12 Best TV Shows Like Deadliest Catch

Drama, calamity and constant danger dog the footsteps of the folks who ride the Alaskan seas in their fishing boats for Discovery's cameras in "The Deadliest Catch." Following a fleet of fishermen and crabbers who make their living in the frigid waters up north every single winter, the show doesn't flinch away from the horrors, strains, stresses and problems faced by the men and women who populate the show. 

At least one captain took ill on camera, there was one heart attack, and Captain Phil Harris later passed away from complications after experiencing a stroke. "Wild" Bill Wichrowski has been coping with cancer during recent seasons as well. Even with the possibility that they won't make it home, the captains still take their boats and crews onto the ocean. The ultimate goal is to be richly rewarded with a high-grossing catch — and to come home intact, with their lives and their boats in one piece. Mother Nature doesn't always reward them handsomely; the show has paid witness to numerous financial setbacks for several captains.

"The Deadliest Catch" has been a huge hit for Discovery and has many seasons under its belt, with its captains becoming icons in their own right. Naturally, that has resulted in spin-offs, imitators, and other reality shows that are more than a little like the Alaskan sojourns undertaken by Sig Hansen and the other crews. If you love the show and want to see more series like it, here are 10 more programs that "Deadliest Catch" fans will adore — either because they also focus on life for other tribes of fishermen, they spotlight other kinds of dangerous wintertime occupations, or they're set in the wilds of Alaska.

The most successful show to branch off from the "Deadliest Catch" formula, "Wicked Tuna" puts a distinctly New England spin on the topic and follows a group of fishermen who live in Gloucester, Massachusetts and spend their lives fishing for, well, Atlantic bluefin tuna. This particular type of fish costs quite a bit on the open market, which means competition can be fierce. 

The show lasted for 13 seasons on National Geographic, making it an ideal long-form binge watch for any fans of "Deadliest Catch." It even has a long-running spin-off, "Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks," that's set in North Carolina. The joys and horrors that these fishermen face are much like the ones which confront the folks working for the boats patrolling the waves for "Deadliest Catch," so it's definitely a good fit for fans.

The series initially focuses on just two boats, FV-Tuna.com and Hard Merchandise. Over time, they're joined by six other boats and six other crews, all of them competing for fish in the same area. Battling the elements as well as the ocean itself, each captain struggles to bring in the amount of fish he or she needs to succeed for the season. Sometimes they compete in catching contests, sometimes they're just looking to pay off their costs. No matter what the battle is, the name of the game remains fishing.

"Bering Sea Gold" combines two of Discovery's most successful themes — gold mining and oceanic exploration — into a single series. Unsurprisingly, it's produced by members of the "Deadliest Catch" crew. Like "The Deadliest Catch," it's set in Alaska, and like "Gold Rush," it involves mining for gold via dredging. The big twist? All of the mining happens underwater, with gold being dredged from undersea areas. 

While the series is haunted by tragedy just like "Deadliest Catch" — specifically the suicide of John Bunce of the dredge named The Edge — it's also filled with family, sacrifice, hard work and plenty of gains and losses. And then there's Kris Kelly, always ready to teach mine etiquette and bring a bit of levity to the festivities.

The show initially follows the crews of The Christine Rose, The Sluicey, The Clark and Wild Ranger, all of whom combine life on the sea with mining. Other ships come and go across the seasons, but these are the main ships throughout the show, with at least one of them showing up every season. The goal is always to get that gold. 

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You might know this one as "Cold Water Captains" from when it aired on The Weather Channel. "Cold Water Cowboys" only lasted for four seasons, from 2014-2017, and it was a Discovery Canada exclusive unless you had a Weather Channel subscription. But if you decide to dig it up you'll grab a fascinating and unique portrait of life in the Canadian fishing industry. 

Set mainly in Newfoundland (and using Newfoundland English, which comes up subtitled for those watching the show in American English), the show follows a set of skippers who have diversified their presence in the fishing world following the general collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery industry. Left to start over again, they hunt everything from crabs to bluefish to other delicacies. Basically, it's "Deadliest Catch" with a Canadian flair.

The initial fleet of ships is comprised of The Atlantic Bandit, Midnight Shadow, SeaDoo, MJ Nadine, K & N Enterprise and Nicole Daniel. Most seasons follow six to seven ships, the routes they take, their successes and failures, and the spine-tingling work they perform.

Much like "Alaskan Bush People," "Alaska: The Last Frontier" follows a hardscrabble family living off the land in the 49th state. "Deadliest Catch" fans might take this one over "Bush People" and any other shows about folks trying to survive in the wild off the grid, because of its deeper relationship with Alaska and its fascinating connection to a fairly popular actress-musician. If you like the way "Deadliest Catch" focuses on the resourcefulness of its crews, then this will be the right program for you.

Remember how Jewel was introduced to the world as a folk-singing yodeler from Alaska who lived in her van? "Alaska: the Last Frontier" is about her extended Kilcher family, who live off the land in the wilds of the title territory. Hunting, fishing, and gathering to keep their bodies and souls nourished, they struggle against the elements and try to make it through winter and into springtime. Sometimes the process can be dangerous, sometimes it can be chilling — but they try to keep a sense of community and hope about them as they work to stay alive.

Like "Deadliest Catch" but focused on the dangerous occupation of lobstering, "Lobster Wars" only managed a single season on Discovery, but it packs in the same kind of action and harrowing thrills that are the hallmark of its parent program. This was another, but less successful, spin-off from "Deadliest Catch," which shows in the series' branding and the way it portrays its hard-working lobster trawlers. 

It's not shocking that this quasi-spinoff was created by the same production team, and it was even called "Deadliest Catch: Lobstermen" when it aired on Discovery in the U.K., though the connection didn't plump up this one season wonder's ratings. 

But pay that no mind. As with "Deadliest Catch," five boats — The Dragon Lady, The Timothy Michael, The William Bowe, The Direction, The Rachel Leah and The Excalibur — make up the main fishing team here. While it didn't live as long as "Deadliest Catch" has, it's still a worthwhile experience for those who love compelling captains, the fishery industry, and want to know what goes into catching and bringing lobsters back home.

Another series set upon the frozen Alaskan tundra, "Life Below Zero" focuses on a group of people scraping a living off the land and how they manage to make it from day to day without dying — though they're often put in situations that are deadly via their own hubris. ATVs fall over, ice cracks, and a dozen different threats seem to assail them from every single corner of the world.

The 2013-2025 show was definitely hit with controversy during its run. At least one former cast member, Sue Aikens, sued the production company, accusing the BBC's producers of intentionally trying to put everyone in harm's way for better footage and thus bigger ratings. Since the show thrived on crazy incidents and near-death experiences, that left audiences to wonder just how much of the show was in fact real. 

"Deadliest Catch" fans will nonetheless appreciate the spartan situations and deadly choices each member of the cast must make over the course of the show's very long run. Even if some of the scenes are enhanced for drama, the entire enterprise is well worth watching because the drama factor is always high. It's also so popular it managed to spawn its own spin-off, "Life Below Zero: First Alaskans," which is about Indigenous Alaskans. 

"Swords: Life on the Line" is — you guessed it — about the perils of swordfishing in the Atlantic. Just three seasons long (2009-2011), it takes a look at the frightening, dangerous and sometimes wildly unprofitable world of trying to grab those pointy-nosed fish and bring them in for a delicious profit. One of many attempts by Discovery at getting a "Deadliest Catch"-like series off the ground, while it may not have had much staying power, "Swords" is still an engaging, fast-paced and fun outing that manages to make audiences sit up and take notice. And there's a little more of it to binge your way through than most reality fishing shows.

Like "Deadliest Catch," "Swords" follows six ships as they try to get money and make their quotas before they run out of cash, time, or deckhand talent. As always, interpersonal conflicts, health matters, dangerous weather, and thin reserves will be major factors in how well they all do. Everyone's worth rooting for in their own way. And that means "Swords" is another wonderful little reality show that fans of "Deadliest Catch" will likely adore when they find themselves longing for more fishing-based excitement.

"Battlefish" was Netflix's short-lived 2018 answer to the success of "Deadliest Catch," which means it was filmed documentary style with that same unmistakable tone. It only lasted for eight episodes, but the miniseries took the concept of fishermen living their lives on the high seas to the albacore tuna procuring industry. "Deadliest Catch" fans might definitely enjoy it because it feels like quite a natural next step after finishing that show.

It's loaded with plenty of death-defying shocks, with long hours spent on the tuna trawlers as their captains cope with the same sort of struggles that many a reality fishing show captain must cope with. Angry and troublesome fishermen? Check. Icy-cold seas filled with dangers that have nothing to do with tuna? Check. Mechanical failures? Yep. There's plenty of deadlines to make, plenty of tuna to be brought in, and lots of interpersonal conflict to deal with, even with the series' abbreviated run time. If anything about "Deadliest Catch" appeals to you, then this will definitely be a high priority program once you run out of seasons of that reality titan to binge.

It's Discovery's other juggernaut program, and it's 15 seasons strong and counting as of this writing. "Gold Rush" isn't an ocean-bound series, but it takes a long look into the lives of Alaskan miners who spend their lives panning for gold in the wilds of Alaska. In some cases that means getting inventive; in others it means dismissing your employees. Sometime it means absolutely no takeaway pay, and sometimes it means getting rich — or at least making enough money to pay your equipment fees off. "Deadliest Catch" fans will relate.

While it might be stuck on land, there's no end to the drama, defeats and victories this group of folks experience over the years. It's spawned plenty of spinoffs, which means if one gets really invested in the series, you've got a lot of other things to watch. If you attach your interest in the show to miners like Tony Beets or Parker Schnabel, you'll have hours upon hours of entertainment to enjoy, and plenty of miners to catch up on. 

Almost every single one of the show's main miners has a series centered on them and their activities alone; it's best to consider this series a project watch. That should please anyone looking for a rich, multiyear experience like the one they might get watching "Deadliest Catch."

Much like "Deadliest Catch," "Ice Road Truckers" had an extremely strong fan following which kept it afloat for from 2007 to 2017, until it finally concluded after 11 seasons. While it isn't a fishing show, it too is set at least partially in Alaska and follows a pack of truckers who spend every winter trucking Canada and Alaska's most snowbound and isolated highways. Sometimes they have to cross frozen lakes or streams to haul their cargo in. If you get chills imagining what life might be like on-deck during those snow-blasted trips across the Bering Sea, imagine what it might be like crammed into a truck that could sink into the ice at any time. 

"IRT" gives viewers plenty of things to get excited about, whether it's worrying that the drivers they love will get lost in a blizzard, go through the ice or even worse, end up stuck in a snowbank. In short, it is apt to give viewers the same kind of edge-of-your-seat-excitement that "Deadliest Catch" prides itself upon. After all, it's a profession that might even kill you.

Yep, it's another fishing show set out in some very chilly auspices — in this case, Iceland instead of Alaska. But "Ice Cold Catch" is fascinating in its own way because it zeroes right in on a group of three newbies to the field who have to prove themselves on deck. At the end of an intense three weeks of cod fishing, they'll have to decide if they'll always remain greenhorns — or if they belong with the rest of the deck crew hauling in a fresh catch for their boss on the Pál Jónsson.

While it might seem at first blush like another of Discovery's attempts at cashing in on the success of "Deadliest Catch," the limited timeframe, smaller cast, and sense of urgency related to the decision-making process adds a fresh twist to the whole feeling of the series. You come to genuinely care for crew members like Caitlin Krause, Andrew Neystel and Greg Kent Jones. While it's only one season long, it's one of those rare outings that makes you want another go-round — either featuring this pack of deckhands or a whole lot of brand new swabbies. Perhaps someday Discovery will give it to us, but for now it's a pretty good single-season experience.

"Catching Monsters" is another fresh take on the "Deadliest Catch" formula of fishing, cold temperatures, and survival on the waves. But what makes 2015's "Catching Monsters" so interesting is that it involves a job swap — lobstermen shed their jobs for six weeks every year and go deep sea fishing. 

The quest is for large fish that will cost a fortune on the open market. The quarry is giant bluefin tuna, and the hope is for a more wealthy payday. But as participants like Captain Jeff Mills know, nothing is guaranteed. Some, like Captain Trevor Malone, go with traditional lines and decide to keep the fishing process as simple as possible. 

While it's yet another single-season take on the deep sea fishing topic, fans of "The Deadliest Catch" are likely to be quite happy with more of the same in this case — mostly because the concept of deep sea fishing out in the wild blue yonder remains a central part of the series, with a switch between industries adding a new idea. When it comes to "Deadliest Catch" spin-offs, that definitely makes "Catching Monsters" worthy of recommending.