Hansen's Fight

Who is Eric Hansen?

A Bering Sea Crab Fisherman - A Highliner

At the tender age of 14, Eric Hansen, called "Hansen" by his friends, was left in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, by his dad. He got a job on a boat, learned the trade, and then taught others.

Hansen became a "highliner." Now, highliner is not a term I ever remember hearing on Deadliest Catch. I discovered what this term meant when I read a book called Lessons From the Seaby Steven R. Smith.

Here are a couple of quotes from Steven's book.

• "Highliners will often work 80 hours straight without a nap. Highliners never fish for money but rather for the competition and the chance to be number one."
• "Highliners are a different breed; they don't demand respect...they get it. They get the best crews, best equipment and will stop at nothing to be number one."
• "Commercial fishermen look at the money and hope to hit the jackpot and get rich."

If you haven't read this book, you really should grab a copy.

I don't know if highliners even exist anymore. They may have gone away with the days of derby fishing. It seems like without the competition of the derby, how could there be highliners? I'll have to find out the answer to that. I miss the derby days.

Now it's whoever has the most quota wins. You pretty much know who wins before they leave the dock. It doesn't matter who has the best crew, or who knows where the "good" spots are. If a boat has a low quota, they aren't going to get that number one spot no matter how hard they work, or how many hours of sleep they go without, it doesn't matter. It's all about the quota.

I have talked to several highliners over the years. You won't hear them toot their own horn. They didn't have to, people knew who they were. They still don't. It's kind of odd really, the not bragging.

Now, if you're an interrogator, like I tend to be, I'm a curious cat, you can get out of them that they were highliners, and you get these awesome highliners to tell you some pretty cool stories. 

Hansen helped one buddy, David Lethin, to build his first crab boat. You may know of David or Dave from the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour in Ketchikan. Hansen then taught him to fish for King Crab, trained others, and they became the number one boat highliners.

Some of the men you have seen on Deadliest Catch were taught to fish by Hansen.

Eric has saved many lives at sea, and he has lost many friends over the years to the sea.

Hansen left Alaska in 1993. Soon thereafter, he got married, started a new career, and a new adventure.

Hansen worked on the F/V Ocean Ballad, F/V Lady Kodiak, F/V Nordic Monarch, and the F/V Aleutian Ballad, just to name a few. Between seasons, he sometimes worked at Pacific Seafood.

In 2011 or 2012, Hansen started having episodes of blurred vision and scrambled speech. His wife, Treasa, thought he was having a stroke and took him to the doctors. They gave him a clean bill of health and said he was probably having migraines. Go doctors! Not...

You can find the rest of Hansen's medical story on his GoFundMe page. Please visit it, donate if you can. GoFundMe has a minimum donation of $5. If everyone who visits the page could give $5, we could meet our goal in no time. The cost of this ugly battle will be one less thing for the Hansen's to worry about. If you can't donate, please, share the page everywhere, and say lots of prayers. We'll take all the help we can get.

Hansen has a hell of a fight on his hands, and he's up for the challenge. He's a highliner after all. They don't quit.

I just love this video! This is Hansen in 2013 before he found out he had a golf ball sized tumor in his head. I'm also a Jerry Reed fan!

Let's Help Hansen Fight!

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Copyright © 2017 Virtualpatti. All Rights Reserved.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Copyright © 2012 Virtualpatti. All Rights Reserved.

King Crab Season Has Begun - Deadliest Catch

The season Red King Crab season has opened. Apparently there will be no Tanner Season this year. I just ran across this article and thought I would share it with you guys. Look for the Deadliest Catch stuff towards the bottom.

Crabbers Head to Bristol Bay.

Johnathan Hillstrand Needs Your Help

A while back Johnathan Hillstrand had asked for help for a friend's family, which if you know Johnathan, you know he doesn't usually do this type of thing.

Evidently some sick and twisted fan committed to sending a large amount of money and it was all just a scam to try and meet Johnathan or get close to him. So now weeks have been wasted and this young man and his family still need help.

The scam. If you know this sick woman, please turn her into the police. She needs help.

You can donate to help Thomas Doty and his family by visiting HealThomas. Time is critical for this young man and his family. Please help spread the word.


Copyright © 2012 Virtualpatti. All Rights Reserved.

Deadliest Catch After the Catch Episode 6 Recap

"Looking Ahead"

Mike and all the captains Bill, Sig, Keith, and Andy  are at the table. Mike says he wants to look at what lies ahead because there are going to be a lot of changes on a lot of boats. Captain Bill says he would fire them all every year. Mike, you are really a glass half full kind of guy aren't you. Mike, I don't think you will fire them all. I think you will keep some of them. You had a lot of close calls this year. They go to the clip of Warren Hicks getting hit.with the pot. Captain Bill said the guy wasn't paying attention. It was kind of his fault. Captain Sig asked about the guy on the hydros. Captain Bill said lousy weather. Captain Sig, then it was his fault. You gotta be watching. Captain Bill,

Deadliest Catch Season 8 Episode 16 Recap

"The Bitter, Bloody End"

Wow! You can say that again. I didn't notice the title until now. LOL Very appropriate. What a season finale. I would say they saved all the good stuff for the end, but it was really a lot of bad stuff. This season needs to go down in the books as one of the worst ever, if not the worst. I'm looking forward to a better season next year.

This episode has a content warning at the beginning that it contains graphic images which some viewers might find disturbing. You know that's not a good sign. I don't remember normally seeing that before, anyway.

Deadliest Catch After the Catch Episode 5 Recap

"Fishermen's Code"

At the table Mike Rowe, Andy Hillstrand, Sig Hansen, Edgar Hansen and Keith Colburn. Mike Rowe turns to Sig and says he saw something in his face watching the last episode that makes him wonder if the pucker factor wasn't a little higher than usual. Sig, just a little bit higher. Mike, on a scale of 1-10? Sig, 10, without a question. Captain Keith does an example of a slack tank with a glass, showing how the water sloshes back and forth. Captain Sig explained the series of events that went wrong. The bad weather, the alarm not working. Had Edgar not actually looked in the tank they would have stacked gear over the tank and never knew. There was some kind of air lock problem. They talk about Sig's dad and a boat called the Pacesetter that went down in 1995 because of a slack tank.

Deadliest Catch Season 8 Episode 15 Recap

"Release the Beast"

The full fleet is back on the fishing grounds, in the ice. Elliott thinks the sea is looking like it's going to become unfishable again.

230 to the NW of Dutch Harbor on the Time Bandit. They are getting ready to pull pots set thirty six hours ago. Capt Andy Hillstrand is 40 miles south of St. Paul. He says the ice is way below where they said it would be. How much farther south do I need to go to get away from the ice? Captain Andy is trying to get up to the end of his 25 pot string but he can't because of the ice.

Deadliest Catch After The Catch Episode 4 Recap

"Gamblers"

Elliott Neese is at the table with Mike Rowe. Great! Rolling eyes and sarcasm. Enough with Elliott already. Mike Rowe tells Elliott he was trying to remember the other captains their first year on the show. Elliott says last year was hard because it was his first year as captain and with cameras in his face. Mike asks what changed? Last year he was telling the cameras a lot to get out of the wheelhouse. What changed? Are you finding your way? Elliott said he got to see the show last year and see what actually comes of all the filming. It's pretty cool to see yourself on TV. Mike says it seems like a new level of personal stuff with you. Why did you let us in? Elliott explains that that's what is going on in his life right now.

Deadliest Catch Season 8 Episode 14 Recap

"Fearless Leaders"

The episode starts out in late February. All of the boats except the Seabrooke and Wizard appear to be tied up at the dock. Yep, the boys are flying back in after three weeks off.

The guys are loading the pots back onto the boats. Captain Sig is counting on Jake Harris to step it up and put in one hundred percent.