Ten years ago, the Discovery Channel debuted a unique (at the time) type of reality show about dudes fishing for crab on the Bering Sea.  This was back when there was still good stuff on the Discovery Channel, so I was quickly roped in by it.  Unlike all of the subsequent would-be imitators across basic cable, there was something compelling about the people featured on the show.  They do a fantastic job editing together character arcs for some of the fishermen involved over the years that has held my attention for a decade.

I’m not the only one who has enjoyed the program since it quickly became Discovery’s highest rated show.  Then they made the mistake of trying to make the entire network look like that and it eventually lead to its precipitous slide into the mostly terrible garbage that pollutes my former favorite cable channel.  But Deadliest Catch still holds up.

Deadliest Catch merchandise is a mainstay of all the gift shops that line the waterfront of Ketchikan and I’m sure every other port of call in Alaska.

as seen on TV

Yesterday, one of the boats that has been featured on the show steamed by.  The Tongass Narrows in front of Ketchikan make up part of the “Inside Passage”; a navigable path for ships large and small among the islands between Puget Sound and the Gulf of Alaska that is protected from the open ocean and is the preferred route for most vessels.

This is the F/V Kodiak which was on the show when it was captained by the big dude with the large beard and long, white hair.  He’s running some other boat on the current season.

A different Deadliest Catch alumni is quite obviously no longer in the commercial fishing game.  The F/V Aleutian Ballad was on a couple early seasons of Deadliest Catch.  These days, it capitalizes on the popularity of the show by taking visitors out on guided tours.

Yes, that’s two levels of stadium seating that have been installed to accommodate tourists.  Seems like a humble second life for a ship where men used to risk their lives in pursuit of high-end seafood.

Speaking of which, I have the gear and licenses I need to start plying the local waters for my own not-so-deadly catch.  Because of the amount of stuff we needed to fly up with for the job, and because of my distrust of the airlines to properly handle any of my fishing rods, I’ve elected to buy new gear up here.  Also none of my stuff was at the same time sturdy and portable enough to bring along.  With another rain day in the forecast for tomorrow, I plan to test out the new equipment on some area waters.