Yahoo News EXCLUSIVE: 'Deadliest Catch' Star Johnathan Hillstrand's Rookie Mistake Lands Him in Hot Water
For the past 11 years, the Bering Sea has become the home for audiences following the men risking their lives aboard fishing vessels during crab fishing season on Deadliest Catch.
On the intense new season, which returns to Discovery on Tuesday, March 29, the veteran captains are joined by the show's youngest skipper to date, 23-year-old Sean Dwyer, who is following in the footsteps of his recently-departed father.
However, it's the show's longtime captains who are making the rookie mistakes.
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In the premiere, Jonathan Hillstrand, who became a full-time fisherman after high school, misreads the time and rushes to get his pots in the water.
"I thought it was noon, and I got excited and I had the guys drop a pot," he explains in ETonline's exclusive clip, which shows a Coast Guard helicopter circling the vessel.
By fishing early, Hillstrand put himself in hot water with the law and the mistake could cost him and his brother Andy a quarter million dollars -- and their fishing license.
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Meanwhile, life on the other veteran ships hasn't been so easy. In the new season, Sig Hansen makes a bold risk to search for crab in an area he hasn't fished in over a decade and Bill Wichrowski turns to his son to train a new crew.
The new season also comes after a dramatic year off-screen for the extended Deadliest Catch family. In July, a producer was shot and killed outside his Pasadena, California home. Joe McMahon, 25, worked on several episodes in 2013. Less than a month later, captain Tony Lara died at 50 after ten years manning the Cornelia Marie.
Deadliest Catch airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel.
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