Swords: Life on the Line
Upcoming episodes
May 25th
600a
Deckhands Down
Captain Slick arrives to the fishing grounds only to find out he is in second position and not exactly where he wanted to be. After a hurried set out, the crew on the Frances Anne experiences an exhausting first haul back. Even though the rough day turned out to be a solid first set, the captain is less than happy about his young gun crew and is not afraid to express it. The seas are high and so are the tensions on the Bjorn II. After a morning of colossal waves and monster fish the crew soon realizes that this is not lobstering. After a man goes down, Captain Linda quickly orders another off the deck. With two men down can the renowned sword fisherman reclaim her title? On the Eagle Eye II, Captain Scotty knows that he will not have another 10,000-pound day but he is testing the waters and using his experience to plot out his next move. After sharing information with Captain Linda and the Bjorn II, Scotty and his crew catch a slew of blue dogs but keep shark tagger, Lisa Natanson, busy. The Eagle Eye II wonders if this wave of less than stellar sets has to do with the bad luck that the Bjorn II has been having. The fishing vessel Big Eye has finally made it to the Grand Banks fishing grounds and the captain is chomping at the bit to set out. With a greenhorn and the rest of the crew older than himself Captain Chris is cautiously optimistic about how their first trip will go. After an average catch and beeper buoy mayhem aboard, Chris is wondering if his decision to go to the Grand Banks was a good one.
May 25th
700a
Turf War
The luck has changed on the Frances Anne. After a week of great fishing, Captain Kleme and his crew of 20-somethings are all sharked up. When they’re not pulling in blue sharks what they do catch is nothing but shark bait. To make matters worse, Slick’s lead deckhand, Lemmy Eastburn, neglects his duties and lets the boat’s fish hold fill with water putting the boat’s 50,000 catch and his job at risk. After a season and a half without turning a profit Captain Linda on the Bjorn II turns it around. She continues to work with the fleet’s top earner, Captain Scotty on the Eagle Eye II. As the dream team of Scotty and Linda continue to pack their holds with fish, they hope the rest of the fleet won’t get wise to their numbers and try to muscle in on their water. The seasoned crew aboard the Eagle Eye II battle the elements beyond the capacity of their gear. Stormy seas part the mainline with a backlash that knocks veteran deckhand Tommy Fox to the ground. Meanwhile, last season the fiberglass-hulled, Big Eye suffered damage due to the harsh Grand Banks weather. This season Captain Chompers pushes his crew and his boat to their limits so he can get off the Grand Banks before fall weather picks up. He’ll cross anything in his path to get what he wants – even another boat’s gear. Finally, chaos ensues when another long line captain muscles his way into Scotty and Linda’s prime piece of water. Scotty manages to defend his turf, but Linda may not be so fortunate. Against all odds, Chompers manages to fill his boat, but he’s got a 1000-mile steam and a storm the size of Texas standing between him and home.
May 25th
800a
Overloaded and Into the Storm
On what could be the last day of the fall season for Captain Linda and her crew, Mother Nature has set a high price for swordfish. Violent seas toss Captain and crew about as they race to fill the hold with some of the biggest fish Captain Linda has ever seen. By the end of a bruising day, Linda and the crew of the Bjorn II are headed for Newfoundland and their first offload of the season. Slow fishing has the crew of the Eagle Eye II on edge when deckhand Darryl Wallace loses what could be the only big money fish of the day. Moods improve with the fishing as a twenty-thousand-dollar bluefin tuna is hauled aboard. With the valuable fish packed away in the hold, Captain Scotty and the crew brave rough weather to set the gear again. With a boat full of Grand Banks swords, Captain Chompers and the crew of the little southern boat, Big Eye, are in the middle of a thousand mile steam to New Bedford. Low on fuel, Captain Chompers has no choice but to push through the heart of a strengthening storm the size of Texas. At the dock, a fiery offload blow up leaves Chompers a man down. Despite a run of bad blood between Captain Chris Kleme and deckhand Lemmy Eastburn, all is forgiven amid an epic run of great fishing. By the end of the trip, Captain Slick and the crew of the Frances Anne have the fish hold stuffed and are packing fish anywhere they can find space. With what could be the biggest trip ever on board, the Frances Anne’s young gun crew has secured coastal bragging rights.
Jun 1st
600a
So Close but So Far…
The first trips of the swordfishing season are over and the Bjorn II and Frances Anne offload massive catches. But with a storm gathering on the horizon, everyone is racing to leave the dock. On the Eagle Eye II, Captain Scotty’s headed in to claim a high market price for his catch – but going to the dock now means he’s on a collision course with a hurricane force storm. Even hundreds of miles away on Georges Bank, there’s no escaping the effects of the storm. The Frances Anne and the Big Eye are hauling their first sets of the second trip and the results aren’t promising. For the Big Eye’s Captain Chompers, rising expenses mean he has to pull in huge numbers with every set. But the storm’s wreaking havoc with the gear and may have put Chompers out of business. In Bay Bull’s Newfoundland, the Bjorn II’s been trapped at the dock by the storm. They’re awaiting the arrival of the Eagle Eye II, but there’s been no word from Scotty for hours. Once the Eagle Eye II reaches the harbor, the storm will make this the hardest docking Captain Scotty has ever attempted – putting his catch, his boat, and his life on the line.
Jun 1st
700a
Man Overboard
Captain Slick has to whip his crew of young guns into shape after they’ve partied a little too hard on shore after the first trip—a couple thousand pounds of fish will cure any hangover. Fishing is thin the next day so Slick has Lemme run the haulback. He catches his first “marker” a swordfish over 100 pounds. Slick bets Lemme that’ll he’ll catch a bigger fish that day. The loser has to cook dinner for the crew. The crew is looking to break even and start putting money in their pockets when the boat owner suddenly calls them back in. A nasty storm is brewing and he doesn’t want his valuable crew and boat bobbing around the north Atlantic in high seas. It’s a disappointing end to a promising trip. The Eagle Eye II is unloading their huge catch from their first trip to the Grand Banks. Over 45,000 pounds of fish come off the boat. And nothing is more impressive than the bluefin tuna weighing in at over 600 pounds. The tuna broker is right there to price the fish and truck it immediately to New York where it will serve as fare to one of the many sushi restaurants in Manhattan. Linda is disappointed to see Scotty’s big fish. She thought the Bjorn had a big off load but none of her fish matched Scotty’s. They’d had a friendly hundred-dollar wager on who would catch the largest fish. Linda’s wallet is now a little lighter. Worse for Linda, Scotty gets off the dock before she does. The Grand Banks season is rapidly coming to an end, and she doesn’t want her rival getting the last of the fish, but both of them are stopped in their tracks by a massive storm Nor’easter bearing down on the banks. Now we’re not talking fish, we’re talking survival. After a harrowing couple of days Linda decides to run west to Georges Banks. Her crew and her boat are beat up and they’ve yet to put any fish in the hole. It’s time to try her luck somewhere else.
Jun 1st
800a
Needle and Thread to the Head
Captain Linda is worried that the season could be over. Unfortunately, the problems on the Bjorn II aren’t limited to a lack of fish. A broken jog leaver makes it impossible to steer the boat and leaves Linda dead in the water during her first haulback on the coastal waters. Meanwhile, Dave is up to his old tricks and the crew is finding it hard to mask their discontent. The Eagle Eye II is the last boat on the Grand Banks. Captain Scotty only catches one fish with all forty miles of gear. Finally, he decides to head south and join the rest of the fleet, but the coastal waters turn out to be more treacherous than he imagined. Chompers’ luck takes a turn for the worse when his buddy Don falls overboard during set out. Once the captain can see that Don needs stitches, he wants to call in a medivac, but with milk and diapers to buy at home, Don has another idea. Boat owner Rick Mears calls the Frances Anne back to the dock early (due to bad weather) even though the fish hold is empty. With no fish, no money and none of his young crew listening, Captain Kleme has a meltdown of biblical proportions. When Slick gets into port, owner Rick Mears has to make up for the profits he lost by bringing the boat in early…even if that means taking the captain’s chair himself.
Jun 8th
600a
Trapped
On the Frances Anne, boat owner Rick Mears has taken over as captain after Slick’s money-losing trip. Despite new leadership, the fishing is no better. With continued slow fishing, crew confidence in new Captain Rick erodes. Under pressure, Rick finally finds the fish amid rough weather and the crew rejoices. On the Eagle Eye II, Captain Scotty’s gamble to fish near the bank has his gear tangled in the traps. As the crew struggles with the tangles, deckhand Brian is whipped by snapping line. By the end of the search, Captain Scotty is down two full sections of gear and moves off the bank to set out under the full moon. The full moon delivers, and the Eagle Eye II is back on the fish, but approaching weather threatens Scotty’s new spot. On the Bjorn II, Captain Linda’s lack of familiarity with the local grounds has her striking out. After another sharked-up day, she’s reaching out for help from local captains and decides to fish closer to the bank. Along the bank, the trouble continues for the Bjorn II as Linda finds the traps and is parted off. Searching in rough weather, Linda finds her gear and ends up with a catch to end the day. On the Big Eye, Captain Chompers has steamed south, betting his trip that the southern waters of the Gulf Stream will produce. As the fish head south Chomps gear is in their path and the crew of the Big Eye has their best day since leaving the Grand Banks, but trouble is on the horizon. Hurricane Ida is headed for the little Big Eye and with mainline fouling his propeller, the Bigeye is dead in the water.
Jun 8th
700a
What Happened on the Back Deck?
Across the fleet supplies are running low, fish are migrating away from the coastal waters, and the season’s most violent storm is on the horizon. But with only a few days left in the season, captains across the fleet are doing whatever it takes to find the fish. On the Big Eye, Captain Chomps is low on bait and food, and without enough fish on board to make a paycheck, he’s headed for another broker trip. With only enough bait for one more set, he has no choice but to try to get the smallest boat in the fleet through the storm. Desperate to land a huge trip, Frances Anne owner Rick Mears pushed former captain Slick aside and took command of the boat. But they still haven’t broken even, and they’re also running low on bait and supplies. Rick has just enough bait for two more sets – his last chance to prove he still has what it takes to bring in the fish. On the Bjorn II, Captain Greenlaw’s also fishing through the storm trying to break even. But she’s forced off deck when her finger is crushed by the hauling block. As her battered crew tries desperately to bring in the gear, the brutal conditions send a deckhand overboard. Captain Scotty on the Eagle Eye II fears the storm will scatter the fish and put him back at square one. But the experienced captain gambles and sets his gear, hoping the fish are still around. But the storm makes setting twice as tough, and twice as dangerous. With each roll of the boat, the line stretches to its breaking point, ready to snap at any moment and lash back at the crew like a bullwhip loaded with razor sharp hooks.
Jun 8th
800a
What it Takes to be a Fisherman
As the fall fishing season comes to a close, captains and crews across the fleet hope for big fish and big money on their final haulbacks. With crews giving everything they have left, muscling fish and shark alike, many are relieved to be only hours away from dry land. Linda and her crew aboard the Bjorn II steam into Barnegat Light nursing injuries. EMTs wait for the boat to land, ready to examine Linda’s sliced finger and take her away to the hospital. The dock is a welcome sight to deckhand Dave Hiltz, whose anxiety about fishing and being thrown overboard is too much to control now. At the end of the day, the crew relives the season’s ups and downs over a swordfish dinner at a local restaurant. Captain Chomps and his Big Eye crew will themselves through their last haulback, which turns up big fish. Afterwards, with no bait left, and no food or supplies left for the crew, Chomps is forced to take it into port in time for Thanksgiving. The holidays bring bad tidings, however, as Chomps knows he will lose Glen and Don from the crew. After their offload in South Carolina, Don makes a move to stay on board, and Chomps makes a move to get rid of him. Chomps walks away at the end, knowing he and his brother Woody will most likely have to fish by themselves. Scotty and the crew of the Eagle Eye II, after dodging a loose lobster trap, pull up their last, big haulback. As they ride into port, they are clearly the season’s top earners. As big fish after big fish get pulled from the hold in Massachusetts, the crew celebrates their big paydays after hard work. The Frances Anne and her crew pulls into port after Captain Rick’s biggest fishing day. The tension lasts, though, between Rick and ex-Captain Slick, with Slick’s concern about ever piloting the Frances Anne again after being demoted. His worries don’t last long, however, and after he and Rick meet for beers at a local bar, Rick assures him Slick’s the man for the job.