Sailing the Bering Sea waters means facing many dangers, including nature-related disasters and even the rise of certain illnesses directly resulting from the job. While some fishermen retire early, to avoid these difficulties getting the best of them, many others stick long enough to see high seas deteriorate their health.
The latter is truly the case of Seabrooke’s Captain Scott Campbell, whose appearances in “Deadliest Catch” have been quite unstable in recent years, due to his long-lasting back problems.
So whatever happened to Captain Campbell? Is he still in the show or has he retired altogether from fishing? What happened to his health, and what is his future and that of his ship? Keep with us to know what’s up with Seabrooke’s Captain nowadays!
How Is His Health Nowadays?
Several health issues have got in the way between Scott Campbell and crab fishing in recent years. As the most loyal “Deadliest Catch” viewers might remember, his back issues almost took him to an indefinite retirement in 2015, and though he fortunately recovered well from that, later in 2019 underwent yet another surgery, but this time to remove a 13mm stone from his kidney.
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During his long-awaited return to “Deadliest Catch” in 2020 after almost five seasons away from TV, Captain Scott affirmed that he’d overcome ‘three surgeries’, but appearing pretty much healthy throughout the entire season.
Unfortunately, Captain Scott hasn’t been very active on social media since 2020, making it impossible to access a health update from him in quite some time. However, he seemed to be doing well health-wise during the 17th “Deadliest Catch” season aired until late 2021, and hopefully it’ll stay that way for many years to come.
What Were His Surgeries About?
The first time “Deadliest Catch” knew that Captain Scott Campbell wasn’t doing well health-wise was in 2013, when he underwent his first back surgery, which left him bed-ridden for several months. Two years later, he had his C5 and C6 discs replaced, a harsh but necessary procedure given the long-lasting back problems he had been struggling with, to the point of leading to his retirement early in March that year.
Although this second surgery required less recovery time, his retirement from fishing led him to other business ventures, and apparently he didn’t face any further big health issues until 2019, when he had a big stone removed from his kidney. Despite his unfortunate situation, his kidney issues didn’t come as a surprise to his most loyal followers, who had become used to Scott’s lack of shyness while showing the many stones he had had naturally or surgically removed, numbering 63 at the last count
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While it’s unknown how Scott is doing in this regard, he has repeatedly referred to having the loyal support of his wife Lisa during all these procedures.
Is He Still In The Show?
Unfortunately, Captain Scott Campbell was left out from the 18th season of “Deadliest Catch”, which premiered in 2022, though it’s difficult to point out the exact reason for his absence.
As it happens, his comeback to the series was unusual to say the least. The 16th season saw him Captaining both his well-known Seabrooke, and his new ship called the Lady Alaska, but staying only with the latter for the following season. However, his return to the show was shadowed by the scarcity of crab in the seas, which obviously enough awakened his rivalry with other captains.
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While the audience of “Deadliest Catch” is no stranger to dramas and disagreements between cast members, the fact that Scott put his ship’s pots too near to where fellow Captain Keith Colburn was working with the Wizard, gained the Lady Alaska’s skipper the animosity of the audience. As reported by Meaww, several fans sent hate messages to Scott, calling him for his alleged ‘cheating’ attitude, while others simply asked for him to be removed from the series.
Given all these incidents, and the negative opinions from the audience, it wouldn’t be far-fetched to think that they contributed to Captain Scott’s exit from “Deadliest Catch”.
Did His New Boat Almost Sink?
It would be an understatement to say that Scott Campbell was excited about his new ship, Lady Alaska debuting in “Deadliest Catch”. The first time we saw Lady Alaska was through his Instagram account in July 2019, when he informed his followers that he and his father had bought the 138×32 boat, which ‘packs 330k’ of crab, and was going to debut later that year.
Got the lady Alaska hauled out. Follow my Instagram page Scott Campbell Jr
Once I have 10k follower I will post a video on one of the biggest waves we have ever taken when we where hauling gear. #scottcampbelljr #fishing #deadliestcatch #ladyalaska pic.twitter.com/YEHg3vR1AL— Scott Campbell Jr (@CaptScottJr) April 17, 2020
Though the Lady Alaska is a new name for many, the 30-year-old ship had briefly appeared in the first season of “Deadliest Catch”, when it was under the command of Captain Peter Liske. Now under the ownership of Scott Jr. and his father, Lady Alaska went through some light changes to make it apt again, but they unfortunately didn’t foresee the difficulties it would face in its return to the Bering Sea waters, during a certain episode in the 16th season.
As seen in the show, water filling the engine room was the first obvious sign that something was terribly wrong in the ship. Unable to leave the steering alone, Scott turned the alarms on and sought help from his sleeping crew.
It turns out, a bilge pump had frozen, and caused the engine room to flood, reaching three feet, almost a meter in depth, by the time Scott noticed. Fortunately, the issue was resolved but it was a scary situation for everyone, especially considering the still new ship’s crew.
Did Scott Sell The Seabrooke?
After Scott Campbell’s new ship entered the game, and became his main ship in early 2019, many people feared that he was going to say goodbye to the Seabrooke. Those fears became a reality when later that year, the Seabrooke surprisingly appeared listed for sale on an Alaskan dock website.
Though at first people mistook the ship with the popular Time Bandit owned by the Hillstrand brothers, and were flabbergasted by how unrecognizable it looked, a knowledgeable fan pointed out that the ship in question was no other than the Seabrooke. While this relieved fans of the Hillstrand family, everyone awaiting Seabrooke’s return to the show was saddened to see one of their favorite vessels going away like that.
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The Seabrooke appeared in the “Deadliest Catch” 16th opilio crab season, but even though Scott admitted some modifications were planned for the ship, as it had lost some important engine parts, he didn’t address the sale topic whatsoever: ‘Even though I have moved on to the Lady Alaska the Seabrooke will always have a special spot in my heart. Lots of good memories on this girl’, he wrote on an Instagram post.
While traffic reports indicate that the Seabrooke is currently stationed in Alaska, the ship doesn’t appear on the sale dock website anymore, and wasn’t present for “Deadliest Catch” 17th season either, unfortunately leaving its fans with no answers about its whereabouts.
What Happened To His Daughter?
Despite keeping much of his personal life a secret, Scott Campbell has let the audience know small bits about his family through “Deadliest Catch”. As is known, he’s married to Lisa and has two daughters named Trinidy and Stormee. The latter is not only known by the “Deadliest Catch” audience for being the mother of Scott and Lisa’s only granddaughter, Rainee, but also for her recurring health problems. As seen in an episode aired in 2021, Scott suddenly left the Lady Alaska after being informed of Stormee’s deteriorating health.
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Though nothing beyond having a heart condition was revealed about Stormee, a huge part of the audience showed their support to Scott for making family his priority during those difficult times. While not many details about Stormee’s current health condition are known, everything on her social media points out that what was shown in the series was just a brief scary incident, and she’s now doing well.
Beef With Keith Colburn
Disagreements and verbal fights aren’t a rarity for fishermen, especially for those who are featured in the drama-filled “Deadliest Catch”. That being said, the beef between Captains Scott Campbell and Keith Colburn from the Wizard is actually quite old.
As many good “Deadliest Catch” fans might remember, the endless competition between the Captains had led to some uncomfortable incidents, the most recent being the time Scott placed his ship’s pots near Keith’s in the 16th season, attracting not only in the audience’s ire, but also creating quite a tense situation. This was addressed in 2021, through the 17th season special episode “Hell For Heroes”, which showed Summer Bay’s Captain ‘Wild’ Bill Wichrowski mediating between the two skippers.
However, don’t let their many clashes and not-so-kind confrontations misguide you, as Colburn has admitted to being on good terms with Scott, despite it all: ‘I’ve had good conversations with Junior outside of fishing that have been great, and we’ve interacted before and it’s been good’. That being said, it’s safe to assume that the bad blood between the skippers belongs on the sea only.
What Are Scott Campbell’s Beginnings?
It wouldn’t be far-fetched to say Scott Campbell was meant to become a fisherman, but that doesn’t mean his path has been easy.
Growing up in the distant and ‘cut off’ Kodiak in Alaska was quite complicated, or so he affirmed in his 2014 memoir “Giving the Finger”. While his father Scott Campbell Sr. was away on the Bering Sea commanding his ship, the rest of the family struggled to make ends meet, with very limited money. He admitted to eating as much as he could from the school’s free lunch, given how ‘sparse’ provisions at home were: ‘if we ran out of food and mom didn’t have any money, we’d have to make do. That meant going outside to see what we could rustle up’.
Struggling with money issues seems a bit too cruel for a child, but that’s the way Scott’s early life went on. His father was scarcely at home most of his childhood, but on the rare occasions when he was, he taught his son everything about fishing and hunting. Nonetheless, the first time little Scott felt he belonged somewhere was on board his father’s ship: ‘By the time I got through my first season, I wanted nothing else but to be a crab fisherman’, as he told Idaho 6 News, and the rest is history.
Debut On TV
Though Scott Campbell’s debut in “Deadliest Catch” happened during the seventh season premiere in 2011, he was actually invited to be in the show long before. As he admitted in an interview with Hollywood Soap Box, he refused Discovery given that filming schedules interfered with fishing seasons. It wasn’t until he was approached in the 2010 season, that he finally considered it a real possibility, later passing the network’s interview easily: ‘They basically say, ‘What’s your fishing style? What’s your boat?’ Asked us a variety of questions, and that’s how they make their decision’.
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Despite being a veteran in the fishing crab business, Scott and his crew didn’t have it easy following their TV debut. As he affirmed, it wasn’t only the fact that he had to keep a filming crew safe on his boat, but also how his start in the show coincided with his most enduring season at sea: ‘This year mentally broke me. It was the first time I’ve ever been to the point where I was second-guessing myself being up there’.
Seeing how many difficulties he faced related to his profession and health, it’s no wonder Scott chose to go on a short break not long after his TV debut.
Business
Scott has also recently tried his luck at entrepreneurship in recent years. It all started after he retired from fishing in 2015, and realized that Idaho was a great place for his new career: ‘We’d always loved the Treasure Valley every time that we came here, so wanted to start our business here, and work at bringing the manufacturing in’, he told Idaho 6 News.
That’s how he and a couple of friends started in the business of ‘foam-injected roto-molded coolers’, with a small start-up called Cordova Coolers. Though at first impression this business has nothing to do with fishing, the idea for his product came after noticing his boat’s cooler didn’t freeze his drinks. Betting his friends that he could develop a better artifact, he ended up becoming an entrepreneur, and even signed an exclusivity deal to integrate his coolers with a certain small boat’s manufacturer.
Even though his career in entrepreneurship seemed promising, and the business keeps on creating its trademark coolers nowadays, the brand is now called Cordova Outdoors, and Scott is no longer listed as an owner. Whatever the reason why he left Cordova, it’s understandable that he eventually returned to pursue his real passion in fishing once again.
