
cutting through that one
with that machete, Cyril.
CYRIL: Definitely not, no.
NARRATOR: So there's a really good chance
they'll find the fish
they need to sample.
BRANDON: Think we could
squeeze through there now?
CYRIL: I think we're clear.
-Great job, man.
-BRANDON: Hey, thank you.
CYRIL: It's not the first,
uh, your first picnic.
BRANDON: Not my first rodeo here, no.
(laughter)
CYRIL: It's a lot of effort
to get to a fishing spot,
but I hope we catch fish now.
All right, let's do it.
NARRATOR: It's too late in the day
for the guys to head out on the rafts,
but there's still time for some fishing.
CYRIL: Oh, man.
BRANDON: Hey, Cyril,
this is a great spot here.
-CYRIL: You think it ... it's worth it?
-BRANDON: Absolutely.
-It's a good spot? We need those fish.
-Yeah, do what you can.
-Just watch those trees, eh?
-Yeah.
NARRATOR: The current here is fast,
and the trees overhang the water,
so Cyril has to improvise.
The technique I am about to use
is a little unconventional.
That's the least I can say.
You know, it's a ...
a sliding sinker on my main,
uh, running line, a, uh, swivel here,
then, uh, a piece of, uh,
25-pound fluorocarbon leader
and a ... a fly, a single hook fly
with no barb on it.
You know, the idea is that the ...
the sinker will bring the ...
the rig all the way to the bottom to ...
to where the fish are,
especially right now that the ...
the water level is really high.
That should, uh, that should get
the, uh, the fly
to where it needs to be,
which is at the bottom.
♪♪
♪♪
Fish. Fish, fish, fish, fish.
Big fish, big fish.
Ooh! Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. Serious fish here.
I gotta be careful.
This fish could very well pull me
if it goes into the current,
which is what it's doing right now.
Can't lose it.
Problem is that my options
to land this fish
are very, very, very limited.
There's nowhere on the shore
that I can ...
where I can possibly land this fish.
There's so much current, the water's level
is so high right now.
(reel unspooling rapidly)
Definitely too big to be a Coho.
Can only be a Chinook,
and it's got to be a big one.
It's a tank.
I'm gonna try to get this fish
away from the logjam there.
NARRATOR: Since there's nowhere
to land the fish downstream,
Cyril backtracks to make sure
the line doesn't snag on the fallen tree.
Oh. Oh, my.
Oh.
Big fish.
God, look at those head shakes,
that's a giant fish.
You guys, something's telling me
that this is a monster fish
because we haven't seen a jump.
Usually big fish, they stay down.
I have a feeling it's a giant.
Come, come here, little fish.
Okay, it's coming here,
it's coming here.
It's right here.
Oh, yeah. Hold on, oh, my God.
All right, look at the wake,
look at the wake.
Jeroen!
Jeroen!
I need the net, man.
I need the net, it's too big of a fish.
I can't land it.
Don't go anywhere, fish.
CYRIL: He's right here.
He's right here.
Don't go anywhere, fish.
Oh!
-Oh!
-JEROEN: Oh, yeah.
-Whoo-hoo!
-(laughter)
JEROEN: Awesome!
-GEOFF: That's a tank!
-JEROEN: Yeah, good fish.
CYRIL: Scoop him out,
scoop him out, scoop him up.
Come in, come in,
come in, come in.
JEROEN: Yep.
Scoop him up.
Oh, yeah!
Oh, my lord. Oh.
-BRANDON: We need a bigger net than this.
-Whoo!
Oh, look at the size
of this tank, man.
Look at the size of this fish.
Whoo-hoo!
-(laughter)
-CYRIL: That's a giant!
That's not the fish I wanted but,
man, that's a personal record.
Look at the size of this Chinook.
(sighs)
Oh, my God, look at that!
JEROEN: Keep it in the water.
(laughs) This is un ...
What, wait, help me,
help me with the net.
I can't, I can't even lift this fish!
(laughter) Seriously, guys.
That's not what we're looking for,
but, man, as a bycatch, I can take
a bycatch like this any day.
JEROEN:
Oh, my lord.
Go... (speaks indistinctly)
♪♪
CYRIL: Oh!
Oh, my God.
(laughter)
That was a giant fish, man.
Over 50 pounds, no?
Easy. Must have been 55, Cyril.
That fish was,
like, an unbelievable giant.
I couldn't get my hand
around its tail.
Seriously.
Unbelievable fish, Cyril.
That's the second biggest
salmon I've ever seen.
-CYRIL: Really?
-In all my years,
-that's the second biggest fish.
-Oh, my God.
Guys, thank you so much. Geoff.
Hey, man.
That was awesome.
CYRIL: Yeah, it's not the one
I wanted for science,
but that's the one I wanted
to put my hands, yeah.
-GEOFF: Yeah.
-CYRIL: That's the fish of a lifetime.
-Brandon...
-Nice catch, great job.
CYRIL: Thank you so much, man.
You guys, uh, you ...
you know your spots.
NARRATOR: Jeroen's spot has
turned out to be worth
all the effort it took to get here.
But with night quickly falling,
the team needs to set up camp
and make a fire
to keep the cold at bay.
All right, feels good, some fire, man.
Guys, we're going to be hot.
Just a few minutes.
NARRATOR: Ever the survivalist,
Terry breaks out his gear
to speed things along.
GEOFF: Superman breath strikes again.
NARRATOR: The team celebrates catching
the giant Chinook salmon.
It's not one of the three species
they need to sample for the biologist,
but it lifted everyone's
spirits just the same.
Jeroen and Brandon have been
fishing these waters for many years.
Having witnessed firsthand
the steady decline
of the salmon and white
sturgeon populations,
they want to be part of
the fight to save these fish.
BRANDON: I was born in British Columbia
and, like, brought up fishing,
going out with my dad
down in the Fraser Valley.
We'd catch him lots of fish.
-And it's gone?
-And it just went boom.
It's very, very important,
not for me, not for you,
not for Brandon,
but also for my kids and their kids.
They have a healthy fishery.
They can enjoy the same things
we are doing right now.
You know, we can't keep
going on forever like this.
And then there's nothing left,
we can't eat money.
That's exactly it.
They're cutting trees down for ...
for money,
or depleting the oceans for money,
or over-exploiting the resources
in general for money.
It's the short-term profit making
that kills it all.
JEROEN: Yeah.
CYRIL: But I'm going to try to help them
as much as I possibly can
by helping the scientist.
And in order for me to do that,
we need to catch some fish.
Cheers to that, guys.
-Cheers.
-Thanks a lot.
♪♪
Here we go for another day.
-Did you sleep?
-GEOFF: Well...
-(laughter)
-Did you sleep?
CYRIL: Yes.
NARRATOR: The next morning, the team is
off to try the river near the camp again
to hopefully catch one of
the two salmon species
they still need before
they head out on the raft.
♪♪
♪♪
CYRIL: Oh, got something.
BRANDON: Pikeminnow.
CYRIL: Yeah, it's a pikeminnow.
BRANDON: Very aggressive fish.
CYRIL: Yeah, it hit hard.
Nice fish, but it's not
what I'm looking for.
See you, buddy.
NARRATOR: There are
definitely fish around.
And today, the team is confident
they will find the chum
and pink salmon they're after.
(reel unspooling rapidly)
CYRIL: Here we go.
Oh, I think it's a steelhead.
Wow, the jump.
Wow.
(grunting)
♪♪
Might not be what we're looking for,
but, uh, it's a beautiful fish.
All right.
Wow.
(grunts) It's a steelhead.
Ooh!
My legs.
It went through my legs.
(grunts)
(laughs)
(sighs)
It went right in between my legs.
Beautiful steelhead.
Tanya doesn't need any samples
on these fish,
but, man, that's a beautiful catch.
They're migratory rainbow trout.
They go back and forth to the ocean.
They can do that multiple
times in their lives.
There you go, buddy.
They're incredible fish.
NARRATOR: This area has
delivered some nice fish,
but none were the right species.
So it's time to head out on the rafts.
But first, Jeroen wants
to share a coffee
and some words of warning with Cyril.
JEROEN: Oh, yeah.
This is good, this is good to go.
Fresh coffee on a cold day
like today, it's hard to beat.
-Thank you very much.
-JEROEN: Cheers.
Beautiful day in paradise.
If you're an adventurer,
I guess you can call this paradise.
-JEROEN: Yeah.
-(laughter)
NARRATOR: This sprawling paradise
is home to some land predators
that the team needs to watch out for.
JEROEN: And this is the time you're gonna
have lot of bear encounters.
So you have to be really
cautious and really careful.
Have you ever, uh, gotten charged?
-JEROEN: Oh, yeah, yeah.
-Really?
JEROEN: Similar day like today,
this time of the year
when all the salmon are running,
spawning and dying,
I was fishing for steelheads
and I could hear the sounds.
(bellowing)
I wasn't sure if it was
a moose or a bear.
Walked upstream
and there's this kind of little,
little creek
coming back in the river, right?
And it was full of sa...
of spawning, uh, sockeye.
And I noticed this grizzly bear
and I was, like, filming.
I have it on my cellphone.
It's probably four-year-old, like, boar,
and as soon as it noticed me,
checked me out,
stand on the back legs,
and basically did a charge,
like a false charge.
And I was running like ...
like Usain Bolt.
I was running for my life.
(growling)
Luckily it was a false charge.
If it was a real charge,
I wouldn't be sitting here
talking to you right now.
CYRIL: Because he stopped.
JEROEN: Yeah, it stopped.
NARRATOR: Cyril and the team know
what it's like
to be charged by wild animals.
In Africa, they were almost
crushed by charging elephants.
CYRIL: Run!
NARRATOR: Out here, bears
aren't used to human beings
and can perceive them as competition
for their food sources.
MAN: Stay back, bear.
NARRATOR: Which they defend violently.
(man screaming)
When you guys go and do this by your own,
and walk down the river
and through the woods, be careful.
This is the north,
this is a dangerous place.
Yeah.
CYRIL: Yeah.
GEOFF: Hey, guys. Good luck!
-Yeah.
-CYRIL: Thanks a lot, man.
NARRATOR: The time has come
for the team to head out on their own.
-Just relax.
-GEOFF: I will.
If you panic,
you're gonna (bleep) up, right?
-GEOFF: Right.
-CYRIL: Thanks, Brandon.
NARRATOR: On a very dangerous journey.
-GEOFF: All right.
-Nice knowing you.
(laughter)
NARRATOR: With all the rain, the rivers
are much higher than usual
and could easily flip their raft.
Last week, the team sharpened
their swift water survival
skills with the squad
at Terrace Water Rescue.
CYRIL: Oh!
NARRATOR: The frigid, extremely fast
waters here are a constant danger.
MAN: One, two, three, go!
NARRATOR: So they practiced
many survival drills,
including how to cross
fast water as a group.
CYRIL: I got you, I got you.
NARRATOR: And what to do if your
waders start to fill with water,
which is to immediately
raise your feet to the surface,
trapping air inside your boots
so they can't pull you down.
Tragically, every year,
even experienced fishermen
lose their lives to the river.
CYRIL: Watch your leg, Terry, man.
Watch your leg.
Don't push it too hard.
NARRATOR: As they get
closer to the water...
-CYRIL: Oh, man, it's ripping.
-GEOFF: It's really ripping.
He needs to vent some anxiety.
NARRATOR: Terry kicks into
survivalist mode.
Better the tree than me.
-NARRATOR: High gear.
-CHRIS: Nice.
Always secure your knives.
Let's go.
Your foot is about to trip.
I'll just walk right around here.
No, there's a log there, buddy.
Step over it.
I'm holding it, you can go.
CYRIL: We love each other
with our Terry.
We've known each other
for a long time, you know.
I don't know why I hired him again.
-TERRY: You know why?
-CYRIL: Yeah?
Because I found a rock that writes.
Seriously, guys,
this is a serious thing.
If we get separated, you can
leave arrows on a path on a rock.
So this is important to have
in your pocket.
It is a rock that allows you
to write a message.
MANU: Oh, no.
CYRIL: Uh, I think I know
where you're going with.
G.F.Y.
Which does not mean
"good for you."
(laughter)
CYRIL: 'Cause I ...
I would just remind you guys
that we're about to get into
this massive rapid there.
GEOFF: I think that's why
we're procrastinating.
CYRIL: I-I think
that's why we keep talking,
'cause no one really
wants to get in there.
-GEOFF: That's fast water.
-CYRIL: It is.
NARRATOR: The team is about to set out
on a very serious river
littered with potentially
deadly obstacles.
And one waits just ahead.
CYRIL: So the idea here
is that we have a ...
a big bend in the river
coming up right there.
That's the only place
where we could put the boats,
get the boats down to the river.
But the problem is that we ...
yeah, we don't have enough time
to actually maneuver the boat.
And this is a big boat.
It's got a lot of weight to it.
So we're going to have to
maneuver the boat quick enough
so we don't get dragged into
the, uh, the bend there.
NARRATOR: The team will be
split up on two rafts.
The big raft that carries
all the gear and supplies.
-I'll follow your line.
-CYRIL: Yeah.
If we don't make it,
I'll do something different.
CYRIL: Yeah, do something else.
NARRATOR: And a smaller,
more maneuverable scouting raft
manned by Cyril and Chris
that will go first.
Okay, guys, you're good?
You're comfortable there?
CHRIS: Yup.
Let's go.
♪♪
Okay, obstacle coming up.
NARRATOR: Cyril has to squeeze
through a gap
between a fallen tree
and the rocky shoreline
as his team watches anxiously.
GEOFF: Oh, man.
They're going to slam into the rocks.
CYRIL: Hang on, Chris,
I think being in the current
is probably the safest lane right now.
Whoo!
Hang on.
♪♪
♪♪
Okay, we made it.
GEOFF: Be positive, guys.
-Let's go.
-Stay positive, we'll do this.
-TERRY: Ready?
-I am, I am.
Don't worry.
-I trust you.
-TERRY: Let's go.
GEOFF: All right, let's do it.
NARRATOR: Now, it's the big raft's turn.
GEOFF: Yeah, this raft is pretty heavy.
NARRATOR: It's much heavier
and less nimble.
TERRY: Well, this is nice, buddy.
You're doing it.
NARRATOR: But Geoff does his
best to follow Cyril's line.
-TERRY: Hard right. Hard right.
-(bleep)
TERRY: Okay.
-Terry, you're freaking me out.
-TERRY: Take it back.
Left, left.
Doing good, buddy.
Perfect, the perfect line.
Good job, buddy. Nice.
Unreal.
This is what came down
the river with the rains.
This is new, came down
from their last rain.
You can see the old stuff.
That's a quite a logjam.
Telling you, when there's
a lot of rain here,
comes down really heavy
and the rivers swell
like a ... super-fast.
You definitely don't want to be camping
on the shore of the river.
NARRATOR: The river suddenly narrows
and starts to get really rough.
CYRIL: Watch out, guys!
-Sweeper!
-GEOFF: Oh, (bleep)
There's, uh, a sweeper coming up.
NARRATOR: When whitewater rafting,
one of the most
dangerous obstacles in the water
are fallen trees called sweepers,
and the current is dragging
Geoff's raft toward a big one.
GEOFF: Okay, boys, hang on.
Hang on.
That would have sucked.
That would have not been good.
CYRIL: Good job, man, good job.
-TERRY: That was great, buddy.
-Wow.
NARRATOR: The day progresses
as they make their way down river
past several tributaries,
looking for a good spot for salmon.
But an hour later, the river
gets a little intense.
I don't know what's around
the corner there. I can't see.
Chris, you want
to fly the drone?
-GEOFF: The drone, no?
-CHRIS: Yeah, drone!
Can't really see what's, uh,
around the corner over there,
so we're going to send
a drone up in the air
to see if there's any
bad rapids over there.
-You're ready, Chris?
-CHRIS: Yeah.
NARRATOR: It's a risky maneuver.
The team has already crashed this drone
once before in the Fraser River.
CHRIS: Whoa, it's going down.
It's going down.
(groans)
There we go.
NARRATOR: But it's a small risk
when compared
to the safety of the team.
CYRIL: We could kill ourselves here.
We don't really know
what's around the corner there.
For all I know it,
it might be a drop, falls.
GEOFF: That looks ... that looks doable.
-CYRIL: It ... it is.
-GEOFF: Here looks doable.
TERRY: It is, yeah.
GEOFF: It's above that looks
a little sketchy.
CYRIL: Think we're good.
Okay, there's no rapids.
-It's clear.
-CHRIS: Okay, I'm coming back.
CYRIL: Yeah, yeah. We need a drone
as a scouting device.
-It's perfect for this.
-CHRIS: Yeah.
-TERRY: Okay, grab it.
-CYRIL: Whoo-hoo!
All right. Nice flight, man.
-CHRIS: Looking all right.
-CYRIL: Nice flight.
♪♪
NARRATOR: The team makes it
to the mouth of a wider,
calmer tributary of the main river,
and they beach the rafts
to try some fishing.
So far, they've managed to catch
and sample
a Coho salmon
for Doctor Brown's research,
but they still need samples
from both pink and chum salmon.
But they may have arrived too late.
CYRIL: Oh, man.
Look at all these dead fish.
NARRATOR: What they find
is a macabre graveyard.
♪♪
The shoreline is littered with
the rotting corpses of pink salmon.
CYRIL: This is totally unreal.
NARRATOR: The salmon's long
journey from the sea
to their spawning ground
is their last voyage,
because once they've spawned,
their bodies begin decomposing
and they never live
to see their offspring.
TERRY: Hey, check this out.
-GEOFF: This is a grizzly print?
-TERRY: Yeah.
GEOFF: You got the palm.
-CYRIL: That's for sure a grizzly.
-GEOFF: Yeah.
CYRIL: And not ... not a small one, too.
NARRATOR: The massive
accumulation of dead fish
has attracted every
large carnivore for miles.
TERRY: A lot of it's walking that way.
CYRIL: Well, except for this one.
TERRY: Except for this one
walking this way.
GEOFF: Well, there may not
be any humans around,
but we're definitely not alone.
So I want to keep the bear bangers ready,
keep it accessible
and not tucked away in here,
you know, stashed away into your pocket.
NARRATOR: Not only does this
make it dangerous for the team.
CYRIL: Keep making noise, guys.
NARRATOR: But it might mean
they're too late
after such a big spawning event
to find a healthy fish to sample.
CYRIL: Oh, look, look over there.
GEOFF: And it's a grizzly.
It's going away from us, though.
But, uh, keep your eyes open, guys.
CYRIL: Oh, wow.
Look at that.
That's, uh, that's
definitely a grizzly.
You see?
Those are the claws, here.
A black bear would be way closer,
the claws would be way closer
to the, uh, to the fingers.
I mean, look at the size of that
thing compared to my hand,
and it's not even, uh ...
that's not even a giant.
(rustling)
GEOFF: What's that?
CYRIL: What do you mean, what's that?
Oh.
Watch out, watch out,
watch out, watch out.
Back up, back up, back up.
Back up, guys.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-(bang)
-(bear growls)
Back up, don't stay here.
Seriously, it could come
charging full speed.
Terry, let's go, let's go, man.
Let's go. Keep going.
Come on, move, move.
Terry!
Terry! Move, man!
-Get moving.
-GEOFF: Let's go.
CYRIL: You've got your bear bangers?
-MANU: I got it.
-CYRIL: Yeah?
CHRIS: Mine's here.
-GEOFF: He sounded big.
-CHRIS: It's big.
CYRIL: Yeah, it's ... it's big.
♪♪
♪♪
It's probably gone now.
(sighs)
Ooh.
GEOFF: How's your heart?
-Pumping good?
-CYRIL: Yeah, it's pumping.
(laughs) It's pumping for sure.
Manu, you all right?
Did you have your earphones?
Were they, uh...
Yeah, you deafened Manu.
Yeah, it was hard on the ears.
Let's go.
NARRATOR: With all the predators around,
the team wants to get out of there,
but they can't afford
another wasted day.
They need salmon samples,
so they press onward.
CYRIL: Keep an eye out for bears, guys.
NARRATOR: And after days of
searching the ocean and rivers,
navigating freezing rapids,
and avoiding hungry bears...
GEOFF: There's a bear in there.
(bang)
NARRATOR: Cyril and the team
finally find what they're looking for.
CYRIL: Here they are, finally.
NARRATOR: There are
hundreds of pink salmon.
They've begun to decay
after having spawned.
But some still look
fresh enough for sampling.
CYRIL: Look at that, this is amazing.
These fish are so resilient.
Slowly rotting alive.
And yet they have their heads
in the current,
they're fighting the current,
and they're not giving up.
Their entire lives
are dedicated to this.
They ... They're born here in this
river, they go to the ocean,
and then they come back
a few years after to spawn
and then die.
The entire food web depends on 'em.
They feed the birds,
they feed the eagles,
they feed the bears,
the wolves, everything.
Even the forest. Even the trees.
And yet, because of
commercial overfishing,
their stocks are plummeting,
like, going like this.
Can't let that happen.
NARRATOR:
In such advanced states of decay,
the fish usually stop eating.
So even with this abundance,
a bite is far from guaranteed.
CYRIL: Yep, fish.
It's a little pink.
Looks like we're going to get
our samples after all, guys.
Oh, no.
Got off.
Keep an eye out for bears, guys.
We need those samples.
♪♪
Ooh, fish on.
That's a good fish.
Yeah, I think it's a pink...
Yes, it is a pink.
NARRATOR: This might be the last chance
Cyril has to get the samples.
He can't afford to lose this fish.
CYRIL: I don't want to lose it.
It looks like a good fish to sample.
I think I saw a big hump on the ...
on it's back, a male pink salmon.
That's what we want.
♪♪
♪♪
Oh, my God, look at this fish.
A pink salmon, the smallest
of all North American salmon species
and yet the most abundant.
This is a male.
You can see that ...
that big hump on the back
and, uh, those teeth and the hook jaw
tells me it's a male.
This fish has already spawned
and it's going to die.
I can tell.
Look at the, uh,
the dorsal fin is ... is decaying.
And I see in the back here,
there's fungus already.
Soon going to be dead,
so I'm going to keep it
for Tanya's research.
GEOFF: All right, fin clipping.
NARRATOR: Finally,
the team can get to work
on their sampling protocols
for the pink salmon.
Okay, so we got the fin clipped.
-Yeah.
-So now it's surgery time.
The data that Doctor Brown
can extract from these samples
taken deep in the wilderness
will help her better understand
and protect the species.
GEOFF: Okay, it's done.
-Let's get it in the dry shipper.
-CYRIL: All right.
NARRATOR: And if the salmon survive,
the animals that feed on them,
like the white sturgeon
will have a better chance
of survival, too.
They now have samples
from Coho and pink salmon.
But they still need samples
from chum salmon
to fully complete their mission.
-Good job.
-Yeah, good job.
Good job, man.
Just one more fish to go.
But with less than a week left on the dry
shipper, their quest is far from over.