Keith Colburn stopped driving The Wizard during the June 15 episode of Deadliest Catch, called his brother Monte for help and handed the boat over after a massive wave and worsening Bering Sea conditions left him shaken and unable to continue.
On deck, the danger was immediate: a wave surged onto the working deck, Colburn ordered everyone inside, and Freddy Maugatai was struck in the back by the crane. Colburn told the crew he had reached his limit — "I don't think I can drive this boat...That's all I got...Enough is enough," — then phoned Monte "Mouse" Colburn and said, in Colburn's words, "Take care of my girl."
The episode put a number on the strain: The Wizard was burning through about $5,000 of fuel per day while chasing quotas, and Colburn still had roughly 360,000 pounds and a $2.2 million bairdi entitlement left to land. The stress of those stakes, Colburn recalled, echoed a season in 2008 when a wave had overwhelmed the vessel and he could not even see his crew.
That practical pressure became a new problem for Monte the moment he climbed aboard. He discovered that Keith had left 50 baited pots in an area that is out of bounds. The misplaced gear turns a personnel crisis into a procedural one: Monte inherited not only a heavily worked boat and anxious crew but an unresolved pot placement that could complicate the season's catch or invite regulatory scrutiny.
The episode also showed other captains wrestling with the same storm. Sig Hansen, on the Northwestern, had targeted 30,000 pounds before weather worsened; a pot injured deckhand Karl Rasmussen's toe, and the ship needed azithromycin. Hansen rang Rick Shelford, who supplied the medication, and then volunteered the Northwestern to guide Shelford's vessel so Shelford could place his pots in safer spots — a hint at how cooperation among boats becomes vital when the sea turns.
The weight of the scene is not only dramatic language and bruised bodies. It is the arithmetic of a commercial season: fuel costs, large remaining quotas and the mechanics of baited pots. Colburn's decision to step back removed one experienced captain from the wheel at a moment when every pot, pound and hour of fuel affects whether a boat meets its quota or loses buying power and time.
The friction is sharp and specific. Colburn felt he could not safely drive; Monte took command; and Monte found 50 baited pots in an out-of-bounds area. The show leaves an immediate gap between those facts and their consequence — there is no on-screen resolution about whether the pots were retrieved, moved, or reported, or whether any fines or forfeitures will follow.
What happens next is straightforward and consequential: Monte Colburn must steer The Wizard through the same weather and manage the exposed pot issue while the season's large remaining bairdi quota waits on the line. The episode ends the moment of transfer, not the problem; whether Keith Colburn's season is harmed depends on how Monte addresses the 50 baited pots and whether regulators or the fleet treat the placement as an administrative hazard or a penalty case. For now, the operational outcome rests with Monte — he took the wheel, and the unresolved pot placement is the season's next, and sharpest, test.
