Giant Lobster Hunters
Upcoming episodes
Apr 1st
800a
Pot Luck
The Barralee is gearing-up to head back out to Maatsuyker Island for one last trip of winter the season. Skipper Danny, captain of the William Norling, is inching closer and closer to his magical target of $AUD100000 worth for lobsters. The Bold Contender has stopped hunting for bid reds. Squizzy has switched back to searching for brindles. But will the switch pay off? Or is it all too little too late? At Middle Rocks, Clive, Skipper of the Minnamurra, is finally on a winning streak at last. If only Skipper Glenn could say the same. The Ansons Bay is still stuck at port with a broken engine.
Apr 1st
900a
The Newcome
A new boat has joined the lobster fleet. Peter MacKenzie is Skipper of the Triton. He’s already caught close to two and a half tonnes of lobster this season and he’s heading back out for one last shot. Money talks and the all in price of lobsters has spiked hard to more than $100 per kilo. Skipper Clive, captain of the Minnamurrra, is hunting around Middle Rocks close to the rocks and he’s hit a sweet spot. The Barralee’s tally has jumped to more than one hundred lobsters and their haul is all top quality. Skipper Squizzy’s still a half a chance of hitting his season target but he won’t find out for sure until he unloads at port. The season’s big winner is the William Norling. Skipper Danny has reached his season target and is now on the phone to his buyers playing each one off against the other to try and secure the highest price.
Apr 2nd
100a
The Competition Heats Up
The winter season is entering its final few weeks. The price of lobsters is north of $AUD100 per kilo and a bunch of new boats are out trying to capitalize on the strong price. It is dog eat dog in the Southern Ocean. The Triton is hunting for big reds near Low Rocky Point. The crew of the Minnamurra has woken to a giant swell. The rough seas are stopping the lobsters from climbing into their pots. Time is running out. Danny, Skipper of the William Norling, has triggered a bidding war for his lobsters. He’s playing both sides against the middle hoping to get the highest price possible. There’s also good news for Skipper Glenn. The Ansons Bay’s engine problems have been fixed. Glenn is steaming towards Research Bay. He’ll needs to get a move on if he’s any chance of turning a profit this late in the season.
Apr 2nd
200a
Winners are Grinners
Skipper Peter has a reputation for finding big money fish. But it’s the tail end of the winter season the pickings are slim. On the plus side, the price of lobsters has spiked to a season high of close to $110 per kilogram. The Minnamurra is heading back to port. Clive plans to motor through the night to try and capitalize on the high price. His stick and stay and make it pay strategy has paid off. But what price will he get? The Barralee, the Bold Contender and the William Norling are all back at port. But the Ansons Bay is in trouble. Its lobster hauler has jammed and its spitting oil onto the deck. The oil has the potential to kill its entire haul.
Apr 2nd
300a
The Pranksters
There’s one week to go until the winter rock lobster hunting season is over. The price of big reds has steadied to around $100 per kilo. The Bold Contender is motoring south to Port Davey for one last roll of the dice but Skipper Squizzy won’t be the only boat out there. Glenn, Skipper of Ansons Bay, is also fishing in the same area. The Triton is hunting in close to the rocks and has been hit by a rogue wave. It’s the last thing they need with 490 live lobsters onboard. And now deckhand Maddie now can’t stop vomiting. Glenn has one last pot to pull for before the day’s out. But there’s something floating in the water that has him concerned. It looks is like a dead body.
Apr 2nd
400a
The Season’s End
The winter lobster-hunting season closes in two days time. Only three boats in the fleet of six are still at it - The Triton, The Bolder Contender and Ansons Bay. Glenn, Skipper of Ansons Bay has the most ground to make up after suffering engine failure earlier in the season. Glenn’s putting on a brave face but there’s no denying this has been a horror season for him. The crew of the Bold Contender is up early gambling on big reds. The heavy swell is also causing trouble for the Triton and now Skipper Peter has motored straight over one of his pots. The Bold Contender’s hydraulics system is playing up and they can’t get the anchor down or winch their lobster pots up. At risk is thousands of dollars worth of lobsters.
Apr 2nd
500a
Episode 1
This multi-part factual series follows the real life dramas of five charismatic lobster boat Skippers as they hunt for Southern Rock Lobsters in Australia’s deadliest ocean.
Squizzy, Skipper of the Bold Contender, is heading out early hoping to get a jump on the fleet and capitalize on the red-hot lobster price, which is at a season-high. He’s hunting around Bruny Island in Southern Tasmania targeting 1900 brindle lobsters (for the season). And he’s under huge financial pressure to pull it off. If he misses his target, he’ll need to take out a big mortgage on his house. With boat running costs of $8,000 a day he’ll need to catch a minimum of 40 lobsters a shot just to break even. Will his high-risk gamble to head out early pay off? Skipper Pete, AKA the Mad Genius, from Team Triton has been hunting lobsters for more than 40 years. He’s heading Southwest on an eight day run, targeting 1,000 lobsters. He crushed it last year with a record haul of 5,000 kilos of monster reds. This season, he has two secret weapons, a new 3D computer plotter, which maps the ocean floor and shows him where to drop his lobster pots, and a new deckhand. But what Pete doesn’t yet know is that Team Triton is going to get smashed by deadly underwater predators. Skipper Glenn, dad Warren and brother Paul, the Jager family, are fishing as a two-boat team. They’re heading to Maatsuyker Island, a remote area known for its gale force winds and unpredictable swell. The trouble is they may not even get there. There’s a medical crisis unfolding onboard the Ansons Bay. The crew has been hit by a serious dose of seasickness, and to make matters worse, the boat’s toilet has stopped working. It’s the last thing Skipper Glenn needs after engine failure last season kept him grounded at port and cost him tens-of-thousands of dollars worth of lost revenue. He has a new engine he needs to pay off. The youngest member of the fleet is newcomer, Steve Hursey, who fishes with his Labrador dog, Gus. Steve is a third-generation lobsterman. His family runs a seafood processing facility and tourist restaurant in Stanley in North West Tasmania. Wild weather in Bass Strait has kept him stuck at port for weeks and now the restaurant’s lobster stocks are dangerously low. It’s Steve’s job to re-stock them. But can he pull it off in time?
Welcome to a brand new season with new boats and new crews risking it all for lobster gold. Who’ll hit their target? Who’ll bag the biggest? And who’ll make a fortune?
Apr 8th
800a
Episode 2
The winter lobster season is off to a shaky start. The lobster price is holding strong above $AUD100 a kilo but the lobster boat teams have all run into major problems. Team Kai Koura and Team Ansons Bay, the Jager Family, are targeting a combined total of 1,000 big reds. They have five days to make it pay. They’re hunting around Maatsuyker Island where 70-kilometre gusts are the norm, equivalent to a category-two cyclone. Skipper Glenn hasn’t even dropped his first shot and he’s in serious trouble. He’s motored straight over another fisherman’s pot. If the pot line gets tangled in his boat’s propeller, it’s game over. The full moon is causing havoc too because it improves visibility for predators. Team Triton can’t buy a trick. Skipper Pete is under siege from deadly Octopus, and pot after pot is coming up empty, full of dead lobsters, It’s the worse start to a season the Mad Genius has ever experienced - Team Triton’s deep in the red. The curse of the full moon has also hit the Kai Koura. Their pots are coming up full of half eaten and stressed-out reds. But there is a silver lining. Skipper Paul is about to switch to dinghy fishing, to try and boost Team Kai Koura’s per-kilo pot catch ratio. Right up close to the rocks with plenty of sea grass is the perfect feeding ground for lobsters. But when you’re fishing in a dinghy, even a small wave can capsize you and the Maatsuyker Island area is notorious for its unpredictable swell. Dinghy hunting is high-danger, next-level fishing, but get it right and the lobsters and returns can be massive. Skipper Squizzy’s strategy to motor further offshore to avoid the octopus is not working. He’s under huge financial pressure to land 700-kilos of lobsters in five days. If he fails, he’ll need to put his house up as bank collateral. He can’t afford a single slip-up. Skipper Steve Hursey and his dog Gus have finally left port for Hunter Island in North West Tasmania. Steve’s targeting 250 lobsters to re-stock his family’s sea-to-plate tourist restaurant but strong tidal currents from Bass Strait makes fishing around Hunter Island dangerous and fishing in the dark down right terrifying.
Apr 8th
900a
Episode 3
"Season newcomer, Steve Hursey, is pulling his first shot of the winter run.And there’s a lot riding on it. The Hursey’s family sea-to-plate restaurant is lowon lobsters stocks and it’s Steve’s job to re-fill them. He’s fishing aroundHunter Island, an area known for giant reds and howling westerly winds. Butweather is the least of Steve’s worries. The rope line to one of his pots istangled and it’s threatening to pull deckhand Jamie overboard. Steve needs toact fast. Skipper Paul from Team Kai Koura is dinghy hunting close in-shore.The risks of dinghy fishing are bigger but so too are the lobsters and thefinancial returns; Paul’s targeting big money fish. But a single rogue wave canflip the dinghy in an instant. The temperature has plummeted at South EastBight. Skipper Glenn is off to a blistering start and can’t seem to put a footwrong. But he’s has made a bold wager with his deckhand that may cost himhis Skipper’s title. Meanwhile, back at the dinghy, Glenn’s brother, Paul, is inreal trouble. One of his pots is stuck in bull-kelp and the swell is crashing in.Team Bold Contender is flush after cashing in at port with a season high priceof $110 per kilo but they still have a long way to go. Skipper Squizzy isreturning to sea with a new target of 700 kilos of brindles. He needs to hit thatnumber to avoid having to take out a loan on his house."
Apr 9th
100a
Episode 4
"Team Bold Contender is heading to the formidable Pedra Branca, a locationfamous for its monster waves. Not many lobstermen hunt around PedraBranca because the swell is just too rough. But Squizzy’s hoping the lack ofcompetition (out there) will give him the edge on the rest of the Southern fleet.Trouble is, even anchoring up at Pedra Branca is a massive challenge. TheJager family, Team Ansons Bay and Team Kai Koura, is hunting around theSouth-West Coast of Tasmania. Skipper Paul’s dinghy hunting strategy isworking well. And now the lobster price has hit a new season high of $112 akilo. Skipper Glenn lost a bet and has handed over the Skipper’s reigns to hisdeckhand, Jake. Can the wannabe Skipper show his boss a trick or two? It’sthe middle of the night and the alarm on the Bold Contender has gone off –the boat’s anchor has broken fee of the sea floor. The Bold Contender is inreal trouble. The Ella Rose is motoring into port, full to bursting with a load ofred lobsters over two kilos in size. But there’s been a mix-up on their arrivaltime and Skipper Steve’s entire catch is now under threat of dying because ofpollutants in the bay – that’s five days of fishing down the drain. Steve makesan urgent call to his dad to help solve the problem. Most of the lobster fleet ishitting their winter catch targets, except for Team Triton. Skipper Pete’shalfway through his run and he’s only caught 280 lobsters, barely a dent in his1,000 lobster target. It’s blank pot after pot. Has the mad genius lost his Midastouch?"