Johnathon Hillstrand is an Alaskan cowboy who rides the waves of the Bering Sea, the skipper of the now-famous Time Bandit commercial fishing boat seen on the Discovery television series, "Deadliest Catch."
Johnathan Hlilstrand, star of the "Deadliest Catch" television show on Discovery, celebrates catching his first Lake Erie walleye on Monday with Fishfull Thinking first mate Bob Swiney Jr.Johnathon Hillstrand is an Alaskan cowboy riding the waves of the Bering Sea, the skipper of the now-famous Time Bandit commercial fishing boat seen on the Discovery television series, "Deadliest Catch."
Wearing torn jeans, cowboy boots and a black baseball cap emblazoned with his boat's name, Hillstrand, 47, was ready to tackle Lake Erie on Monday with Chagrin River fishing guide Bob Swiney.
Hillstrand was chasing walleye with winners of a charity contest at the recent Painesville Party in the Park, where he appeared for three days.
Big northwest winds kicked up 5- to 6-foot waves, but Swiney's 33-foot charter boat, Fishfull Thinking, could tame them. The crew was facing a slow 20-mile journey to a fishing hot spot.
"Hey, it's pretty rough out here," said Hillstrand, as we plowed through Lake Erie waves.
Not like the 40- to 50-foot waves Hillstrand commonly faces in the Bering Sea. Or the rare 100-foot waves Hillstrand says makes the Time Bandit ride like a washing machine.
"In Alaska, I'm in a 113-foot boat," he said. "Today, we're in a 33-footer. Big difference."
Hillstrand and his brother, Andy, 46, have been carrying Discovery camera crews on their boat for five seasons.
"When they asked us to do the show the first season, we said no," Hillstrand said. "They asked Andy again the next season, and he agreed. He wanted to document our trips, to have something we could show our grand kids some day.
"A couple of years later, the show's a No. 1 hit and I'm making appearances in places like Ohio. They sold all 5,000 raffle tickets at $2 apiece for the Painesville Community Improvement Corporation, and I got to go walleye fishing.
"When I began commercial fishing, I lived like a rock star," he said, with a laugh. "We were young and if you worked hard, you could make $100,000 out there for 11 months work. I had limos and stayed in presidential suites. I wrecked two trucks without insurance.
"And I don't regret a thing."
The toughest part of the job is spending so many days at sea.
"On 'Deadliest Catch' it looks glamorous and exciting," he said. "It's really pretty miserable out there. If you're a sensitive kind of guy, you probably won't make it. You've got to be a little crazy."
Crazy enough to plow through big waves in 36-degree sea water from October through March, the prime time for catching blue king crab, red king crab and snow crab. It's a dangerous time. His boat rescued fisherman Josh White three years ago, saving his life after he was tossed overboard from another commercial boat
Hillstrand admits the crew members are hard on one another. He didn't ease up on Monday's trip sponsors - Chris Ballo of Ballo Construction and Scott Muhorsky of Climate Control Excellence - when queasiness kept them from handling a fishing rod. Everyone else caught walleye, including trip winners James Nagy of Willoughby, Jay Nagy of Perry and Melissa Lundell of Fairport Harbor.
Commercial fishing is Hillstrand's business. Sport fishing is his passion and there is no better place to fish than Homer and Cook Inlet in Alaska.
Hillstrand caught a 640-pound halibut a few years ago, subduing it with his .45 caliber handgun. Shooting the fish disqualified it as a state record.
"I didn't have to (shoot it)," he said, laughing. "I just love shooting big fish."
The Hillstrand brothers and their crew spend months on the water, visiting the Dutch Harbor docks only to drop off their catch.
"We've got a tight crew," he said. "You're only as good as your weakest guy. If a guy gets hurt, the whole crew has to come in. I don't like to take green guys out. We had a guy this year, who begged me for three years to join our crew. On the trip, he begged me the whole time to let him go home. He said being out there was like a prison sentence.
"Being away from home for months at a time is difficult for the crew, and the camera guys. They put two camera men on the boat, and one is always a veteran. Nine times out of 10, the rookie camera guy ends up sitting in my wheel house, throwing up, while the other guy does all of the work.
"I've got about four or five years of crabbing left in me," said Hillstrand. "The best day of any trip is the day you go home. The last hour to Dutch Harbor is always the longest hour of the trip. When you finally see Dutch Harbor, the cell phones start working. If you've got a good catch, you'll soon have a big check in hand."