Next week, Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch” returns for its 20th season (8 p.m. June 11) and for the first time in several years the show’s crabbers had the ability to catch red king ccrab during the October 2023 to February 2024 season (fishing for king crab was forbidden beginning in 2021 due to a declining king crab population).
“I always call it the Kentucky Derby of crabbing,” said Westmoreland City native “Wild” Bill Wichrowski , captain of the Summer Bay. “If you get 800 opilio [crab], it’s exciting. You get 100 king crab in a pot, that’s over the top.
” Although Wichrowski isn’t in the season premiere that much, the show is sure to revisit its cliffhanger from the end of season 19 : Wichrowski was diagnosed with prostate cancer. “They gave me hormones and implanted radioactive pellets,” said Wichrowski, who was in treatment while filming this 20th season of “Deadliest Catch.” “I had the first hormone shot administered in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, [before going out to sea for the season].
Honestly, I hardly noticed, I’m so hard-headed. I was motivated to not have it affect the season for me, the boat or the crew. When I got home, it hit me like a rock.
It’s tough to get moving when you get up in the morning.” But the treatment seems to be having the desired effect. “My PSA number, which is how they determine the level, is near zero,” said Wichrowski, who splits his time between Lake Marion, S.
C., and Sonora, Mexico. “[The.