The opener of the fifth season finds two captains combating life-threatening illnesses while the fleet strives to recover from debts incurred by summer repair bills.
In the second week of the season, a brutal storm keeps the captains fixated on their radios as a distress call is made.
A typhoon makes waves, and stories about a sunken ship cast a pall over the fleet.
Hazing incidents and grueling hours at sea test the greenhorns on the fourth week of the king crab season.
Empty crab pots leave the skippers stumped while the long hours make their crews temperamental.
The skippers face adversity in the form of an arctic storm, battles within the ranks and a drop in the price of king crab.
Fished-out grounds create bleak conditions for the fleet as the king crab season winds down.
The 2009 Opilio crab (aka snow crab) season begins. While the hauls make up for shortcomings endured during the king crab season, the fleet is imperiled by an oncoming ice pack and a monstrous rogue wave.
The fleet reaches the Opilio fishing grounds, where the crews must contend with icy, treacherous seas and shoddy information concerning their quarry.
The third week of the Opilio crab season brings conditions that turn the crabbers crabby. Also: a skipper must contend with icy seas.
An ice pack blocks the fleet from the St. Paul harbor, hampering the skipper's efforts to off-load their Opilio crab hauls.
The skippers must contend with frozen crabs, frozen gear and an icy harbor. Meanwhile, one captain struggles against his cigarette addiction and a wicked storm.
The skippers take their crews to the far north after hearing about good fishing reports near the ice pack.
Serious mistakes ensue as the fleet becomes fatigued, and one fisherman must cope with a heartbreaking tragedy on land.
The Coast Guard mobilizes after a massive arctic storm results in multiple maydays.
An arctic storm front menaces the fleet near the end of the Opilio-crab season, and a tight-knit crew comes undone.
In the fifth-season finale, a storm results in multiple Maydays in the last day of the 2009 Opilio-crab season, and the Coast Guard is summoned to save four men before their ship becomes wrecked by jagged rocks.