Wicked Tuna: North vs. South (2014–…): Season 1, Episode 9 - Tick Tock Tuna - full transcript
With the quota nearly filled, the captains and crews must brave treacherous conditions in North Carolina's Outer Banks to fight for final paychecks before the bluefin tuna season ends.
NARRATOR: On this episode of
Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks...
BANKS MEREDITH: These are the moments
we live for right here.
NARRATOR: With the bluefin season
threatening to close at any moment...
TYLER MCLAUGHLIN:
The quota's about to close.
It's time for us to shine and get a bite.
NARRATOR: ...it's a race against time...
-TJ OTT: I am trying.
-TIM OTT: You're not trying hard enough.
NARRATOR: ...and each other.
TYLER: We're comin' for you, Wahoo.
GREG MAYER: Hey, Reed, we've got 'em on.
REED MEREDITH: (bleep) you, buddy.
NARRATOR: Until the last fish is caught.
GREG: Swing to the left.
PAUL HEBERT: Holy crap!
He's a big bastard!
NARRATOR: In a highly regulated fishery
that's trying to stay sustainable.
-JARRETT PRZYBYSZEWSKI: We're on!
-TIM (off screen): We're on!
NARRATOR: Every bluefin caught
takes a bite out of the quota.
BRITTON SHACKELFORD:
Come on, Caine, we need it, baby.
NARRATOR:
And every fisherman has to battle...
PAUL: Wow, dude!
NARRATOR: ...for his fair share.
JAY MUENZNER: We're on, baby!
-JARRETT: Yeah!
-(laughter)
NARRATOR: This is
Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks.
At the start of day 19
less than a quarter of the quota
is left to catch.
Southern vessel Wahoo
dominates the fleet,
but Pin Wheel and Fishin' Frenzy
are hot on their trail.
Meanwhile Hot Tuna and Doghouse
struggle to remain afloat.
REED: Okay, see it go out.
The stick is fishing.
Right now we're the number one boat
in the fleet
and that's the way we wanna keep it.
BANKS: We've got our stick fishin',
we can go ahead
and get a few ballyhoos out.
Make 'em seem like
they're still alive and swimming.
REED: With the quota coming to a close
that means our fishing
could be over instantly.
That one announcement
from the government over the radio
that puts an end
to every fisherman's livelihood
for a matter of months.
When they say it's done
you can't land anymore.
So we have to make the most
of the next few days.
BANKS (off screen):
And lookin' pretty good.
We're fishing.
There you have it.
Ooh, what was that?
I think it's a porpoise.
REED (off screen): Mammals.
Little place of two-tones here.
I'd definitely say the table is set.
Getting closer.
When we're fishing and we spot pods
of the two-tone dolphins
we know that tunas
usually travel directly under 'em.
The tunas like to use the dolphin
as fishfinders for bait.
Now this is information
that was handed down to us
from our father that was
handed down from his father.
Find the mammals, tunas are close by.
BANKS (off screen): Hey, guys!
Can y'all find a tuna
and bring 'em up to us?
Come on, we need a bite.
REED: They are busting right between us.
Oh, God, those are tunas.
Holy (bleep), tunas,
big bunch of tunas.
This guy's got his sights on 'em.
(bleep) you, buddy.
(monitor beeping)
We found the dolphin,
and just like we planned
they took us to the tunas.
We're now seeing 'em. We're marking 'em.
It's extremely crucial
that we capitalize on this.
REED:
Combat.
Move.
(beeping continues)
Look at the wolf pack under us.
Hell of a mark right here, buddy.
Big bait ball.
BANKS (off screen): They are knocking
those fish up in the air.
Whoo! Nice.
(beeping continues)
REED: There it was, on the rod.
Just missed him on that rod.
(beeping continues)
BANKS: Got him on.
Oh, yeah, we're going here.
REED (off screen): We're on.
Woo-hoo! Hot bite!
REED: Now we're on.
We hooked up out here.
PAUL: Listen. Here.
REED (over radio):
We'll see how this goes.
PAUL: We keep an eye
on the Frenzy and the Wahoo.
They're amazing tuna fishermen.
TYLER: I hear a lot of yelling
on the radio.
There's a lot of bites going on.
The quota's about to close,
so it's time for us
to shine and get a bite.
We're the number two boat in the fleet
right behind the Wahoo.
You know, they took the number one spot
from us a few days ago
and I'm gonna do
whatever it takes to take it back.
I just wanna get in on the action.
BANKS: Big boy, this bitch is screaming.
Damn, dude, take the boat
out of gear and get the stick in.
This thing is peeling line off.
REED: It might cut the stick off.
BANKS: Holy (bleep).
I'm almost down to the back end, dude.
REED (off screen):
All right, give me a polyball.
This fish is ripping line off the reel
so fast we can barely stop him.
We have virtually
no time left in the season.
It's really a race against the clock.
BANKS: Nice fish.
Went right by
one of the bait balls, hooked up.
-(line snaps)
-Pulled the hook right then.
(bleep).
Son of a bitch.
REED: (bleep).
BANKS (off screen): Heartbreaker, man.
Big, big fish.
Reed and I both have families to support.
We don't have much time to do it.
The quota's almost caught up.
This is not the time to be losing fish.
REED: (bleep).
That sucks.
(monitor beeping)
-GREG: Here's a mark.
-NICK GOWITZKA: Here they come, down sea.
-It's coming right at us.
-GREG (off screen): Big mark right here.
-NICK: Hey, look. Oh, got 'em!
-GREG: I see 'em.
In this bluefin fishery,
one season can make or break you.
NICK: Look at 'em all right here, close.
GREG: If you don't produce
you could lose your boat,
you could lose your house.
We've got to do whatever
we have to do to catch fish
before we get the call
that the season's over.
-Look at 'em. There you go.
-NICK (off screen): Oh, wow.
GREG (off screen):
There's big ones here, too.
NICK: Look at all...
Like back here, all the way over there.
-(beeping continues)
-Sweet dude.
GREG (off screen): Look at 'em.
There you go.
NICK (off screen): Oh, wow.
(beeping continues)
Come on, baby!
There he is, there he is!
GREG (off screen):
Oh, there he is! There he is!
NICK: Long rigger.
There we go.
GREG: Nice! Very nice.
Hey, Reed, we've got 'em on!
(laughs)
REED: (bleep) A.
BANKS (off screen): Greg?
GREG: How about it? We look okay?
NICK: We look okay.
Just come down and get your rigs in.
Taking a lot of line.
We got plenty of it though.
GREG: We've got our eighth fish
of the season on the rod.
Right now we're the number three boat.
The top boats
have all caught the same number of fish.
There's only a few thousand dollars
separating us.
It's anybody's game right now,
and I want it to be mine.
NICK: Just gonna take our time
and keep the line tight.
Cross our fingers.
Hope everything goes according.
GREG: This could be our big day here.
Could be ten grand,
you'd never even know.
How about it? Okay?
-NICK: I got it.
-GREG: Cool.
Got the mono coming on the reel now.
GREG (off screen): We got a fish on here.
He's straight up and down.
He's fairly close.
NICK: I'm getting my eyeball on him.
GREG: I see him now.
I got color on him right now.
NICK (off screen): Coming up.
Steady, steady, steady.
GREG: Swing it to the left.
Swing to the left. Swing to the left.
Left, left, left, left, left.
There you go, that's it. Perfect. Perfect.
You're good, keep going.
This is the one we need to go home with.
Swing to the left.
There you go.
NICK (off screen): I got him!
He's feeling drag now.
He didn't like that harpoon.
Thanks for playing!
GREG (off screen): We ain't got him yet.
NICK: Your rules my game though!
(laughs)
Get your gaff. Right there.
GREG: Okay.
Get the other gaff for the tail.
NICK: I'm gonna walk forward.
You come right between me and the rod.
Oh, watch his tail, watch his tail.
-GREG: What's that?
-NICK: I got him again.
GREG: Come on, baby.
NICK: Okay, butterball.
That's how you do it!
GREG: Yeah, we got him!
NICK: That's my ticket home right there.
Lunch on the mainland!
GREG: When we get the call
that the bluefin season's over, that's it.
That's your pink slip.
Every day we go fishing can be our last.
NICK: Ready?
One, two, three, go!
-That's a real one.
-GREG: That's a real one.
NICK: He looks good, man.
Good-looking fish.
GREG (off screen): Nice 82 incher.
NICK: 82 incher, Cap!
Pretty, pretty.
GREG: We're one fish closer
to the Wahoo and the Pin Wheel.
I know they're feeling the pressure,
and I'm going to keep it on.
(laughing)
NICK: Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am.
GREG (over radio): Thanks for playing.
TYLER: (bleep) Greg.
(bleep) that Frenzy.
This sucks.
He probably just
passed us on the leaderboard.
PAUL: Greg was to the north of the 700
and we're kinda close to that.
That's where he got his bite.
Well, the thing is, with Greg is
he's hungry like this all the time.
You know what I mean?
TYLER: Oh, yeah. And we're not?
-You and I aren't like that?
-PAUL: No, that's how he is.
TYLER: I take a lot of pride
in my fishing.
It's what makes me as a man.
If I don't put any fish across the dock
then I'm just a joke.
That dismal season I had up in Gloucester
was the worst thing
that ever happened to me.
My pride's in the tubes.
And I'm not only down here fishing
to smoke the other boats
fishing around me,
I'm down here for my own personal pride.
That's why I'm gonna work hard,
I'm not gonna let anything
get in my way from stopping me
from taking the top spot.
Dude, the competition just picked up.
PAUL (off screen): I know.
We can't go in without a tuna fish.
TYLER (off screen): We can get 'em.
GREG: We could very easily
be caught up right now.
NICK (off screen): I think I see
the old Hot Tuna right over there.
NICK:
He's on the low end of the whole fleet.
Expect to compete with the boys
that are born and raised here
and do this every day?
You ain't gonna come up with much.
There's the Cold Tuna.
That's the only tuna
he's gonna see today
is a cold tuna fish sandwich.
(laughs)
NICK:
Get you some of this, Gloucesterman!
TJ: How about you,
Hard Merch, you on here, Dave?
DAVE MARCIANO: Yeah, go ahead, TJ.
TJ: How you making out this morning?
MARCIANO (over radio):
Just a little while ago
we had our first couple of marks
for the day and that's been it.
TJ (over radio): Yeah, we just got
a few scattered bites, you know,
but nothing for us.
MARCIANO: TJ and I
are both in the same boat.
We've got to do a lot better
and we don't have a lot of time to do it.
We're all trying to get as much as we can
before this thing is over.
TJ (over radio):
Yeah, we gotta get moving, man,
and hopefully get on the meat.
MARCIANO: Yeah,
I'm gonna keep my eyes open
and see if we can circle 'em up.
TJ: All right, Dave, good luck.
MARCIANO: Standing by.
TJ: Standing by.
TIM (off screen): What, you got us
riding around in circles here aimlessly?
TJ: You gotta put it in a circle
to get a bite, don't you?
TIM: Well, put in a good circle.
(scoffs)
TJ: When I'm catching fish
Dad is definitely a ballbuster.
I am trying.
TIM: You're not trying hard enough.
TJ: When I'm not catching fish
he's even more of a ballbuster.
What do you want me to do?
TIM (off screen): Put us on some meat.
TJ: We've only caught three fish so far.
We're second to last
and it's a terrible feeling.
TIM: This sucks, Jarrett.
TJ: Ultimate ballbuster.
There's only about 20%
of the quota left,
which is the equivalent of about 40 fish.
Time is of the essence right now.
Anytime you have a slow day
that could be your last chance
of catching a fish
which makes the fishing
that much more tense.
(monitor beeping)
Oh, (bleep), here's a mark, jig it.
-TIM: Marking?
-TJ (off screen): Marking.
Holy (bleep).
TIM (off screen): Come on, Jarrett,
we need a bite.
JARRETT: I know, man.
TJ: Real good marks right there.
Fish from 200 up to 50 foot.
That's definitely a pack
of nice bluefins right there.
Big school of fish.
JARRETT: There they are.
They're right here, TJ.
-TJ (off screen): See 'em?
-JARRETT (off screen): Yup.
TIM (off screen): Good eyes, Jarrett.
The birds are getting
on 'em now, yeah.
See 'em?
(bleep). This is sick.
TJ: Lot of birds a lot of fish
jumping out of the water.
Everything you want to see.
I mean, this is the mother lode.
JARRETT (off screen):
There's a (bleep) school of 'em.
(laughs) Oh, my God.
TIM (off screen): Just keep sweeping it.
TJ: Just watch the rig doesn't go
over the outriggers and (bleep).
TIM: I'm watching.
JARRETT (off screen): There you go.
TIM (off screen): That's it.
Wow! Look at 'em pushing
the bait out of the water.
-JARRETT: Yeah!
-(laughter)
-Come on!
-TIM (off screen): Come on, big boys!
(monitor beeping)
Look at this.
Right here.
-(reel unspooling)
-JARRETT: We're on!
Oh, my God!
TIM (off screen): Wow! Look at 'em
pushing the bait out of the water!
-JARRETT: Yeah!
-(laughter)
TIM (off screen): Come on, big boys.
(monitor beeping)
Look at this.
Right here.
(reel unspooling)
JARRETT: We're on!
TIM: We're on, we're on!
Oh, my God.
That was (bleep) awesome.
JARRETT (off screen): Yeah, dude.
TIM (off screen): It's a tuna!
It took off pretty good.
JARRETT: You feel pulling 'em
pretty good, man.
He's like digging down, going on around.
He's on top, going down.
Feels pretty (bleep) heavy.
TJ: This one we need.
This is the one, man.
We desperately need this fish
on the Hot Tuna right now.
This is huge.
JARRETT: Look at 'em
jumping over there, dude.
Oh, my God.
TIM (off screen): Oh, my God!
JARRETT (off screen): They're blowing
all over the place.
TIM: TJ, you see the size of that school?
JARRETT (off screen):
He might not be on here anymore.
TJ: Huh?
JARRETT: He might not be on here anymore.
TIM (off screen): Really?
JARRETT: I mean,
I don't really feel a whole lot.
TJ: He's gone?
JARRETT: I see
all the squids still bouncing.
TIM (off screen): What?
JARRETT: I said I can see
all the drops still bouncing on top.
-TJ (off screen): Yeah.
-TIM (off screen): Drop 'em off.
JARRETT: It's gone, it's gone.
TJ: God damn it.
This is devastating.
We really needed that one.
Not only are we running out of time
but we're running out of fish.
I'll be inside.
Let me know
when they're pushing up, all right?
JARRETT: Yup.
TJ: I definitely feel at times
that I'm letting Dad and Jarrett down.
They're looking at me for the decisions.
They're looking at me to kinda
put the boat in the right position
so that they can catch the fish.
These guys are
relying on me for a paycheck
and I'm not providing it.
BRITTON: The season's closing down
and we've opted to go to church today.
I'm sure some of the members
of the fleet think that
I've lost my mind not to go fishing
but I'm just a solid ball of stress.
So I made a conscious decision
to go to church
and get myself back where I need to be.
CONGREGATION: Thanks be to God.
REVEREND: Amen.
BRITTON: It's difficult not to go fishing
but I have a tendency to put
a lot of pressure on myself to produce
and having faith allows me
sometimes to get out of that.
REVEREND: Let us pray.
Dear Lord, as we gather
here on this day we ask You
be with the fishermen
and all the work that is being done here
and also up and down the coast.
In the name of Jesus we pray.
Amen.
BRITTON: Taking the time off
to go to church
to set an example for my children
and to show my wife
that I have faith that God's gonna provide
is more important than anything.
(indistinct chatter)
And sometimes you perform much better
when you're singularly focused.
GREG: We just caught
our eighth fish of the season,
and that's putting us closer to the top.
We're jacked up.
There's been a lot of fish
caught here in the last week
and we don't have a very big quota anyway.
So it's getting down to the wire.
LUCAS: Yeah, good job, guys.
You guys have already killed a quarter
of the quota yourself.
GREG: We got our own little
Frenzy quota working.
LUCAS: Yeah. Let's see how it looks.
GREG (off screen): Nice shape.
-NICK (off screen): Hey, girls.
-CHRISSY (off screen): Hey.
NICK: How y'all doing?
Come down to see daddy?
-Huh?
-CHRISSY: Yeah.
See your fish.
NICK: We did good.
-See the fish?
-GWEN: Mm-hmm.
NICK: I mean, I don't do this for fun.
I do it to support my family.
I need to make every dime
this winter that I can
so I can provide for my girls.
-I'll see y'all back at the house.
-CHRISSY: Okay.
NICK: Let daddy get
his fish off the boat, okay?
-CHRISSY: Okay.
-GWEN: Okay.
LUCAS: All right,
let's see what she weighs.
249 pounds dressed.
BOTH: Yeah!
LUCAS: All right. See how you did.
Here we go.
NICK (off screen):
Tale of the tape looks good.
Looks good from here.
GREG: It does look clear, doesn't it?
LUCAS: It's got plenty of fat.
Tail color's nice.
The core's just a little bit lighter.
Still pretty decent fish.
BUBBA (off screen): Definitely.
GREG: So what do you think, Lucas?
LUCAS: Overall the shape is beautiful.
Good tail color.
Looking at $16 a pound.
-NICK: Yeah!
-GREG: 16, I like it, I like it.
That's a good way to finish up.
LUCAS (off screen): It's not over yet.
-NICK: Thank you, guys.
-GREG: It's the fourth quarter.
-We gotta get going to work.
-LUCAS: Yeah?
GREG: That fish was worth
almost four grand today.
That's four grand in my pocket.
One more fish out of the quota.
LUCAS (off screen): Good luck.
BUBBA (off screen): Later, guys.
GREG: At the end of the year
the Frenzy's gonna be ahead
of the other boats,
and I wanna make sure they know
that we're coming up behind 'em.
BANKS (off screen):
Birds circling. See 'em?
REED: Oh, yeah. See the blue fish?
Whoo. Big blues.
When this season closes, that's it for us.
That's how I provide for myself.
That's how I feed my kids.
We don't have the option
of going back to the office
and picking up a paycheck.
We have to make what we make
and make it now.
BANKS (off screen):
Bait ball, bait ball, baby.
REED (off screen): Here we come.
God, you can smell 'em.
Tunas down deep.
BANKS (off screen):
Hey, I gotta get on the stick.
Yeah, jig that.
REED: Come on, fish.
(reel clicking)
-(reel unspooling)
-We're on!
-BANKS: Nice!
-REED: We're on. We're on.
BANKS: Oh, my God.
REED: Let's not (bleep) this up.
BANKS: We lost a fish earlier today.
We have to get a fish now.
With the season coming to a close
we can't afford to lose another fish.
Crank the stick in.
Just let me fight it from here.
Coming in quick.
Swimming to you.
Put the boat in gear, please.
REED: Yeah, yeah.
REED: Crank, crank, crank.
Get that hook
in its (bleep) mouth. Bury it.
This could possibly be
the last fish we hook this tuna season
and that makes
for a very tense situation on deck.
Bury it, dude. (bleep) you doing?
-BANKS: It's just...
-REED: Crank!
BANKS: You can't crank
when there's no line coming in.
REED (off screen): You want me to crank?
BANKS: Just get the stick in.
REED: Bury that hook.
We're gonna get tangled up
in our stick line.
I need you to come under me
and let's just do it.
Here we go.
Center holder.
Crank.
(grunts)
When we have a fish on our rod
we have to crank in
our greenstick mainline
so that the lines don't cross,
tangle up and burn off the fish.
BANKS (off screen):
Reel's straight up and down.
You need to put the boat in gear.
REED: (bleep), man.
BANKS (off screen):
Now I can't crank it in.
Boat in gear.
Watch the line, Reed.
-REED (off screen): Coming together.
-BANKS: Ugh!
The fish is going nuts
and it's caught in one of the swivels
on the greenstick.
-Get it off that swivel.
-REED: Huh?
BANKS: Any type of friction
we're gonna lose this fish.
Get it off the swivel.
(Reed grunting)
Reel's straight up and down.
You need to put the boat in gear.
REED: (bleep), man.
BANKS (off screen):
Now I can't crank it in.
Boat in gear.
Watch the line, Reed.
-REED (off screen): Coming together.
-BANKS: Ugh!
Right now we're fighting this fish
on the rod.
It looks like it's getting tangled up
with our greenstick.
That's not good.
If those lines chafe together,
it's game over.
We're gonna lose this fish.
It's right under the boat.
-Get it off that swivel.
-REED: Huh?
BANKS: Get it off the swivel.
(Reed grunting)
-BANKS: Hey.
-REED: Dude.
BANKS: Whew, that was close.
REED: Burned the (bleep) out of me.
BANKS (off screen):
So close on that crimp.
Hopefully we're gonna see some product
here on the deck in a minute
but you never know...
whose day it's gonna be, his or ours.
It could go either way.
REED: Tail rope
is hanging right on the bandit.
BANKS: Let's hope we need it.
REED (off screen): Crank, crank, crank.
Could be our $5,000 fish.
BANKS: I don't know.
The way he feels right now...
can't really tell if that fish
is a keeper for sure.
REED: That's not good.
BANKS: I'm fighting the fish
and it really doesn't have
a lot of weight,
so I'm pretty concerned
that this fish is a short.
-REED: There he is.
-BANKS: Yup, color.
REED (off screen): Hopefully he's legal.
Anytime we catch a fish that's less than
73 inches in overall length
we have to let it go.
This is a measure set
by our government
that keeps the stocks sustainable
for future generations.
BANKS: One more circle.
With the quota almost being caught up
catching a short right now and having to
let one go would be devastating.
REED: I don't know.
We're gonna have to pull him in.
BANKS: Right.
REED: Go get the tape.
He'll go right back out the door.
I'm guessing he is
not gonna be big enough.
BANKS: Looks like a short.
REED: Ah, he's 75. Legit.
-BANKS: We'll take him.
-REED: We'll take it.
BANKS: Nice.
REED: We know the season's
coming to a close,
we fish a tournament every day we go out.
We're competing against
some of the best fishermen in the world
and we're carrying on a family legacy.
Hopefully we're doing a good job.
When the quota closes
it's definitely my goal
to have the Wahoo
at the top of the earning list.
BANKS (off screen): Whoo!
REED: This is our eighth fish
of the season.
It's not the biggest fish
but we did catch one.
Every fish right now counts.
DENNIS: Nice little fish.
BANKS: It is a little one.
DENNIS: Good.
All right, guys, let's get it inside
and process it
and see what we got.
REED: Put that thing on my shoulder.
(laughter)
BANKS: Better than coming in with none.
DENNIS: Let's see what we got.
REED: We need this one to do well.
All right.
DENNIS: 165 pounds.
-BANKS: Nice.
-REED: Not bad. Nice little fish.
We'll take that.
BANKS: Definitely.
DENNIS: Okay, guys, let's see
what the core color is all about.
REED: That usually tells the tale.
Oh, nice.
BANKS (off screen): Pink and pretty.
All right, Dennis, what are we talking?
DENNIS: I'm loving the color on this fish.
You can practically see
through the tail slice.
It's got such brilliant clarity.
Unfortunately it's really lean.
DENNIS: If it had just
a touch more fat here.
REED: All right, well, seeing
he's got no fat and good color,
what are you thinking, Dennis?
Aim high, buddy.
DENNIS: $11 a pound.
REED: Oh, that's fine.
-BANKS: Nice.
-REED: We'll take that on that guy.
It's almost $2,000 for that fish.
Every paycheck we get
it's money in the bank.
It means the kids eat, bills get paid.
I'll take that every day
if you give me a guarantee.
-Well, thank you, Dennis.
-DENNIS: Good job.
Good luck tomorrow.
-REED: Thanks, bud.
-BANKS: See you later.
We've only got a couple days left
in this bluefin season.
The weather is predicted to blow
real hard tomorrow, 35 knots plus.
But with the season closing
we have to get out there
and make these last couple days count.
NARRATOR: As the fleet continues to fish,
now only 16% of the quota
is left to catch.
BRITTON: After going to church yesterday
I feel invigorated.
I just feel really good. I feel ready.
Lord, we come before You this morning.
We want to thank You
for those of us that are here.
The morning prayer
was started years ago
by a fisherman just like me.
It was a major shocker
that somebody would come on the radio
and say a prayer early in the morning,
but it's become part of the fabric
that makes our fleet what it is.
We're gonna ask You, Lord, to watch out
for each of the captains,
each of the mates.
Watch out for the guys and their fishing.
TYLER: Britton prays for everyone.
Whether you're a Southern boat
or a Northern boat, it doesn't matter.
And he's competing against me.
We're all competing for the same fish.
That's just something
you don't usually hear in Gloucester.
The Outer Banks is just a different place.
BRITTON: Lord be with us
as we go out here looking around
in this rough weather.
We do grant, Lord, that You
give us some of Your blessing.
It's not a shame to ask.
Amen.
REED (over radio): Amen to that.
Let's catch 'em up.
NICK (off screen): Jesus Christ.
GREG: God damn!
NICK: This (bleep) sucks.
GREG: Weather on the Outer Banks
in the wintertime
can change in a matter of minutes.
Sometimes it'll be
blue sky in the morning.
Next thing you know
it's blowing 35 northwest.
It's tough to catch these fish on any day.
And when you add eight-foot seas
and a ticking time bomb of a quota,
it's difficult.
REED (off screen): Whoo.
I'm gonna need my skins on
if we hook a fish.
BANKS: Saltwater cowboy today.
REED: Normally guys would
head back to the dock
when the weather gets rough like this.
But with the season winding down,
such few days left to fish,
we have to take our beating,
pay our dues and hopefully catch a fish.
BANKS: The Hard Merch is like
disappearing in between the swells.
Looks like he's getting
the (bleep) kicked out of him.
MARCIANO: We're psyched.
It's 11:00 in the morning.
I marked a bunch of fish back here.
We're just gonna get
everything stretched out,
then go right back over it.
Conditions are pretty piss-poor right now.
But there's no turning back now.
I came all the way down
to the Outer Banks
to provide for my family
but we've only caught six fish so far,
so we have to keep fishing.
JAY (off screen): It's getting nasty.
It's about 30 knots out here
but there's legit only about
two days left in the quota
if this fishing keeps up.
(monitor beeping)
MARCIANO (off screen):
Bunch of fish right here, Jay.
Big stack of 'em right here.
We don't have much time left.
This fishery could close
literally any minute.
We've gotta get one today
or we may not have any more chances.
(beeping continues)
JAY: This thing could go any second.
It could break away any second.
(beeping continues)
Oh, we got one! We're on, baby!
(monitor beeping)
JAY: This thing could go any second!
It could break away any second!
(beeping continues)
Oh, we got one! We're on, baby!
MARCIANO: We're on, we're on!
We got a fish.
We haven't seen anything all day.
And then, boom, all of a sudden we're on.
With the season
coming to a close like this
we need to capitalize
on every single fish that we hook.
JAY: Oh, yeah, we're on something!
MARCIANO: Yeah.
MARCIANO:
It's pullin'.
JAY: Keeps pulling.
MARCIANO (off screen): All right, color.
We've got color here.
Get a gaff ready, Jay.
Come on the other side of me, Jay.
Hang on, hang on.
We got him, we got him.
Ah, (bleep).
It's a yellowfin tuna.
It's not what we're looking for.
With this fish I could be missing out
on a bluefin tuna
which is gonna get me a paycheck.
This one we can't sell.
We're not gonna make a profit.
But basically we just caught dinner.
Let's get him back out.
I'd have to say at least
we're in the tuna zone.
All right, Jay, you good
getting the other stuff out?
JAY: Yup, yup.
MARCIANO: Let me get
pointed in the right direction.
We got a nice little yellowfin for dinner.
But one thing's for sure,
there's plenty of fish around.
We just gotta figure out what it takes
to get 'em to bite.
PAUL (off screen): Look at the size
of that one. It just went by. (laughs)
-TYLER (off screen): It was right there?
-PAUL: Right here.
That was cool.
TYLER: Holy (bleep).
PAUL: Hold on.
It's a 15 footer.
-Just love it.
-(monitor beeping)
Oh, there's the mark.
Watch out, right there.
(beeping continues)
TYLER: It's rough out,
and both Frenzy and Wahoo
have both caught fish.
We're falling behind.
But I'm extremely hopeful
that we can make something happen,
put a fish on the deck
before they call the season.
See that's the mark,
the mark of all marks.
(beeping continues)
-PAUL: Just one.
-TYLER: We need a bite.
Just one bite, yeah.
(beeping continues)
(line snaps)
TYLER: We're on! We're on, we're on.
Whoa! Let it go.
Back drag on there.
PAUL: Back up.
TYLER: Got him on. Jesus!
PAUL: Holy (bleep).
TYLER (off screen): Is he still there?
PAUL: Oh, yeah, he's still there.
Wow, dude! What a bite.
-Whoa!
-TYLER: Woo-hoo!
PAUL: Holy crap!
He's a big bastard!
(laughing)
Never ever been dumped like that before.
TYLER (over radio): Hooked up.
REED (off screen): What the (bleep).
(bleep).
PAUL: We're gonna get a lot of that back.
Gonna to get my sweatshirt on, all right?
And my gloves.
TYLER: Dude, he's got the ball down
right now, Paul.
The ball's down, he's dumping.
Really, really big fish.
Really big tuna here.
Get ready to get wet.
We got really big waves out here.
This is some of the roughest
sea conditions we've seen this season.
So this is big dangerous
Outer Banks fishing here.
So it's very important
we catch our fish quick.
PAUL: I'm going to put
my raincoat on for this one.
This is gonna be a wet fight.
TYLER: We're handlining
in this choppy water
because it gives us
more control over the fish
and we're less likely to pull a hook.
This is when this job gets dangerous.
All right, Paul,
we gotta get back a lot of line.
Be safe.
If we mess this up we can cost ourselves
our whole day of fishing.
PAUL: He's coming.
TYLER (off screen):
We gotta do this quickly.
Paul's gotta be real effective
when he pulls this fish in.
Big!
PAUL: Don't go back too much.
-TYLER (off screen): Of course.
-PAUL: Neutral.
TYLER: I'm in noochie.
Paul, I'm gonna get a knife.
Put it in my pocket
in case you get caught up.
PAUL: You got it, good idea.
TYLER: Always have
a handy dandy knife in your pocket
in case anything should happen.
And we got one underneath the rail
should Paul get in trouble.
We got a knife over here as well.
Got knives everywhere on board the boat.
It's very important
that you have knives at the ready
when you're handlining tunas.
Should one of us get
wrapped up in that line,
the other guy could cut you free.
What's going on, Paul? How are you doing?
PAUL: It's all arms right here.
Back up a touch.
TYLER: Paul's handlining this fish up
to the boat and I'm driving.
PAUL: Easy.
TYLER: We need to
be in perfect communication.
'Cause if we make one wrong move
we could lose this fish.
Color, deep color, deep color.
PAUL (off screen): We're on something.
Back up.
He's tail wrapped.
TYLER: The fish is tail wrapped.
This means that the line has gotten
wrapped around the fish's tail
during the fight.
With the wrapped lines
chafing against itself
it could give at any moment.
PAUL: Back up. Back up, back up!
He's tail wrapped.
Back up.
Back up. Back up, back up!
All right, neutral, neutral.
He's coming, he's coming. I got him.
Get a gaff, get a gaff!
Hurry up.
Ready?
Go ahead, Tyler. Gaff him, gaff him.
You got him.
Hey!
TYLER: Tail roped, dude. We got him!
PAUL: Nice job.
TYLER: Yeah, dude!
PAUL: We got him!
TYLER: We got him.
We got a nice 350 pounder here.
He's 500 in the whole.
PAUL: What a nice fish!
Going down.
Down, down, down,
down, down, down.
Nice butterball.
TYLER (off screen): Cool. Nice fish, Paul.
PAUL: I'm so happy right now, so happy.
89. Perfect!
TYLER: I love him!
(Paul laughs)
Things are great.
We're catching fish together.
I'm starting to feel like my old self.
Hey, we might have a shot
of winning this thing.
Gotta get the rig back out quick.
-PAUL: Yeah.
-TYLER: The quota's gonna run out.
They could shut the quota down today.
We're tryin' to catch up to Reed.
I don't know how many he's got,
but I think we're knocking on the door.
PAUL (off screen): Yes, we are.
TYLER: We're coming for you, Wahoo.
REED (over radio): Still marking 'em?
Check.
TJ (over radio): Yes, sir.
REED: Gotcha.
TJ (off screen): So far we are the losers.
A lot of boats working in one little area.
One little flurry.
We gotta get over to the right pack, man.
There's one pack that's biting.
Hopefully it's not
another day on loser's ledge.
BRITTON: Holy cow, look at that
place of two-tones.
A big school of porpoises.
We're last in earnings.
We're down but we're not out,
'cause the game's still goin' on.
(monitor beeping)
Oh, there's a mark.
That's a tuna mark.
I know what I've got to do.
We've got to catch some fish.
CAINE LIVESAY (laughing): Yeah.
BRITTON: Sitting around watching
my family starve is not an option.
Caine, jump that squid!
(muttering)
BRITTON: Tuna mark down here,
on the back side of these porpoise.
Jig that thing.
(beeping continues)
CAINE: God damn!
Got 'em on, baby.
(laughs)
Violent. That is violent, baby!
BRITTON: I need this
for my mental state, Caine.
CAINE: Ain't no doubt, brother.
Whoo!
BRITTON (over radio): Got 'em on.
Wow, game over.
TJ: Britton on the Doghouse
is a great guy.
That being said, if he lands this fish
we're gonna be in last place
and it's gonna be a total heartbreaker.
It can't get much worse right now.
CAINE: Whoo! It's taking a lot.
BRITTON: Good Lord willing,
I think it's gonna be a nice fish.
Got a crimp here.
Hey, snap the drag a little bit.
Hey, you go ahead.
I'll do that, I'll get that.
CAINE (off screen): Just pull that clip
right down to you.
BRITTON: When this season is over
my revenue source is over.
We need this fish.
CAINE: Go forward
when you get a chance, Britt.
Still got a lot of head shaking
going on here.
Forward.
Stay on there, Bessie.
BRITTON: He's fightin' like a big fish.
It's crucial that we catch it.
CAINE: There he goes,
there he goes, there he goes.
Still ain't ready.
Slow and easy, baby.
Slow and easy.
I see color.
Getting really close here now.
BRITTON: All right, come on, Caine,
we need it, baby.
Whoo! Huh?
BRITTON:
My jaws are clenched so tight,
I feel like I could
turn my teeth to powder.
CAINE: Oh! He just come off, Britt.
(gasps)
BRITTON: The fish has come off.
That's like a gutshot.
I mean, you, it's...
I feel like I swallowed a bowling ball.
It makes me want to puke.
CAINE (off screen): Still on there.
Now what the hell happened?
BRITTON: It come off or no?
He's on there.
Caine, you about gave me a heart attack.
The fish is still on.
CAINE: He slid past
another crimp is what happened.
BRITTON (off screen):
All the way to the bird.
When a big fish fights
sometimes the pressure would cause
the snap to slip position on the mainline
and slide all the way down to the bird.
I've heard about it,
but this is the first time
it's ever happened to me.
CAINE: My grip's about to go.
BRITTON: And now the snap has opened up.
Not an eighth of an inch of metal
is holding that fish on that mainline.
Like your life
passes in front of your eyes,
my whole, like, payday
passes before my eyes.
This fish could come off.
Come on, bud, come on.
CAINE (off screen):
Getting really close here now.
My grip's about to go.
BRITTON: Come on, bud! Come on!
You got to keep tension on him!
We gotta get him quick.
CAINE (off screen):
Watch the line, Britton.
Let's go, Britton.
BRITTON: I think we got 'em, bud.
Huh? Huh?
CAINE: Look! Look at that.
Look at that!
(laughs)
Whoo!
Needed that.
BRITTON: One, two, three.
(grunts)
Whoo!
CAINE: She's got a little shape to her.
How lucky is that?
BRITTON: That's a good day, cuz.
Well, I'll tell you that was close.
CAINE: Crimp.
BRITTON: Thank you, Jesus.
Season's still open
and the Doghouse
is on the comeback trail.
That is a blessing.
CAINE (off screen): Whoo!
What a way to end the day, baby!
TJ (off screen): It-it sucks.
Every day we come out here
we don't catch fish and other people do.
We gotta get in
before this wind gets worse.
Jarrett?
JARRETT (off screen): What's up?
TJ: Let's reel 'em in.
We're gonna get going, dude.
JARRETT: I'll bring 'em in.
TJ: We struck out today.
It's a miserable feeling
to come home with an empty deck
especially knowing that the season
could be shut down at any given hour.
If the quota isn't met
and we have one more day to fish tomorrow
it'll be a bloodbath on the Hot Tuna.
(Reba barks)
PAUL: What's up, boys?
LUCAS: What's up, Paul?
Way to get one in there.
TYLER: Hey, gotta get 'em quick, you know.
-LUCAS: Yeah.
-TYLER: Got a nice one.
LUCAS: How'd you catch it?
-TYLER: We handlined it to the boat.
-LUCAS (off screen): Really?
-BUBBA: Well, let's get it off the boat.
-LUCAS: Yeah.
Get you guys back out there
before the season closes.
BUBBA: It's pretty big.
PAUL (off screen):
I'm thinkin' it's very girthy.
The shape is gorgeous.
TYLER: It doesn't even fit on the palate.
LUCAS: 327 pounds.
TYLER: Woo-hoo.
PAUL: All right, nice.
Hopefully we'll get a good price for that.
LUCAS (off screen):
All right, let's see how you did.
PAUL: Ohh! (laughs)
Huh?
BUBBA (off screen): No burn.
LUCAS: Can't complain about the core.
Yeah, the color's good.
TYLER: That means big money, right?
LUCAS: I mean,
we're looking at $16 a pound.
TYLER: Whoo.
-PAUL: Hell yeah, dude.
TYLER: Yeah.
$16 a pound, that's over $5,000.
Can't do any better than that.
PAUL: I'll take that
for every fish I ever catch
for the rest of my life.
(laughs)
-LUCAS: What's up, Shaq?
-BRITTON: Hey, bud.
We need this fish
to be a high-dollar fish very badly.
We haven't caught enough fish
really to break even
so we need to get
a little bit of debt off.
LUCAS: Way to get it done, bro.
Let's check it out.
Nice shape.
See what she dresses.
CAINE (off screen):
She got a little roundness to her.
-LUCAS: Yup.
-CAINE: Like my belly.
BRITTON: If all of 'em
just dressed out like Caine did...
CAINE: Plenty of fat content.
BRITTON: There wouldn't be any meat.
LUCAS (off screen): 315 pounds.
BRITTON (off screen): 315?
-LUCAS (off screen): Dressed.
-CAINE: Bigger than we thought.
LUCAS: Let's see how she looks.
CAINE: Come on, no whammies,
no whammies, no whammies!
LUCAS (off screen): Not too bad.
Really nice color.
Just a tiny bit of fat.
-BRITTON: No fat.
-LUCAS: Tiny bit.
I mean, the core is beautiful.
You know, can't complain
about the color in the core.
BRITTON (off screen): Talk to me, Lucas.
Don't think too hard.
LUCAS: 14 bucks a pound.
BRITTON: 14? I'll take it.
LUCAS: Yeah.
CAINE: $4,500, so, yeah, jack me up.
That'll get me through another day here.
-BRITTON: Thank you, man.
-LUCAS (off screen): All right.
CAINE: Glad we stayed till dark.
BRITTON: Thank you. Yeah, really.
LUCAS: Thank you, guys.
BRITTON: I feel very, very good
about the return on this fish.
I can't wait to take this paycheck home
to my wife.
LUCAS: Hopefully we'll see you tomorrow.
-If it's closed, then...
-CAINE: Yeah.
LUCAS: ...we'll see you next season.
-CAINE: Thank you, guys.
-LUCAS: All right, guys.
BRITTON: We've been down
a big part of the season.
If they don't shut the fishery,
you better look out
'cause here comes the Doghouse.
NARRATOR: At the end of day 20...
Doghouse's fish propels them
out of last place
and ahead of Hot Tuna.
While Pin Wheel's five grand payday
edges them closer to the top spot.
And after weigh-ins across the fishery
now only 10% of the quota
is left to catch.
REED: It's anybody's game.
The only way a fisherman's
gonna survive down here
the next few months
is to stack his deck with bluefins
before time's up.
BRITTON: You can hear that
tick-tick-tick in your head.
It's like a time bomb.
MARCIANO: To feed my family
I'm willing to push this boat
to the edge of the Atlantic
before they shut this fishery down.
GREG: We're gonna go take
our chunk out of the quota.
PAUL: We're not giving up.
They're not giving up.
We're taking that number one spot!
(laughs)
Captioned by Point.360
Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks...
BANKS MEREDITH: These are the moments
we live for right here.
NARRATOR: With the bluefin season
threatening to close at any moment...
TYLER MCLAUGHLIN:
The quota's about to close.
It's time for us to shine and get a bite.
NARRATOR: ...it's a race against time...
-TJ OTT: I am trying.
-TIM OTT: You're not trying hard enough.
NARRATOR: ...and each other.
TYLER: We're comin' for you, Wahoo.
GREG MAYER: Hey, Reed, we've got 'em on.
REED MEREDITH: (bleep) you, buddy.
NARRATOR: Until the last fish is caught.
GREG: Swing to the left.
PAUL HEBERT: Holy crap!
He's a big bastard!
NARRATOR: In a highly regulated fishery
that's trying to stay sustainable.
-JARRETT PRZYBYSZEWSKI: We're on!
-TIM (off screen): We're on!
NARRATOR: Every bluefin caught
takes a bite out of the quota.
BRITTON SHACKELFORD:
Come on, Caine, we need it, baby.
NARRATOR:
And every fisherman has to battle...
PAUL: Wow, dude!
NARRATOR: ...for his fair share.
JAY MUENZNER: We're on, baby!
-JARRETT: Yeah!
-(laughter)
NARRATOR: This is
Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks.
At the start of day 19
less than a quarter of the quota
is left to catch.
Southern vessel Wahoo
dominates the fleet,
but Pin Wheel and Fishin' Frenzy
are hot on their trail.
Meanwhile Hot Tuna and Doghouse
struggle to remain afloat.
REED: Okay, see it go out.
The stick is fishing.
Right now we're the number one boat
in the fleet
and that's the way we wanna keep it.
BANKS: We've got our stick fishin',
we can go ahead
and get a few ballyhoos out.
Make 'em seem like
they're still alive and swimming.
REED: With the quota coming to a close
that means our fishing
could be over instantly.
That one announcement
from the government over the radio
that puts an end
to every fisherman's livelihood
for a matter of months.
When they say it's done
you can't land anymore.
So we have to make the most
of the next few days.
BANKS (off screen):
And lookin' pretty good.
We're fishing.
There you have it.
Ooh, what was that?
I think it's a porpoise.
REED (off screen): Mammals.
Little place of two-tones here.
I'd definitely say the table is set.
Getting closer.
When we're fishing and we spot pods
of the two-tone dolphins
we know that tunas
usually travel directly under 'em.
The tunas like to use the dolphin
as fishfinders for bait.
Now this is information
that was handed down to us
from our father that was
handed down from his father.
Find the mammals, tunas are close by.
BANKS (off screen): Hey, guys!
Can y'all find a tuna
and bring 'em up to us?
Come on, we need a bite.
REED: They are busting right between us.
Oh, God, those are tunas.
Holy (bleep), tunas,
big bunch of tunas.
This guy's got his sights on 'em.
(bleep) you, buddy.
(monitor beeping)
We found the dolphin,
and just like we planned
they took us to the tunas.
We're now seeing 'em. We're marking 'em.
It's extremely crucial
that we capitalize on this.
REED:
Combat.
Move.
(beeping continues)
Look at the wolf pack under us.
Hell of a mark right here, buddy.
Big bait ball.
BANKS (off screen): They are knocking
those fish up in the air.
Whoo! Nice.
(beeping continues)
REED: There it was, on the rod.
Just missed him on that rod.
(beeping continues)
BANKS: Got him on.
Oh, yeah, we're going here.
REED (off screen): We're on.
Woo-hoo! Hot bite!
REED: Now we're on.
We hooked up out here.
PAUL: Listen. Here.
REED (over radio):
We'll see how this goes.
PAUL: We keep an eye
on the Frenzy and the Wahoo.
They're amazing tuna fishermen.
TYLER: I hear a lot of yelling
on the radio.
There's a lot of bites going on.
The quota's about to close,
so it's time for us
to shine and get a bite.
We're the number two boat in the fleet
right behind the Wahoo.
You know, they took the number one spot
from us a few days ago
and I'm gonna do
whatever it takes to take it back.
I just wanna get in on the action.
BANKS: Big boy, this bitch is screaming.
Damn, dude, take the boat
out of gear and get the stick in.
This thing is peeling line off.
REED: It might cut the stick off.
BANKS: Holy (bleep).
I'm almost down to the back end, dude.
REED (off screen):
All right, give me a polyball.
This fish is ripping line off the reel
so fast we can barely stop him.
We have virtually
no time left in the season.
It's really a race against the clock.
BANKS: Nice fish.
Went right by
one of the bait balls, hooked up.
-(line snaps)
-Pulled the hook right then.
(bleep).
Son of a bitch.
REED: (bleep).
BANKS (off screen): Heartbreaker, man.
Big, big fish.
Reed and I both have families to support.
We don't have much time to do it.
The quota's almost caught up.
This is not the time to be losing fish.
REED: (bleep).
That sucks.
(monitor beeping)
-GREG: Here's a mark.
-NICK GOWITZKA: Here they come, down sea.
-It's coming right at us.
-GREG (off screen): Big mark right here.
-NICK: Hey, look. Oh, got 'em!
-GREG: I see 'em.
In this bluefin fishery,
one season can make or break you.
NICK: Look at 'em all right here, close.
GREG: If you don't produce
you could lose your boat,
you could lose your house.
We've got to do whatever
we have to do to catch fish
before we get the call
that the season's over.
-Look at 'em. There you go.
-NICK (off screen): Oh, wow.
GREG (off screen):
There's big ones here, too.
NICK: Look at all...
Like back here, all the way over there.
-(beeping continues)
-Sweet dude.
GREG (off screen): Look at 'em.
There you go.
NICK (off screen): Oh, wow.
(beeping continues)
Come on, baby!
There he is, there he is!
GREG (off screen):
Oh, there he is! There he is!
NICK: Long rigger.
There we go.
GREG: Nice! Very nice.
Hey, Reed, we've got 'em on!
(laughs)
REED: (bleep) A.
BANKS (off screen): Greg?
GREG: How about it? We look okay?
NICK: We look okay.
Just come down and get your rigs in.
Taking a lot of line.
We got plenty of it though.
GREG: We've got our eighth fish
of the season on the rod.
Right now we're the number three boat.
The top boats
have all caught the same number of fish.
There's only a few thousand dollars
separating us.
It's anybody's game right now,
and I want it to be mine.
NICK: Just gonna take our time
and keep the line tight.
Cross our fingers.
Hope everything goes according.
GREG: This could be our big day here.
Could be ten grand,
you'd never even know.
How about it? Okay?
-NICK: I got it.
-GREG: Cool.
Got the mono coming on the reel now.
GREG (off screen): We got a fish on here.
He's straight up and down.
He's fairly close.
NICK: I'm getting my eyeball on him.
GREG: I see him now.
I got color on him right now.
NICK (off screen): Coming up.
Steady, steady, steady.
GREG: Swing it to the left.
Swing to the left. Swing to the left.
Left, left, left, left, left.
There you go, that's it. Perfect. Perfect.
You're good, keep going.
This is the one we need to go home with.
Swing to the left.
There you go.
NICK (off screen): I got him!
He's feeling drag now.
He didn't like that harpoon.
Thanks for playing!
GREG (off screen): We ain't got him yet.
NICK: Your rules my game though!
(laughs)
Get your gaff. Right there.
GREG: Okay.
Get the other gaff for the tail.
NICK: I'm gonna walk forward.
You come right between me and the rod.
Oh, watch his tail, watch his tail.
-GREG: What's that?
-NICK: I got him again.
GREG: Come on, baby.
NICK: Okay, butterball.
That's how you do it!
GREG: Yeah, we got him!
NICK: That's my ticket home right there.
Lunch on the mainland!
GREG: When we get the call
that the bluefin season's over, that's it.
That's your pink slip.
Every day we go fishing can be our last.
NICK: Ready?
One, two, three, go!
-That's a real one.
-GREG: That's a real one.
NICK: He looks good, man.
Good-looking fish.
GREG (off screen): Nice 82 incher.
NICK: 82 incher, Cap!
Pretty, pretty.
GREG: We're one fish closer
to the Wahoo and the Pin Wheel.
I know they're feeling the pressure,
and I'm going to keep it on.
(laughing)
NICK: Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am.
GREG (over radio): Thanks for playing.
TYLER: (bleep) Greg.
(bleep) that Frenzy.
This sucks.
He probably just
passed us on the leaderboard.
PAUL: Greg was to the north of the 700
and we're kinda close to that.
That's where he got his bite.
Well, the thing is, with Greg is
he's hungry like this all the time.
You know what I mean?
TYLER: Oh, yeah. And we're not?
-You and I aren't like that?
-PAUL: No, that's how he is.
TYLER: I take a lot of pride
in my fishing.
It's what makes me as a man.
If I don't put any fish across the dock
then I'm just a joke.
That dismal season I had up in Gloucester
was the worst thing
that ever happened to me.
My pride's in the tubes.
And I'm not only down here fishing
to smoke the other boats
fishing around me,
I'm down here for my own personal pride.
That's why I'm gonna work hard,
I'm not gonna let anything
get in my way from stopping me
from taking the top spot.
Dude, the competition just picked up.
PAUL (off screen): I know.
We can't go in without a tuna fish.
TYLER (off screen): We can get 'em.
GREG: We could very easily
be caught up right now.
NICK (off screen): I think I see
the old Hot Tuna right over there.
NICK:
He's on the low end of the whole fleet.
Expect to compete with the boys
that are born and raised here
and do this every day?
You ain't gonna come up with much.
There's the Cold Tuna.
That's the only tuna
he's gonna see today
is a cold tuna fish sandwich.
(laughs)
NICK:
Get you some of this, Gloucesterman!
TJ: How about you,
Hard Merch, you on here, Dave?
DAVE MARCIANO: Yeah, go ahead, TJ.
TJ: How you making out this morning?
MARCIANO (over radio):
Just a little while ago
we had our first couple of marks
for the day and that's been it.
TJ (over radio): Yeah, we just got
a few scattered bites, you know,
but nothing for us.
MARCIANO: TJ and I
are both in the same boat.
We've got to do a lot better
and we don't have a lot of time to do it.
We're all trying to get as much as we can
before this thing is over.
TJ (over radio):
Yeah, we gotta get moving, man,
and hopefully get on the meat.
MARCIANO: Yeah,
I'm gonna keep my eyes open
and see if we can circle 'em up.
TJ: All right, Dave, good luck.
MARCIANO: Standing by.
TJ: Standing by.
TIM (off screen): What, you got us
riding around in circles here aimlessly?
TJ: You gotta put it in a circle
to get a bite, don't you?
TIM: Well, put in a good circle.
(scoffs)
TJ: When I'm catching fish
Dad is definitely a ballbuster.
I am trying.
TIM: You're not trying hard enough.
TJ: When I'm not catching fish
he's even more of a ballbuster.
What do you want me to do?
TIM (off screen): Put us on some meat.
TJ: We've only caught three fish so far.
We're second to last
and it's a terrible feeling.
TIM: This sucks, Jarrett.
TJ: Ultimate ballbuster.
There's only about 20%
of the quota left,
which is the equivalent of about 40 fish.
Time is of the essence right now.
Anytime you have a slow day
that could be your last chance
of catching a fish
which makes the fishing
that much more tense.
(monitor beeping)
Oh, (bleep), here's a mark, jig it.
-TIM: Marking?
-TJ (off screen): Marking.
Holy (bleep).
TIM (off screen): Come on, Jarrett,
we need a bite.
JARRETT: I know, man.
TJ: Real good marks right there.
Fish from 200 up to 50 foot.
That's definitely a pack
of nice bluefins right there.
Big school of fish.
JARRETT: There they are.
They're right here, TJ.
-TJ (off screen): See 'em?
-JARRETT (off screen): Yup.
TIM (off screen): Good eyes, Jarrett.
The birds are getting
on 'em now, yeah.
See 'em?
(bleep). This is sick.
TJ: Lot of birds a lot of fish
jumping out of the water.
Everything you want to see.
I mean, this is the mother lode.
JARRETT (off screen):
There's a (bleep) school of 'em.
(laughs) Oh, my God.
TIM (off screen): Just keep sweeping it.
TJ: Just watch the rig doesn't go
over the outriggers and (bleep).
TIM: I'm watching.
JARRETT (off screen): There you go.
TIM (off screen): That's it.
Wow! Look at 'em pushing
the bait out of the water.
-JARRETT: Yeah!
-(laughter)
-Come on!
-TIM (off screen): Come on, big boys!
(monitor beeping)
Look at this.
Right here.
-(reel unspooling)
-JARRETT: We're on!
Oh, my God!
TIM (off screen): Wow! Look at 'em
pushing the bait out of the water!
-JARRETT: Yeah!
-(laughter)
TIM (off screen): Come on, big boys.
(monitor beeping)
Look at this.
Right here.
(reel unspooling)
JARRETT: We're on!
TIM: We're on, we're on!
Oh, my God.
That was (bleep) awesome.
JARRETT (off screen): Yeah, dude.
TIM (off screen): It's a tuna!
It took off pretty good.
JARRETT: You feel pulling 'em
pretty good, man.
He's like digging down, going on around.
He's on top, going down.
Feels pretty (bleep) heavy.
TJ: This one we need.
This is the one, man.
We desperately need this fish
on the Hot Tuna right now.
This is huge.
JARRETT: Look at 'em
jumping over there, dude.
Oh, my God.
TIM (off screen): Oh, my God!
JARRETT (off screen): They're blowing
all over the place.
TIM: TJ, you see the size of that school?
JARRETT (off screen):
He might not be on here anymore.
TJ: Huh?
JARRETT: He might not be on here anymore.
TIM (off screen): Really?
JARRETT: I mean,
I don't really feel a whole lot.
TJ: He's gone?
JARRETT: I see
all the squids still bouncing.
TIM (off screen): What?
JARRETT: I said I can see
all the drops still bouncing on top.
-TJ (off screen): Yeah.
-TIM (off screen): Drop 'em off.
JARRETT: It's gone, it's gone.
TJ: God damn it.
This is devastating.
We really needed that one.
Not only are we running out of time
but we're running out of fish.
I'll be inside.
Let me know
when they're pushing up, all right?
JARRETT: Yup.
TJ: I definitely feel at times
that I'm letting Dad and Jarrett down.
They're looking at me for the decisions.
They're looking at me to kinda
put the boat in the right position
so that they can catch the fish.
These guys are
relying on me for a paycheck
and I'm not providing it.
BRITTON: The season's closing down
and we've opted to go to church today.
I'm sure some of the members
of the fleet think that
I've lost my mind not to go fishing
but I'm just a solid ball of stress.
So I made a conscious decision
to go to church
and get myself back where I need to be.
CONGREGATION: Thanks be to God.
REVEREND: Amen.
BRITTON: It's difficult not to go fishing
but I have a tendency to put
a lot of pressure on myself to produce
and having faith allows me
sometimes to get out of that.
REVEREND: Let us pray.
Dear Lord, as we gather
here on this day we ask You
be with the fishermen
and all the work that is being done here
and also up and down the coast.
In the name of Jesus we pray.
Amen.
BRITTON: Taking the time off
to go to church
to set an example for my children
and to show my wife
that I have faith that God's gonna provide
is more important than anything.
(indistinct chatter)
And sometimes you perform much better
when you're singularly focused.
GREG: We just caught
our eighth fish of the season,
and that's putting us closer to the top.
We're jacked up.
There's been a lot of fish
caught here in the last week
and we don't have a very big quota anyway.
So it's getting down to the wire.
LUCAS: Yeah, good job, guys.
You guys have already killed a quarter
of the quota yourself.
GREG: We got our own little
Frenzy quota working.
LUCAS: Yeah. Let's see how it looks.
GREG (off screen): Nice shape.
-NICK (off screen): Hey, girls.
-CHRISSY (off screen): Hey.
NICK: How y'all doing?
Come down to see daddy?
-Huh?
-CHRISSY: Yeah.
See your fish.
NICK: We did good.
-See the fish?
-GWEN: Mm-hmm.
NICK: I mean, I don't do this for fun.
I do it to support my family.
I need to make every dime
this winter that I can
so I can provide for my girls.
-I'll see y'all back at the house.
-CHRISSY: Okay.
NICK: Let daddy get
his fish off the boat, okay?
-CHRISSY: Okay.
-GWEN: Okay.
LUCAS: All right,
let's see what she weighs.
249 pounds dressed.
BOTH: Yeah!
LUCAS: All right. See how you did.
Here we go.
NICK (off screen):
Tale of the tape looks good.
Looks good from here.
GREG: It does look clear, doesn't it?
LUCAS: It's got plenty of fat.
Tail color's nice.
The core's just a little bit lighter.
Still pretty decent fish.
BUBBA (off screen): Definitely.
GREG: So what do you think, Lucas?
LUCAS: Overall the shape is beautiful.
Good tail color.
Looking at $16 a pound.
-NICK: Yeah!
-GREG: 16, I like it, I like it.
That's a good way to finish up.
LUCAS (off screen): It's not over yet.
-NICK: Thank you, guys.
-GREG: It's the fourth quarter.
-We gotta get going to work.
-LUCAS: Yeah?
GREG: That fish was worth
almost four grand today.
That's four grand in my pocket.
One more fish out of the quota.
LUCAS (off screen): Good luck.
BUBBA (off screen): Later, guys.
GREG: At the end of the year
the Frenzy's gonna be ahead
of the other boats,
and I wanna make sure they know
that we're coming up behind 'em.
BANKS (off screen):
Birds circling. See 'em?
REED: Oh, yeah. See the blue fish?
Whoo. Big blues.
When this season closes, that's it for us.
That's how I provide for myself.
That's how I feed my kids.
We don't have the option
of going back to the office
and picking up a paycheck.
We have to make what we make
and make it now.
BANKS (off screen):
Bait ball, bait ball, baby.
REED (off screen): Here we come.
God, you can smell 'em.
Tunas down deep.
BANKS (off screen):
Hey, I gotta get on the stick.
Yeah, jig that.
REED: Come on, fish.
(reel clicking)
-(reel unspooling)
-We're on!
-BANKS: Nice!
-REED: We're on. We're on.
BANKS: Oh, my God.
REED: Let's not (bleep) this up.
BANKS: We lost a fish earlier today.
We have to get a fish now.
With the season coming to a close
we can't afford to lose another fish.
Crank the stick in.
Just let me fight it from here.
Coming in quick.
Swimming to you.
Put the boat in gear, please.
REED: Yeah, yeah.
REED: Crank, crank, crank.
Get that hook
in its (bleep) mouth. Bury it.
This could possibly be
the last fish we hook this tuna season
and that makes
for a very tense situation on deck.
Bury it, dude. (bleep) you doing?
-BANKS: It's just...
-REED: Crank!
BANKS: You can't crank
when there's no line coming in.
REED (off screen): You want me to crank?
BANKS: Just get the stick in.
REED: Bury that hook.
We're gonna get tangled up
in our stick line.
I need you to come under me
and let's just do it.
Here we go.
Center holder.
Crank.
(grunts)
When we have a fish on our rod
we have to crank in
our greenstick mainline
so that the lines don't cross,
tangle up and burn off the fish.
BANKS (off screen):
Reel's straight up and down.
You need to put the boat in gear.
REED: (bleep), man.
BANKS (off screen):
Now I can't crank it in.
Boat in gear.
Watch the line, Reed.
-REED (off screen): Coming together.
-BANKS: Ugh!
The fish is going nuts
and it's caught in one of the swivels
on the greenstick.
-Get it off that swivel.
-REED: Huh?
BANKS: Any type of friction
we're gonna lose this fish.
Get it off the swivel.
(Reed grunting)
Reel's straight up and down.
You need to put the boat in gear.
REED: (bleep), man.
BANKS (off screen):
Now I can't crank it in.
Boat in gear.
Watch the line, Reed.
-REED (off screen): Coming together.
-BANKS: Ugh!
Right now we're fighting this fish
on the rod.
It looks like it's getting tangled up
with our greenstick.
That's not good.
If those lines chafe together,
it's game over.
We're gonna lose this fish.
It's right under the boat.
-Get it off that swivel.
-REED: Huh?
BANKS: Get it off the swivel.
(Reed grunting)
-BANKS: Hey.
-REED: Dude.
BANKS: Whew, that was close.
REED: Burned the (bleep) out of me.
BANKS (off screen):
So close on that crimp.
Hopefully we're gonna see some product
here on the deck in a minute
but you never know...
whose day it's gonna be, his or ours.
It could go either way.
REED: Tail rope
is hanging right on the bandit.
BANKS: Let's hope we need it.
REED (off screen): Crank, crank, crank.
Could be our $5,000 fish.
BANKS: I don't know.
The way he feels right now...
can't really tell if that fish
is a keeper for sure.
REED: That's not good.
BANKS: I'm fighting the fish
and it really doesn't have
a lot of weight,
so I'm pretty concerned
that this fish is a short.
-REED: There he is.
-BANKS: Yup, color.
REED (off screen): Hopefully he's legal.
Anytime we catch a fish that's less than
73 inches in overall length
we have to let it go.
This is a measure set
by our government
that keeps the stocks sustainable
for future generations.
BANKS: One more circle.
With the quota almost being caught up
catching a short right now and having to
let one go would be devastating.
REED: I don't know.
We're gonna have to pull him in.
BANKS: Right.
REED: Go get the tape.
He'll go right back out the door.
I'm guessing he is
not gonna be big enough.
BANKS: Looks like a short.
REED: Ah, he's 75. Legit.
-BANKS: We'll take him.
-REED: We'll take it.
BANKS: Nice.
REED: We know the season's
coming to a close,
we fish a tournament every day we go out.
We're competing against
some of the best fishermen in the world
and we're carrying on a family legacy.
Hopefully we're doing a good job.
When the quota closes
it's definitely my goal
to have the Wahoo
at the top of the earning list.
BANKS (off screen): Whoo!
REED: This is our eighth fish
of the season.
It's not the biggest fish
but we did catch one.
Every fish right now counts.
DENNIS: Nice little fish.
BANKS: It is a little one.
DENNIS: Good.
All right, guys, let's get it inside
and process it
and see what we got.
REED: Put that thing on my shoulder.
(laughter)
BANKS: Better than coming in with none.
DENNIS: Let's see what we got.
REED: We need this one to do well.
All right.
DENNIS: 165 pounds.
-BANKS: Nice.
-REED: Not bad. Nice little fish.
We'll take that.
BANKS: Definitely.
DENNIS: Okay, guys, let's see
what the core color is all about.
REED: That usually tells the tale.
Oh, nice.
BANKS (off screen): Pink and pretty.
All right, Dennis, what are we talking?
DENNIS: I'm loving the color on this fish.
You can practically see
through the tail slice.
It's got such brilliant clarity.
Unfortunately it's really lean.
DENNIS: If it had just
a touch more fat here.
REED: All right, well, seeing
he's got no fat and good color,
what are you thinking, Dennis?
Aim high, buddy.
DENNIS: $11 a pound.
REED: Oh, that's fine.
-BANKS: Nice.
-REED: We'll take that on that guy.
It's almost $2,000 for that fish.
Every paycheck we get
it's money in the bank.
It means the kids eat, bills get paid.
I'll take that every day
if you give me a guarantee.
-Well, thank you, Dennis.
-DENNIS: Good job.
Good luck tomorrow.
-REED: Thanks, bud.
-BANKS: See you later.
We've only got a couple days left
in this bluefin season.
The weather is predicted to blow
real hard tomorrow, 35 knots plus.
But with the season closing
we have to get out there
and make these last couple days count.
NARRATOR: As the fleet continues to fish,
now only 16% of the quota
is left to catch.
BRITTON: After going to church yesterday
I feel invigorated.
I just feel really good. I feel ready.
Lord, we come before You this morning.
We want to thank You
for those of us that are here.
The morning prayer
was started years ago
by a fisherman just like me.
It was a major shocker
that somebody would come on the radio
and say a prayer early in the morning,
but it's become part of the fabric
that makes our fleet what it is.
We're gonna ask You, Lord, to watch out
for each of the captains,
each of the mates.
Watch out for the guys and their fishing.
TYLER: Britton prays for everyone.
Whether you're a Southern boat
or a Northern boat, it doesn't matter.
And he's competing against me.
We're all competing for the same fish.
That's just something
you don't usually hear in Gloucester.
The Outer Banks is just a different place.
BRITTON: Lord be with us
as we go out here looking around
in this rough weather.
We do grant, Lord, that You
give us some of Your blessing.
It's not a shame to ask.
Amen.
REED (over radio): Amen to that.
Let's catch 'em up.
NICK (off screen): Jesus Christ.
GREG: God damn!
NICK: This (bleep) sucks.
GREG: Weather on the Outer Banks
in the wintertime
can change in a matter of minutes.
Sometimes it'll be
blue sky in the morning.
Next thing you know
it's blowing 35 northwest.
It's tough to catch these fish on any day.
And when you add eight-foot seas
and a ticking time bomb of a quota,
it's difficult.
REED (off screen): Whoo.
I'm gonna need my skins on
if we hook a fish.
BANKS: Saltwater cowboy today.
REED: Normally guys would
head back to the dock
when the weather gets rough like this.
But with the season winding down,
such few days left to fish,
we have to take our beating,
pay our dues and hopefully catch a fish.
BANKS: The Hard Merch is like
disappearing in between the swells.
Looks like he's getting
the (bleep) kicked out of him.
MARCIANO: We're psyched.
It's 11:00 in the morning.
I marked a bunch of fish back here.
We're just gonna get
everything stretched out,
then go right back over it.
Conditions are pretty piss-poor right now.
But there's no turning back now.
I came all the way down
to the Outer Banks
to provide for my family
but we've only caught six fish so far,
so we have to keep fishing.
JAY (off screen): It's getting nasty.
It's about 30 knots out here
but there's legit only about
two days left in the quota
if this fishing keeps up.
(monitor beeping)
MARCIANO (off screen):
Bunch of fish right here, Jay.
Big stack of 'em right here.
We don't have much time left.
This fishery could close
literally any minute.
We've gotta get one today
or we may not have any more chances.
(beeping continues)
JAY: This thing could go any second.
It could break away any second.
(beeping continues)
Oh, we got one! We're on, baby!
(monitor beeping)
JAY: This thing could go any second!
It could break away any second!
(beeping continues)
Oh, we got one! We're on, baby!
MARCIANO: We're on, we're on!
We got a fish.
We haven't seen anything all day.
And then, boom, all of a sudden we're on.
With the season
coming to a close like this
we need to capitalize
on every single fish that we hook.
JAY: Oh, yeah, we're on something!
MARCIANO: Yeah.
MARCIANO:
It's pullin'.
JAY: Keeps pulling.
MARCIANO (off screen): All right, color.
We've got color here.
Get a gaff ready, Jay.
Come on the other side of me, Jay.
Hang on, hang on.
We got him, we got him.
Ah, (bleep).
It's a yellowfin tuna.
It's not what we're looking for.
With this fish I could be missing out
on a bluefin tuna
which is gonna get me a paycheck.
This one we can't sell.
We're not gonna make a profit.
But basically we just caught dinner.
Let's get him back out.
I'd have to say at least
we're in the tuna zone.
All right, Jay, you good
getting the other stuff out?
JAY: Yup, yup.
MARCIANO: Let me get
pointed in the right direction.
We got a nice little yellowfin for dinner.
But one thing's for sure,
there's plenty of fish around.
We just gotta figure out what it takes
to get 'em to bite.
PAUL (off screen): Look at the size
of that one. It just went by. (laughs)
-TYLER (off screen): It was right there?
-PAUL: Right here.
That was cool.
TYLER: Holy (bleep).
PAUL: Hold on.
It's a 15 footer.
-Just love it.
-(monitor beeping)
Oh, there's the mark.
Watch out, right there.
(beeping continues)
TYLER: It's rough out,
and both Frenzy and Wahoo
have both caught fish.
We're falling behind.
But I'm extremely hopeful
that we can make something happen,
put a fish on the deck
before they call the season.
See that's the mark,
the mark of all marks.
(beeping continues)
-PAUL: Just one.
-TYLER: We need a bite.
Just one bite, yeah.
(beeping continues)
(line snaps)
TYLER: We're on! We're on, we're on.
Whoa! Let it go.
Back drag on there.
PAUL: Back up.
TYLER: Got him on. Jesus!
PAUL: Holy (bleep).
TYLER (off screen): Is he still there?
PAUL: Oh, yeah, he's still there.
Wow, dude! What a bite.
-Whoa!
-TYLER: Woo-hoo!
PAUL: Holy crap!
He's a big bastard!
(laughing)
Never ever been dumped like that before.
TYLER (over radio): Hooked up.
REED (off screen): What the (bleep).
(bleep).
PAUL: We're gonna get a lot of that back.
Gonna to get my sweatshirt on, all right?
And my gloves.
TYLER: Dude, he's got the ball down
right now, Paul.
The ball's down, he's dumping.
Really, really big fish.
Really big tuna here.
Get ready to get wet.
We got really big waves out here.
This is some of the roughest
sea conditions we've seen this season.
So this is big dangerous
Outer Banks fishing here.
So it's very important
we catch our fish quick.
PAUL: I'm going to put
my raincoat on for this one.
This is gonna be a wet fight.
TYLER: We're handlining
in this choppy water
because it gives us
more control over the fish
and we're less likely to pull a hook.
This is when this job gets dangerous.
All right, Paul,
we gotta get back a lot of line.
Be safe.
If we mess this up we can cost ourselves
our whole day of fishing.
PAUL: He's coming.
TYLER (off screen):
We gotta do this quickly.
Paul's gotta be real effective
when he pulls this fish in.
Big!
PAUL: Don't go back too much.
-TYLER (off screen): Of course.
-PAUL: Neutral.
TYLER: I'm in noochie.
Paul, I'm gonna get a knife.
Put it in my pocket
in case you get caught up.
PAUL: You got it, good idea.
TYLER: Always have
a handy dandy knife in your pocket
in case anything should happen.
And we got one underneath the rail
should Paul get in trouble.
We got a knife over here as well.
Got knives everywhere on board the boat.
It's very important
that you have knives at the ready
when you're handlining tunas.
Should one of us get
wrapped up in that line,
the other guy could cut you free.
What's going on, Paul? How are you doing?
PAUL: It's all arms right here.
Back up a touch.
TYLER: Paul's handlining this fish up
to the boat and I'm driving.
PAUL: Easy.
TYLER: We need to
be in perfect communication.
'Cause if we make one wrong move
we could lose this fish.
Color, deep color, deep color.
PAUL (off screen): We're on something.
Back up.
He's tail wrapped.
TYLER: The fish is tail wrapped.
This means that the line has gotten
wrapped around the fish's tail
during the fight.
With the wrapped lines
chafing against itself
it could give at any moment.
PAUL: Back up. Back up, back up!
He's tail wrapped.
Back up.
Back up. Back up, back up!
All right, neutral, neutral.
He's coming, he's coming. I got him.
Get a gaff, get a gaff!
Hurry up.
Ready?
Go ahead, Tyler. Gaff him, gaff him.
You got him.
Hey!
TYLER: Tail roped, dude. We got him!
PAUL: Nice job.
TYLER: Yeah, dude!
PAUL: We got him!
TYLER: We got him.
We got a nice 350 pounder here.
He's 500 in the whole.
PAUL: What a nice fish!
Going down.
Down, down, down,
down, down, down.
Nice butterball.
TYLER (off screen): Cool. Nice fish, Paul.
PAUL: I'm so happy right now, so happy.
89. Perfect!
TYLER: I love him!
(Paul laughs)
Things are great.
We're catching fish together.
I'm starting to feel like my old self.
Hey, we might have a shot
of winning this thing.
Gotta get the rig back out quick.
-PAUL: Yeah.
-TYLER: The quota's gonna run out.
They could shut the quota down today.
We're tryin' to catch up to Reed.
I don't know how many he's got,
but I think we're knocking on the door.
PAUL (off screen): Yes, we are.
TYLER: We're coming for you, Wahoo.
REED (over radio): Still marking 'em?
Check.
TJ (over radio): Yes, sir.
REED: Gotcha.
TJ (off screen): So far we are the losers.
A lot of boats working in one little area.
One little flurry.
We gotta get over to the right pack, man.
There's one pack that's biting.
Hopefully it's not
another day on loser's ledge.
BRITTON: Holy cow, look at that
place of two-tones.
A big school of porpoises.
We're last in earnings.
We're down but we're not out,
'cause the game's still goin' on.
(monitor beeping)
Oh, there's a mark.
That's a tuna mark.
I know what I've got to do.
We've got to catch some fish.
CAINE LIVESAY (laughing): Yeah.
BRITTON: Sitting around watching
my family starve is not an option.
Caine, jump that squid!
(muttering)
BRITTON: Tuna mark down here,
on the back side of these porpoise.
Jig that thing.
(beeping continues)
CAINE: God damn!
Got 'em on, baby.
(laughs)
Violent. That is violent, baby!
BRITTON: I need this
for my mental state, Caine.
CAINE: Ain't no doubt, brother.
Whoo!
BRITTON (over radio): Got 'em on.
Wow, game over.
TJ: Britton on the Doghouse
is a great guy.
That being said, if he lands this fish
we're gonna be in last place
and it's gonna be a total heartbreaker.
It can't get much worse right now.
CAINE: Whoo! It's taking a lot.
BRITTON: Good Lord willing,
I think it's gonna be a nice fish.
Got a crimp here.
Hey, snap the drag a little bit.
Hey, you go ahead.
I'll do that, I'll get that.
CAINE (off screen): Just pull that clip
right down to you.
BRITTON: When this season is over
my revenue source is over.
We need this fish.
CAINE: Go forward
when you get a chance, Britt.
Still got a lot of head shaking
going on here.
Forward.
Stay on there, Bessie.
BRITTON: He's fightin' like a big fish.
It's crucial that we catch it.
CAINE: There he goes,
there he goes, there he goes.
Still ain't ready.
Slow and easy, baby.
Slow and easy.
I see color.
Getting really close here now.
BRITTON: All right, come on, Caine,
we need it, baby.
Whoo! Huh?
BRITTON:
My jaws are clenched so tight,
I feel like I could
turn my teeth to powder.
CAINE: Oh! He just come off, Britt.
(gasps)
BRITTON: The fish has come off.
That's like a gutshot.
I mean, you, it's...
I feel like I swallowed a bowling ball.
It makes me want to puke.
CAINE (off screen): Still on there.
Now what the hell happened?
BRITTON: It come off or no?
He's on there.
Caine, you about gave me a heart attack.
The fish is still on.
CAINE: He slid past
another crimp is what happened.
BRITTON (off screen):
All the way to the bird.
When a big fish fights
sometimes the pressure would cause
the snap to slip position on the mainline
and slide all the way down to the bird.
I've heard about it,
but this is the first time
it's ever happened to me.
CAINE: My grip's about to go.
BRITTON: And now the snap has opened up.
Not an eighth of an inch of metal
is holding that fish on that mainline.
Like your life
passes in front of your eyes,
my whole, like, payday
passes before my eyes.
This fish could come off.
Come on, bud, come on.
CAINE (off screen):
Getting really close here now.
My grip's about to go.
BRITTON: Come on, bud! Come on!
You got to keep tension on him!
We gotta get him quick.
CAINE (off screen):
Watch the line, Britton.
Let's go, Britton.
BRITTON: I think we got 'em, bud.
Huh? Huh?
CAINE: Look! Look at that.
Look at that!
(laughs)
Whoo!
Needed that.
BRITTON: One, two, three.
(grunts)
Whoo!
CAINE: She's got a little shape to her.
How lucky is that?
BRITTON: That's a good day, cuz.
Well, I'll tell you that was close.
CAINE: Crimp.
BRITTON: Thank you, Jesus.
Season's still open
and the Doghouse
is on the comeback trail.
That is a blessing.
CAINE (off screen): Whoo!
What a way to end the day, baby!
TJ (off screen): It-it sucks.
Every day we come out here
we don't catch fish and other people do.
We gotta get in
before this wind gets worse.
Jarrett?
JARRETT (off screen): What's up?
TJ: Let's reel 'em in.
We're gonna get going, dude.
JARRETT: I'll bring 'em in.
TJ: We struck out today.
It's a miserable feeling
to come home with an empty deck
especially knowing that the season
could be shut down at any given hour.
If the quota isn't met
and we have one more day to fish tomorrow
it'll be a bloodbath on the Hot Tuna.
(Reba barks)
PAUL: What's up, boys?
LUCAS: What's up, Paul?
Way to get one in there.
TYLER: Hey, gotta get 'em quick, you know.
-LUCAS: Yeah.
-TYLER: Got a nice one.
LUCAS: How'd you catch it?
-TYLER: We handlined it to the boat.
-LUCAS (off screen): Really?
-BUBBA: Well, let's get it off the boat.
-LUCAS: Yeah.
Get you guys back out there
before the season closes.
BUBBA: It's pretty big.
PAUL (off screen):
I'm thinkin' it's very girthy.
The shape is gorgeous.
TYLER: It doesn't even fit on the palate.
LUCAS: 327 pounds.
TYLER: Woo-hoo.
PAUL: All right, nice.
Hopefully we'll get a good price for that.
LUCAS (off screen):
All right, let's see how you did.
PAUL: Ohh! (laughs)
Huh?
BUBBA (off screen): No burn.
LUCAS: Can't complain about the core.
Yeah, the color's good.
TYLER: That means big money, right?
LUCAS: I mean,
we're looking at $16 a pound.
TYLER: Whoo.
-PAUL: Hell yeah, dude.
TYLER: Yeah.
$16 a pound, that's over $5,000.
Can't do any better than that.
PAUL: I'll take that
for every fish I ever catch
for the rest of my life.
(laughs)
-LUCAS: What's up, Shaq?
-BRITTON: Hey, bud.
We need this fish
to be a high-dollar fish very badly.
We haven't caught enough fish
really to break even
so we need to get
a little bit of debt off.
LUCAS: Way to get it done, bro.
Let's check it out.
Nice shape.
See what she dresses.
CAINE (off screen):
She got a little roundness to her.
-LUCAS: Yup.
-CAINE: Like my belly.
BRITTON: If all of 'em
just dressed out like Caine did...
CAINE: Plenty of fat content.
BRITTON: There wouldn't be any meat.
LUCAS (off screen): 315 pounds.
BRITTON (off screen): 315?
-LUCAS (off screen): Dressed.
-CAINE: Bigger than we thought.
LUCAS: Let's see how she looks.
CAINE: Come on, no whammies,
no whammies, no whammies!
LUCAS (off screen): Not too bad.
Really nice color.
Just a tiny bit of fat.
-BRITTON: No fat.
-LUCAS: Tiny bit.
I mean, the core is beautiful.
You know, can't complain
about the color in the core.
BRITTON (off screen): Talk to me, Lucas.
Don't think too hard.
LUCAS: 14 bucks a pound.
BRITTON: 14? I'll take it.
LUCAS: Yeah.
CAINE: $4,500, so, yeah, jack me up.
That'll get me through another day here.
-BRITTON: Thank you, man.
-LUCAS (off screen): All right.
CAINE: Glad we stayed till dark.
BRITTON: Thank you. Yeah, really.
LUCAS: Thank you, guys.
BRITTON: I feel very, very good
about the return on this fish.
I can't wait to take this paycheck home
to my wife.
LUCAS: Hopefully we'll see you tomorrow.
-If it's closed, then...
-CAINE: Yeah.
LUCAS: ...we'll see you next season.
-CAINE: Thank you, guys.
-LUCAS: All right, guys.
BRITTON: We've been down
a big part of the season.
If they don't shut the fishery,
you better look out
'cause here comes the Doghouse.
NARRATOR: At the end of day 20...
Doghouse's fish propels them
out of last place
and ahead of Hot Tuna.
While Pin Wheel's five grand payday
edges them closer to the top spot.
And after weigh-ins across the fishery
now only 10% of the quota
is left to catch.
REED: It's anybody's game.
The only way a fisherman's
gonna survive down here
the next few months
is to stack his deck with bluefins
before time's up.
BRITTON: You can hear that
tick-tick-tick in your head.
It's like a time bomb.
MARCIANO: To feed my family
I'm willing to push this boat
to the edge of the Atlantic
before they shut this fishery down.
GREG: We're gonna go take
our chunk out of the quota.
PAUL: We're not giving up.
They're not giving up.
We're taking that number one spot!
(laughs)
Captioned by Point.360