Trawlermen: Hunting the Catch: Season 1, Episode 5

1 - 5: The Gamble

Three hundred thousand square miles of ocean. Three GPS-tracked voyages, filmed around the clock. One week at sea.

Emilia Jayne hunts for cuttlefish in the world's busiest shipping lane. Cargo ships have right of way here, but lucrative cuttlefish swim in these grounds too. After finding good fishing at the start of his week-long trip, can skipper Luke Selvey keep the secret to himself?

Margaret of Ladram is Brixham's most successful trawler. This week, skipper Adam Cowan Dickie is gambling – he's leaving his home waters of the English Channel behind and steaming 20 hours to the Bristol Channel. His target is Dover sole, one of the most expensive fish in British waters. Struggling to cover his expenses, Adam ups the stakes and targets an ancient ship wreck and the notoriously soft ground of the ‘gravel pits'.

Westro skipper Stephen West is the youngest skipper in Scotland's prawn fleet. This week, he goes it alone and fishes far away from the rest of the fleet, heading into storm force winds. As the early hauls of the net end in failure, Stephen has a decision to make: continue to tow for prawns or cut and run to the rest of the fleet further north and join forces with his brother Andrew on Forever Faithful.