With decades of experience under their belts, the veteran skippers of “Deadliest Catch” know how taxing a crab fishing season can be. For rookie captain Sophia “Bob” Nielsen, it only took a few weeks. “I’m only 23 years old but I can feel the gray hair coming in,” she announced on the Season 19 finale episode.

The “Deadliest Catch” newcomer learned the ropes fast from F/V Saga skipper Jake Anderson, who prepared her to captain her own ship. Nielsen joined the family fishing business after her father died and she inherited his boat, the F/V Victory. Her inaugural season was full of near-scrapes, including a collision with another vessel. But how did the young captain fare financially?

By the end of the Season 19 winter fishing season, the Victory came in second to last place, grossing $144,120 and 36,000 pounds of crab. That’s nowhere near as much as the top-earning ship, the F/V Time Bandit, which netted over $1 million, but it still earned more than the last place F/V Barbara J, which grossed $100,370.

Although Nielsen beat her goal of $100,000, her abundant haul almost led to her downfall.

Problems on the Victory almost spoiled Nielsen’s season

At the end of Season 19, Sophia “Bob” Nielsen learns that crabbing can yield too much of a good thing. She wraps up her rookie season nearly a week ahead of schedule but is unable to unload the Victory’s crabs at the cannery. As “Deadliest Catch” narrator Mike Rowe articulates in the finale, “Nielsen becomes a victim of her own success, putting her six-figure cargo into a holding pattern until her scheduled delivery.”

With roughly a week’s time to kill, Nielsen has to keep the tanks circulating to keep the massive crab haul alive. But the Victory has other plans. The keel coolers unexpectedly show signs of damage, causing the circulatory system to fail and starve the tanks of oxygen. Luckily, Nielsen is able to offload the haul onto a fellow fisherman’s ship and avoid detrimental dead loss. She also ensures that her crew members will each pocket $14,000 for their trouble.

For Nielsen, the Victory’s myriad problems are a learning curve. “I’m really thankful because I took a lot of blows this season,” she says at the end of the episode. “I need new keel coolers, I need to do a top-end rebuild on my big generator.” Her finale payday also hammers home just how costly ship maintenance can be. “But that’s what ‘BOAT’ stands for,” she continues. “Bust Out Another Thousand.”

Despite the stress and expenses, Nielsen doubles down in her efforts as a captain. “I am committed to this boat, and I’m going to continue to learn and hopefully become a better skipper,” she says. “I hope my parents would be proud of what I’ve accomplished, the hurdles that I’ve had to overcome.”