" When you back here in the swamp, you better have everything you need in this boat to keep it going." "If not, we're gonna sink." "Straight fact." "You're just gonna sink." "You gotta know everything out here." "Everything to do with a boat, motor, gas line, spark plugs, oil." "Something happens back here, you just gotta handle it yourself right then and there." "You're 15, 20 miles back, who you gonna call?" "Where you gonna tell them you're at?" "You never know what's gonna happen." "Your main goal when you leave in the morning is to come back at night." " ¶ When I was just a little boy ¶" "¶ Standing to my Daddy's knee ¶" "¶ My papa said, son, don't let the man get you ¶" "¶ Do what he done to me ¶" "¶ 'Cause he'll get you ¶" "¶ Born on the bayou ¶" "¶ Born on the bayou ¶" " The sun rises over southern Louisiana." "In Pierre Part, Jacob and Troy Landry are prepped and ready to get rolling on their hunting day." " 6:30 and he still ain't here." " Jacob's brother and fishing partner," "Chase, is nowhere to be seen." " I've done texted him four times." "He never answered me." "He's still sleeping." " You tried to call him?" " Yeah." " To make matters worse, Troy has agreed to help out an old timer, Mr. Roy, with his alligator hunting today, leaving the Landrys with only Jacob to run their lines." " Me leaving for a day or two puts the whole load on Jacob and Chase." "Jacob wanna start early and finish early, then he needs Chase's help." "He's 26 years old." "It's time for him to mature." "I was married and had kids at 26." " I told him 5:30 this morning." "And it's almost, let's see, quarter to 7." "And he still ain't here." "You know, the pressure's on." "We got a lot of alligators out there and hopefully on the line." "They can't sit in the sun no longer than what they have to." "So lines have to be ran whether Chase is there or not." "He's always got an excuse." "Mark my words, when he's gonna get here today, it's not gonna be his fault." "Something happened." "A raccoon snuck in his house and stole his phone and put it on silent or something." "That's the bad part about Chase." "He doesn't have that responsible side to him to be there every morning, having the boat ready, having everything ready to go." "He shows up late just about every day." "You can't have that." "When you the captain of the boat and you gotta run these lines on your own, you gotta be there every morning, crack of daylight and getting the job done." "Not farting around sleeping on the couch like he's doing." " As Jacob heads out solo..." " Okay, buddy, you ready?" " Troy's helping one of Pierre Part's oldest residents and a living legend in the swamp, Mr. Roy Gaudet." "I get a call from one of my old buddies, Mr. Roy Gaudet." "I been knowing Mr. Roy all my life." "He's actually hurt himself, and he's gotta go have surgery." "So he called to see if I wouldn't mind going to help him running the last few lines he got." "And I don't mind going at all with him." "I'm honored that he called me." " By Bayou Tranquille over there?" "It's like the code of the swamp." "It's a way of living out here that people help each other." "If I gotta work twice as hard with my boys after I'm finished with Mr. Roy to get us back on track," "I'll work twice as hard." "Whatever it takes, I'm gonna do it." "I hope we catch a big one, huh?" " I heard that." "How many trips you think you made on Lake Verret?" " Oh, my God." "I don't believe I can mark it on the book." "[ laughs ]" "There's so many, I can't mark it on the book." " Thousands and thousands of trips, huh?" "89 years old, still hunting alligators and fishing catfish." "83 miles to the northeast over in Hammond," "Bruce Mitchell and Ron Methvin are heading into uncharted waters." " Because today, Bruce is letting Ron bring his new puppy, Gunner, gator hunting for the first time ever." " Well, we're gonna give him a shot, see what he does." "With gators, it's just one of them things you gotta play it by ear and see what he gonna do." "Might do good, might do bad." "You don't ever know." " It's a risky proposition." " Hey." " If the puppy jumps in the water during a gator fight, he could be a goner." " I'm nervous." "I'm nervous that I don't want him to get hurt." "I'm nervous because I want Bruce to see that he does good." "I'm just nervous." "That's it." "Plan is, Bruce is gonna do the majority of the work." "I mean, I'll jump in where I need to." "But I'm gonna sit toward the back of the boat and just watch Gunner." "Ain't no lying." "Bruce is gonna see if he messes up." "So I wanna see for myself if I gotta correct him or if he's just gonna sit there and watch." " Setting lines is one thing." "But having real gators in the boat changes everything, you know?" "Can't never tell what's gonna happen." "It's dangerous." "It's gators." " It's over there, Bruce." " It'd down." "Nope." "Yeah, he's on the right side of the pole." "All right, big boy, you'll finally get your first taste right here." " Be careful." "[ barks ]" "Come on down." "Come on." " In Hammond, Bruce and Ron have a monster on the line..." " All right, big boy, you'll finally get your first taste right here." " And a puppy in their boat." " No!" " Be careful." "[ barking ]" " The grass is all laid down over there." "Come on down." "[ whistles ] Come on." " Watch out!" " No!" "Come on here." "Get in the bottom of the boat." " With Ron needing to watch over the dog and keep him safe," "Bruce has to do the hunting all by himself." " Gunner, you can't be clumsy in the boat now." " Looks like a good one, Ron!" " There he is, pop him, pop him!" "Come on, bust him, bust him!" "He's still looking at you now." " That's all right." " All right, Gunner." "Look." "Look what Uncle Bruce got." "Look what Uncle Bruce got." "What's he got up there?" " This seven-footer is a good start to the day for the boys and Gunner." " Come on back, come on back now." "We gotta move your stuff." " No." "What is that?" "What is that?" " He's just worried about licking the gator's head." "I guess he got Tyler's old job." " What is it with alligator blood and dogs?" " I don't know." "They love it." " He did pretty good." "As far as Gunner, it's not exactly what I'm looking for." "But, hey, not bad." "Gunner didn't fall out of the boat." "We're going in the right direction." "So I'm just gonna leave it go." " All right, let's ride." "What?" "What?" " While Bruce, Ron and Gunner head to their next line... 135 miles away..." " Good morning." " ...at St. Mary's Seafood in Franklin" "Daniel, Joey and Dorien Edgar are taking care of the daily tasks at their seafood and bait business." " All right." " We normally get here about 4:30 in the morning, open the freezer, put bait out for the fishermen." "Start getting here, five o'clock." " I got it, cowboy." "We just playing catch up." "We been fishing alligators for two weeks." "We need a day just to catch up around the office, and do a little work in the ponds." "And tomorrow we're gonna go back at it." " How many busters you got, Pa?" "Wow, pretty good, huh?" " Jumbos." "All jumbos." " Dorien, he's in his early 20s, and he's doing good." "He's gonna have to take all of this on when I'm gone and Joey and his dad's gone." "From the selling part, the marketing part, to the handling on the dock, to the catching part." " No crab, no money." " Dorien needs to learn all of it." " With the morning chores complete," "Daniel heads to the office to check in with their office manager, Tina, before leaving to tend to their crawfish ponds." "Damn." "Tina and I met a long time ago." "She's my girlfriend." "Gave her a job running the office." "But we have fights now and then." " She went to her house." " We're gonna have to leave." "She's a no-show." "She won't answer her phone." "And the office is sitting there." "That's a big-time problem." " As Daniel tries to figure out a solution on Lake Verret," "Troy is putting his season on hold today to help old-timer," "Mr. Roy, fish his last few tags." " It's what we do in the swamp." "You help your neighbors." "Young or old, if somebody need help, you help them." "And Mr. Roy, especially at his age, I mean, obviously, it's no question what I'm gonna do." "If he calls me for help, I'm gonna help him." "Damn, man." "I thought we'd of caught one right here for sure, for sure." "Can't believe we didn't catch nothing here." " All right, buddy." " Oh, yeah." " Used to pick moss." "And go pick moss back there." " By the pound?" "It was by the pound?" " That's what they would do." " Do we got one, Mr. Roy?" " I hope, baby." "I hope we got a big one." " Oh, it is a big one." " Get ready, buddy, get ready." "Hey!" "Woo!" "Watch him, Mr. Roy." "Watch him." "Don't let him get you." "Be careful." "[ gunshot ]" "Woo!" "Good job, buddy." "We not going home with none, we got one." "It's not a big one." " He ain't gonna move no more." " We'll pay the gas, at least." " While this seven-footer is worth a modest $200 dollars..." " We're not going home with none, that's for sure." " Preserving this age-old tradition is priceless." " That's it." " One in the boat, buddy." "Somebody like Mr. Roy, he's been a fisherman, a trapper, all his life." "This is a moment I'm gonna remember for the rest of my life." " Off Lake Verret, while Troy's helping out an old friend," "Jacob's running the Landry lines all by himself." " I'm really pissed off." "Chase shows up late just about every day." "And it's always me trying to figure out what the hell he's doing, where he's at, figuring out why he's late." "He's only two hours late, not bad." "Where you was at this morning?" "Oh, my God." " I'm not a morning person at all." "I'll be the first to tell you, I'm not a morning person." "I have an alarm set on my phone." "And I have an alarm set on the side of my bed." "But I will sleep right through them like there's no tomorrow." "Forgets to set his alarm or he doesn't hear his alarm." "It's always some kind of excuse." "It's never his fault." " Jacob's gotten really used to me waking up late sometimes." "I may be wrong or he may not agree with it, but, oh, well." "There's no use in getting mad about it." " That's Chase." "He's single, he's young, he's not responsible." "The pressure's on 24/7." "When he shows up late, Chase has no idea what that might prevent me from doing or whatnot." "It's frustrating." " With hours wasted and not one gator in the boat, the Landry boys don't have time for any more distractions." "41 miles away over in Franklin at St. Mary's Seafood, with his office manager a no-show, Daniel is relying on his grandson, Dorien, to manage all of the client orders." " So you're gonna have to take care of the office." " If I got two men in the yard, we got this." " Well, then I can get a lot of my work done." " Let's go." "Let's go do what we gotta do." " Dorien's the man in charge." "He's gonna buy all the crabs, fish." "It's all on him today." "It'll test his character." "[ phone rings ]" " St. Mary's." "[ phone rings ]" "St. Mary's." "Yeah, I got a lot to learn." "I know the fundamentals and everything that's going on." "But for the most part, I think I'm in pretty good shape being the next male Edgar to keep the empire going." " While Dorien holds down the fort," "Daniel and Joey head to the crawfish ponds to start flooding them for the coming season." " We're in my crawfish ponds here near Jeanerette." "It's another way that we make a living and feed our family." " The Edgars use water from an irrigation ditch to pump into their ponds." "But first, Daniel notices the pump needs some repair." " This bearing's gone." "Hey, Dad?" " Hmm?" " Come pull on that pump." "Just pull on it so I can pull the bolt out." "The belt's got pressure." " I gotta go this way?" " Yeah." "Out here in the swamp, if you need something fixed, you're gonna have to get creative pretty quick." "Swamp engineering..." "you have to be that way." "Okay." "All right." " Ready for these situations," "Daniel has an old bearing in his toolbox." " Out here in the swamp, there's no hardware store." "That's why I don't throw anything away." "My glove box is full of junk." "Because if something breaks," "I might just get lucky and have the piece." "Part of life in the swamp." " While the Edgars tend to their seafood business..." "Over in Hammond, Bruce and Ron's lines are running hot." " Wow." "Another one." " God bless." "[ gunshot ]" " Going fast today." "I like this." " And Ron's puppy, Gunner, is acing his first day gator hunting." " Hey, you might be the good luck charm there, buddy." "You might be the good luck charm, Gunner." " Gunner, that looks like it's gonna be our job today, buddy." "I'm gonna be the tag guy." "And you can be the gator licker." "I mean, we done caught three or four gators." "So far it's working out." " Gunner hasn't really even paid the alligators attention." "He's not responding to gunshots." "He's not responding to the splashing." "I don't think we'll have any problems." "Better hurry up and get him before he get off." "We'll be chasing the damn pole." "What?" " There he is, right by the pole." "Right by the pole." " With the line wrapped tight around the bait pole," "Bruce lines up his short-range kill shot." "[ gunshot ]" " Got him." " That's your butt, boy." "Look at the big gator coming out." " That's what I'm talking about." " That pole was like to gone, partner." " Yup." "Wouldn't have been much more, he would've been a gone gator." " This eight-footer brings their day's total to just over $1,600 dollars." " Oh." " But the celebration is cut short." " Oh, golly." " Wanna stay up there a little while?" " I see Bruce's knees buckle a little bit." "He can't stand all the way up." "Crap." "Damn it." "And I dropped to the floor." "I mean, it's... it's bad." "It hurts." " Mm-mm." "I don't know what's gonna happen." "Ron's gonna have to come to the front or something, I don't know." "Boy, when it hits, it hits, man." "Like somebody jabbing a knife in you." " So now I'm thinking, okay," "I'm gonna have to do all the work." "What am I gonna do with Gunner now?" "Is Bruce gonna make me bring him back?" "I mean, I finally got him on the boat." "I don't wanna take him off." "Dang, dang, dang." " On Lake Verret, after Chase showed up two hours late to work, the Landry boys are scrambling to make up time and catch gators." " We need try to hurry and pick up these lines." "We're slow." "Starting to get worried." " To make matters worse..." " There's solid rain over there." " We got some weather building up behind me back there." " A thunderstorm is heading straight for them." " We wasted time waiting for Chase to show up, and I could see that we had a lot of bad weather coming in from the south and from the gulf." "And I just told Chase, look, we need to pep it up." "We need to get going." "We need to try to hurry and pick up these lines before this really bad weather gets through here so we don't get struck by lightning." "Aluminum boat in the middle of a lake with lightning around you, those things don't mix." "This morning, I overslept." "I slept through my alarms." "And... just really slow." "But with this weather, I mean..." "And this is the last thing we need right now." "Got one here, boy." "The line is down." " The taut line gives Chase a chance for some redemption..." " Get the gun, get the gun." "Hurry up." " As he tries to give his brother a good shot." " Get ready." "He's coming up." " Whoa, big boy." "Be careful." "He's strong, dude." "Whoa, the tiger!" " He'll pop you, bro." "[ gunshot ]" " Not too bad, huh?" " Yeah, baby." " This eight-footer will earn the boys over $200 at the buyers as they try to get their day back on track." "[ thunder ]" " All before the rain gets here, baby." " Boom, baby!" "That's what I'm talking about." "Bam!" " Awesome." " 70 miles west over near Bayou Cypremort," "Joey and Daniel are busy at the family's crawfish ponds..." " And that's that." "On to the next." " Leaving apprentice Dorien in charge at St. Mary's Seafood." "Things are running smoothly until Dorien finds out one of the fish coolers is on the fritz." " In here?" " In here, that's how I found out." " What the hell is happening here?" "Oh, my God." " It all went bad." "We had about a vat and a half of catfish in the cooler and it all went bad." " Now Dorien tries to handle the problem before his grandfather, Daniel, returns." " We're about to try to pop it off and dispose of this rotten catfish." "God bless." "I'd estimate probably around $500, $600 dollars will be lost in this operation right here." "It's probably around like 400 or 500 pounds of catfish." "It's not good." "My uncle and my grandpa are gonna be pretty pissed." "So I'm not looking to seeing the looks on their faces when they get back." " Let me call Dorien and see how he's doing over there." "Let me try the office." "[ phone rings ]" "All right, Dad." " While the senior Edgars head to St. Mary to check how Dorien's doing running the office..." "Back on Lake Verret, Troy's day with Mr. Roy has been a walk down memory lane." "But they haven't been able to bag a monster gator." "He's an old trapper, old fisherman, old alligator hunter." "But you gotta be careful." "And the more people like myself can look out and help him and look out for him, the better it is." "What we got?" "Don't look like we got nothing, huh?" "The line looks limp, huh?" "Don't look like we got nothing." "Nothing!" "We gonna pick it up, pick it up, pick it up." "Ho!" "Ho!" "Ho!" "The line moved!" "Hold it, hold it, hold it." "Get your gun, get your gun, Mr. Roy." "Oh, Lord, look at the tree, baby." "Be careful." "Oh, my God!" "Shoot him!" " On Lake Verret..." " Ho!" "Ho!" "Ho!" "Ho!" " Troy and Mr. Roy are battling an enormous monster." "Oh, my God!" "Shoot him!" "[ gunshot ]" "You got him dead shot, buddy!" "Woo!" "That's a big one, huh, Mr. Roy?" "That's a nice alligator, buddy." " Man, that's a pretty, that's a pretty alligator." "We got to one of his last lines." "And he had a real nice one." "He had a ten-footer." "Was probably a 400, 500 pound alligator." "And there's no way he could've put it in the boat by himself." "So I was really glad I went to help him." "God." " This beast will earn Mr. Roy almost $300 at the buyer." "A sweet way to end the day." " Hey." "We got a nice one, buddy." "Mr. Roy say in the old days, they didn't have no tarps or blankets." "That's what they used to do in the old days." "They'd pick up moss and keep it wet." "Cover it with moss and keep it cool, you know, keep it wet." "So the meat won't spoil." "You know, I had a good time." "And I'm gonna remember that forever." "I don't know if he's gonna remember it." "But I'm gonna remember it." "I'm happy I went to help him." " Oh yeah." " Yup." "Pretty alligator." " Over in the marsh near Hammond, after throwing out his back," "Bruce has been relegated to the back of the boat..." "With Ron's puppy, Gunner." " Gunner, Gunner, Gunner, what you thinking about?" "Huh, big boy?" "Things ain't crazy enough already," "I done thrown my back out now." "Now I'm gonna have to watch the dog." "That's what I was afraid of." "I'm gonna be out here watching a dog again." "But we're gonna see how it works." " You keep making faces like that at me, make me feel like I'm gonna have to drive the boat and run the front." " With Bruce out of action, it's now Ron's turn to man both the line and the gun." " I don't see a shot yet." " Down." "Hey." "Hey." "[ gunshot ]" " Hey, hey!" "I like it." " I rolled him." " I been leaving these lines for two, three days." "I didn't come over in this area." "Half the time we come in here, they know it." "So I haven't run this line in two, three days." "Paid off today." "I like it." " This seven-footer gives the guys over $2,200 dollars." "Even better, on his first day gator hunting on the boat," "Gunner passed with flying colors." " I saw what I needed to see this morning." "And seems like Gunner didn't mind it at all." "He stayed in the back, and stayed between Bruce's legs most of the day trying to catch shade." " You come to my house, I'll feed you some fish." "And some oysters and some shrimp." " While Bruce and Ron head to the buyer... back at St. Mary's Seafood in Franklin," "Dorien's had a busy afternoon managing the office and putting out fires." "[ cell phone rings ]" " Yes, Pa?" "Now how did a vat and a half of catfish go bad?" " It's not really a vat and half." "It's probably about I figure around 500, 600 pounds." "But it was in two different vats." " Okay, thanks, Pa." "So we'll come and meet you right now." " All right." " All right, bye." " It's amazing how you can be gone for just such a little time." "And stuff just goes to crap, man." "Oh my God." " First thing we have to do is go look at that catfish, and see if we can re-ice." "Fish is good." "It's real good." "I got here and looked at the fish." "When I pulled the first fish up, the next fish was ice cold." "There's nothing wrong with them." "Pa." "Pa, the fish that's out there," "I just stopped and looked at, the fish look good." "Who decided it wasn't no good?" " That's what them boys came and get me for." " But those boys are not qualified to tell good fish from bad fish." " All right." "If you said it's good, it's good." " I never would've taken it out of the freezer." "Catfish look perfectly good to me." " It didn't look that bad to me." "Daddy was right." "All they had to do was hit it with a shot of ice." "And put it in the freezer." " You're gonna have to put a lot of ice, Taylor." " Thanks to Daniel, the Edgars saved almost $2,000 of catfish." "And his grandson learned another valuable lesson." " I have a saying, "It's expensive to be dumb." "And when you make a dumb decision, it costs you money." " Damn." "It looks a little embarrassing when my elders show up and, you know, things aren't going the way they should." "It makes me look bad." "And all you can do is try to fix those type of problems, and try to move forward." " What you think, Dad?" "How did D do today?" " He's got a lot to learn." "He's gotta spend a lot of time." " He's got a lot to learn." " A lot to learn." " Dorien, he's smart, he's a hard worker." "He's not very wise." "He just gets kinda caught up in the moment." "You know, I love him but he'll be fine, but he's young." "Let's go push that other forklift." " While things are finally back under control at St. Mary, over on Lake Verret..." " A looming storm is forcing Jacob and Chase off the water into the closest nearby shelter." " It's right there." " Right there." "I don't mind rain." "I can get wet every day of the week." "But that lightning is nothing to play with." "So any time weather starts moving in and it starts lightning," "I don't mind taking a little break and going ahead and parking somewhere and letting it pass before we get out on the water." "There's a lot of camps out there, house boats and camps on the bank." "And it's kinda code of the swamp that it's okay to get in somebody's camp to take shelter from a storm or something like that." "Hello?" "Hello?" "We respect their property." "We don't fool with none of their stuff." "But we like to just get out of the weather, and be thankful that we can get under a roof." " Pause for a weather delay." "[ thunder rolls ]" " Whoa!" "Ah!" " Off Lake Verret, Jacob and Chase are waiting out a late summer thunderstorm." "[ thunder ]" " Ah!" "Oh, my God." " Heard the bark crack." " It wasn't the branches, dawg." "That was the crack of that lightning." "God dang it, man." " I'm not a fan of lightning at all." "And one of those lightning strikes was so close that we could hear the charge of the lightning right before it cracked." "I've never been that close to a lightning before." "I promise you it was within a hundred or two hundred yards of us." "There's no alligator worth us getting hurt over or even dying." " Oh yeah." " Get it, baby." "The break is over." "We have a lot a lot of tags." "Waiting on Chase for about two hours, then the weather got ugly real quick." "So today was a bad day on the water." " With dangerous storms still in the area, the boys are calling it a day." " We made the decision to get off the water, and Chase was talking about continuing on and I just said no, it ain't worth it." "You can hear the lightning off in the distance." "There's no use not taking caution and being safe out there." "Today, I was frustrated and aggravated with Chase and he's there to do the job." "If he don't wanna do it, I'm gonna get somebody else to do it." "So I don't cut him no slack." " I may be wrong, getting a late start." "But, hey, it is what it is." "Hopefully tomorrow." " Tomorrow's another day." "Dad'll be back." "Hopefully, Chase will show up tomorrow morning 30 minutes extra early." "I doubt it." " As the Landry boys wrap up a disappointing day with a mere one tag filled..." "Over in Hammond..." " Before they meet their buyer, Bruce and Ron have found a shady spot to give Gunner a much-needed rest." " Now you can take a nap." "We in the shade now, son." " I think we wore him out first day, huh?" " Took a little while for him to settle down." "But by the end of the day, it didn't matter what we did." "We had gators splashing, guns shooting, boat rocking, didn't bother him none." "If he wanted to look, he'd look." "Then he'd just sit back down or lay down." "I don't know who was more nervous this morning, him or me." "And then for whatever reason, he got his fill of gator blood first thing this morning." "After that, he wasn't worried about nothing we were doing." " Little dog did pretty good." "Gunner did good, I got to say that." "Really surprised me." "So I don't know." "Me and the little pooch might be kinda bonding after all." " Good boy." "Good boy." "Yes, you are." "Took all season long, but you might turn out to be a gator dog yet." "I think gator dog school has officially closed." "Gunner has graduated and I think we've done well." "Come on." "First gator day, you get to ride on the gators." "There you go." "Sit down, son." "Sit down." " On the next episode of Swamp People... [ gunshot ]" " There's an extreme amount of pressure whether I hit it or miss it." "I thought I smoked him." " Watch out, watch out!" " Ohh!" "Uh-oh, uh-oh." " Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" " That's his head right there." " Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" " Drowned, huh?" " Nice, brother." "Yeah." "Nice alligator." "Whoa!" "Tore him up." "He was eaten alive." "We got a real big cannibal gator eating the gators that we catch." "The teeth marks..." "I could stick my fingers in them."