‘Deadliest Catch’ Captains Talk Sacrifice, the Next Generation of Fishing

The Deadliest Catch captains have come a long way together.

In Tuesday’s all-new episode of Deadliest Catch: The Bait, “old salt” Captains Keith Colburn, Sig Hansen and Bill “Wild Bill” Wichrowski sat down together to discuss the their storied histories on the Bering Sea, and bringing up Captains Jake Anderson, Josh Harris and Casey McManus into their ranks.

When Colburn asked Hansen when he thought he would stop seeing the younger captains as kids, the fiesty Northwestern leader replied, “Never! And I don’t mean that as an insult.”

He continued, telling Harris, “I don’t care if i make it ’til 95 and you’re 75 or whatever. You’re always gonna be like my kid. I’ve known Casey since he was a little puppy.”

But Hansen did give the newer captains their dues as far as it comes to holding their own, saying, “You are peers already. You guys know that, but it’s hard to admit.”

Reflecting back on his first days at sea as a greenhorn on the Northwestern at age 26 in 2007, Saga Captain Anderson admitted, “I was so scared,” adding, “I don’t even believe I’m sitting here right now, honest to God.”

But as he comes into his own, turning the Saga around from a “rust bucket” into a respected fishing boat, Anderson admitted he has been thinking about his legacy in his own family, especially when it comes to his two young children.

“I think a lot of what I’ve sacrificed is time at home … and the truth is I’m questioning right now, do I want to end up like Keith or like [Bill] with my family?”

Those thoughts have gotten even stronger since the most recent Opilio crab season, which was both dangerous and frustrating as far as crab pull is concerned.

“It’s just been a whirlwind” with his kids, he explained, “and I’m going, ‘Where the hell have I been?’ And I love doing this.”

Wild Bill understood his questioning, responding, “That’s a really mature way of looking at it.”

But would the veteran captains change anything about their own paths? “Hell no, I wouldn’t,” Hansen said. “And where you guys are at right now, you’re in your prime. You guys are hungry and you’re just vigilant and you wanna go … if you don’t do what you did … you would never get to where you’re at.”

Photo credit: Discovery