Captain kids

 

‘Catch’s Captain Keith on Phil Harris and reckless fisherman

 

Captain Keith Colburn doesn’t mince words. The man in the Wizard's wheel house definitely has opinions when it comes to the frailty of life, fishing for crab in the Bering Sea, or young captains trying to make a name for themselves.

On the eve of the Season 7 return of Deadliest Catch – which happens tonight on Discovery – we spoke to the former ski bum about the death of his friend, his addiction to tobacco and how a rookie mistake behind the wheel can kill.

TVGuide.ca: How are you doing?
Keith Colburn: Don’t tell anybody, but I’m coughing on a piece of quiche. (Laughs.) That doesn’t help the aura, does it?

TVG: Is that typical captain’s fare, when you’re sitting in the wheel house?
KC: No, it’s not. I’m down here in Seattle and they’re just trying to stuff some food into me.

TVG: Last season was particularly poignant for everybody because of the loss of Captain Phil. Can you talk a little bit about his death and how it affected you?
KC: Every time we lose one of our guys out there, it has an impact. You work in the Bering Sea for five years, you’re going to know someone who went down. You work in the Bering Sea for 25 years, like I have, not only will you have lost comrades and fellow fishermen, but you will have lost good friends. It never gets any easier. I think it’s probably gets a little tougher every time because we start to feel a little more mortal as the years go by.

Phil was a guy who knew the clock was ticking. He was one of those guys who knew sooner or later it was going to be his last season, and it was almost kind of creepy to listen to him talk about it. Every season he would punch the clock and hopefully come back, but he knew one of these seasons it wasn’t going to happen. And, it happened last year.

TVG: How did that affect your thoughts on your addiction? You’ve been addicted to chewing tobacco for years. How did his death affect that? Did you quit for good, or are your kids still calling you to check up on you?
KC: My daughter and my son are constantly trying to help me get through my addiction. It’s one of those things I have yet to conquer, which really sucks. Over the last 10 years I’ve probably quit 10 times, anywhere from a month to six months. Unfortunately, I’m still battling that. You feel like you’re pretty much in charge of things, but then you realize you’re human and mortal and some things … when we’re out there fishing, we’ve got so few crutches to lean on, and that’s why you see so many guys smoking and chewing and drinking gallons of coffee. That’s literally what we run on. It’s just one of those things that gets you through the stress.

TVG: Let’s talk about some stuff that isn’t so serious. Are you still amazed by the fans you recognize you on the street?
KC: It is a little overwhelming at times. Sometimes you go through days where a couple people do a double-take and look at you, and other days it seems like every other person you bump into knows you, knows the show and thinks they know who you are. They almost feel like they are a part of your family. And, now it’s to the point where – I was just in the airport the other day – and two ladies had their backs to me. I was talking to the guy sitting next to me, and all of a sudden I hear “Wizard … Captain Keith.” It was that they recognized my voice. So, it gets a little crazy when it’s not just recognizing what you look like, but actually recognizing you because of your voice. It’s a cool experience, but I can also see some celebrities who want to have their privacy because there’s times when I want to have lunch with my family and I want to not be a crab fisherman, I want to be a dad or be myself.

 

TVG: How has the show affected the number of greenhorns that you have show up to try and find a job? KC: There are a lot of guys who think they can do it, and a lot of guys who just want to try and do it. I have guys all the time who ask me for work, whether it’s face to face or via email to my website or whatever. You don’t know who is asking for the job. Is it a guy who wants to win a bar wager with his best friend, is it a guy who just wants to go bungee-jump for a day? Or is it a guy who wants to take what he do for a living seriously and wants to become a professional crab fisherman? Guys come out and can make $25,000 in four to five weeks. A 20-year-old kid who has never made $25,000 in his entire life, and you would think the kid would be like, “Oh, I’m coming back next year, because next year I might make $40 or $50 grand.” And, as soon as they get off the boat, they’re like, “Goodbye and good riddance.”

We had a greenhorn last season, Paul, who four months after the season was done he got the feeling back in his hands. Your hands go numb, it’s like the worst case of arthritis you’ve ever felt, and about two months after he had gotten off the boat, he kept hearing a buzzing in his ear. He didn’t know what the hell it was. They flushed his ear out repeatedly, and finally, they flushed a herring scale out of his ear.

TVG: Oh, man.
KC: Yeah. It’s not like you hop off the boat and get a good night’s rest. There is a lot of lingering suffering that goes on after you get off the boat.

TVG: I was going over your bio, and you have a fascinating story. You left the ski hills behind for crabbing when you were 22. How long did it take you before you knew this was what you wanted to do as a career?
KC: For the first couple of years it was for the adventure. The next few years it was all about working my way into a position where I was making some really good money. Most guys who fish crab come home and pay their taxes in April from the previous year and say “This is gonna be my last year.” Then you see them on the boat in the fall. And it wasn’t until Year 5 when I realized, “You know what? This is something I’m good at, I actually enjoy it, and I think I’m going to see what the next step is.” The next step was to go out and get my mate’s licence, then my captain’s licence and, ultimately, pushing and applying myself to sit upstairs in the driver’s seat.

That’s the thing. It’s not like handing Bobby the keys to the car when he turns 16. It’s not like, “Well, you have your learner’s permit, we went out driving a few times, take it out on the freeway.” On TV, the Bering Sea looks chaotic and dangerous. It’s a lot more dangerous than it looks on TV. All you have to do, as a captain, is screw up one little bit and that wave you’re trying to avoid … the next you thing you know you have guys rolling down the deck or, worse, rolling down the deck and over the other side.

TVG: What was the crabbing like this past season?
KC: This year, the fleet and we in general, struggled. We struggled early. In king crab fishing, I had the worst fishing I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve never seen it that bad before and it didn’t matter what I tried, it didn’t work. But, the tides started to slack up, and good things started to happen. We got a little bit of a scent, and in my case we did well. The price was extremely good for us this year, so even though we had to work a little for it the king, it was OK.

 

TVG: What was the crabbing like this past season? KC: This year, the fleet and we in general, struggled. We struggled early. In king crab fishing, I had the worst fishing I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve never seen it that bad before and it didn’t matter what I tried, it didn’t work. But, the tides started to slack up, and good things started to happen. We got a little bit of a scent, and in my case we did well. The price was extremely good for us this year, so even though we had to work a little for it the king, it was OK.

TVG: Last question – what’s your take on the crew of the new boats featured this season, the Ramblin’ Rose and the Seabrook?
KC: Um, my take on the two crews. Let’s see. Well, I’ve known Junior on the Seabrook for years. He’s a very competent captain. I’ve known his dad for years as well. He’s a driver, the kind of guy who doesn’t take a whole lot of breaks and pushes himself and his boat right to the limit all the time. He is also very capable and knows the limitations of his boat and his crew.

Elliot on the Ramblin’ Rose … is um … he’s a bit of a wild card. Even though he has a smaller boat ... his boat bobs more than it does drive through waves. I don’t think he’d do too well driving my boat. Some boats are little sports cars and some boats are Sherman tanks. The Wizard is a Sherman tank, and you need someone who knows how to drive that in order to keep from killing people.

I think Elliot is reckless. I’m going to be straightforward. He’s young, and he’s trying to make a name for himself, and I just hope he doesn’t take too many chances.

 

Deadliest Catch returns Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Discovery.

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Video: Teaser trailer for Season 7