‘Deadliest Catch’ Captain Sig Hansen admits to making dangerous decisions at sea

“Deadliest Catch” star Captain Sig Hansen is no stranger to risk. 

While Hansen, 59, has spent decades navigating the brutal, icy waters of the Bering Sea, he told Digital that it’s not just the storms and freezing temperatures that have put his life at risk. 

The veteran crab fisherman got candid about the dangerous decisions he’s made at sea, including one call driven by ego that nearly cost him everything.

‘DEADLIEST CATCH’ STAR SIG HANSEN ADMITS FEAR OF DEATH IS MAKING HIM RETHINK RETIREMENT PLANS

“Well, it was the icing down… that was ego-driven,” Hansen remarked. “And when you’re ego-driven, and you’re worried if you want to make more money and your greed is thinking more than your common sense, it’s not good.”

“When you’re ego-driven, and you’re worried if you want to make more money and your greed is thinking more than your common sense, it’s not good.”

— Captain Sig Hansen

Hansen reflected on a career full of high-stakes decisions and even higher consequences. Despite surviving some of the most treacherous fishing conditions, he admitted there are moments he’ll never stop regretting.

WATCH: ‘DEADLIEST CATCH’ STAR SIG HANSEN REVEALS HIS BIGGEST REGRETS, MISTAKES FROM DANGEROUS CAREER

“There’s a lot of regrets. I mean, good Lord, I had a heart attack at sea… Maybe I should have hung up the spurs a long time ago,” Hansen said. “And to a fisherman, it’s always that one bad season, right? So, there’s a lot of regrets. Made a lot of mistakes. But we’ve been fortunate, haven’t lost anybody and everybody’s OK. So that’s good.”

One near-tragic moment from early in his career that still haunts him was a mistake that led to a crew member’s serious injury.

Hansen said one mistake from early in his career led to a crew member’s serious injury.  (Discovery Channel)

“There was one guy that got hurt. I won’t say the name. That was many years ago. I think I was like 27, 28 years old,” Hansen recalled. “It was after a storm… I saw the wave coming, and then I didn’t manage to hit the alarm… [to] notify him. When it hit him, it knocked him clean across the deck, and he really did damage to his back.”

Though the crew member recovered and returned to fishing, the accident shook Hansen. 

‘DEADLIEST CATCH’ STAR SIG HANSEN ON CHALLENGE OF KEEPING MEN ALIVE IN HIT SERIES

“Sometimes you’re not talking minutes — you’re talking seconds to where things can happen. It did, and I learned a valuable lesson.”

Captain Sig Hansen’s boat, Northwestern, at dock with a full stack of pots. (Discovery Channel)

Hansen said his takeaway from that boating accident was not to be distracted in the wheelhouse. 

“It was that one split second… you take it for granted, and that’s what happened. And after that, I never played music up there ever again,” he laughed. “At least while I’m fishing.”

WATCH: ‘DEADLIEST CATCH’ STAR SIG HANSEN SHARES THE DANGERS HE’S FACED AT SEA THIS SEASON

Even with decades of experience under his belt, the ocean has continued to humble Hansen — most notably during a terrifying moment when his boat began to ice over in sub-zero conditions.

Then there was the fire — a moment caught on camera and made all the more intense by the fact that his daughter, Mandy, was on board.

“We had a fire on board… My daughter was with us, and so that really is frightening,” he shared with Digital. “I keep thinking back — had that fire broke out like an hour earlier, I think we’d have been in big, big trouble.”

Luckily, the crew was alert and ready, the “Deadliest Catch” star explained.

“We managed because the guys were so attentive. And when the fire broke out, they were already ready to start fishing on deck… But they just had been in their bunk sleeping.”

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Northwestern deckhand Clark Pederson sorting crab on the table. (Discovery Channel)

Hansen’s time at sea has tested not just his physical endurance, but his heart — both literally and figuratively. 

He suffered a heart attack on the job, and it was that health scare — along with the tragic loss of the F/V Destination in 2017 — that first made him question whether it was time to walk away from the ocean for good.

Since then, he’s been more cautious and more aware of what’s at stake, as he told Digital what retirement may look like for him in the future.

“I’ve been thinking about it ever since… more fearful when you put pots on the boat, more fearful for everybody else,” he said. “And then you start thinking, my wife has spent decades waiting for me. Why not… give the last whatever I got to her. That’s what I’m doing.”

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Captain Hansen told Digital, “my wife has spent decades waiting for me. Why not… give the last whatever I got to her. That’s what I’m doing.” (Brian To/WireImage)

In Season 21 of “Deadliest Catch,” Hansen teamed up with returning captain Johnathan Hillstrand as the two headed to the abandoned Adak Island in search of a rumored giant king crab.

Co-captaining the Time Bandit, the veteran fishermen kicked off a modern-day gold rush — but the race for the rare crab took a dangerous turn when chaos erupted aboard the Titan Explorer and forced Captain Jake Anderson’s crew to abandon ship.

As the crews pushed into uncharted waters to secure the lucrative haul, they were met with brutal conditions and dangerous mechanical failures — turning the high-stakes hunt for crab into a fight for survival.

“Deadliest Catch” airs Fridays at 8 p.m. on Discovery Channel.

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