LAKEWOOD RANCH — About 200 lined up in the Polo Grill’s Fete Ballroom to shake hands with a man who has had his 155-foot boat tossed like a toy in heaving, storm-whipped brine, battled King crabs with claws as big as a big man’s fist, and taken responsibility for the safe return of a crew from the clutches of the Bering Sea.
Without his winter beard, Capt. Keith Colburn of the fishing vessel Wizard, featured on the television series “Deadliest Catch” on Discovery Channel, looked more like the friendly guy at the local hardware store Wednesday.
But that didn’t stop people from being enthralled that Captain Keith was in Lakewood Ranch.
Even the rain, which cancelled a street party on Main Street and redirected action into the Fete Ballroom, didn’t seem to dampen spirits.
“I’m really excited to see them catch the crab,” said 8-year-old Chloe Colburn — no relation — who came to meet the captain with her mother, Michelle, and sister, Caroline.
“One time, one of the nets broke because a shark bit it and some of the crabs fell out,” the young Colburn said.
Keith Colburn was in Lakewood Ranch to benefit the Suncoast Foundation for the Handicapped, Inc. and the 25th Suncoast Super Boat Grand Prix Festival. He said he was pleased with Choloe’s analysis of the show. This is not soul-searching drama. This is adventure. Colburn laughed when asked if there will be any changes or surprises for the upcoming season.
“We just go and fish,” Colburn said. “That’s what this is all about.”
The show, which has had four seasons, has created fame not only for Colburn, a former chef turned sailor, but has also made crab fishing popular.
Colburn said he gets hundreds of requests each year from people who want to join the crew of the Wizard.
“I turn them all down,” said Colburn, who leaves in the middle of September to go fishing for crabs and returns home in the middle of April, most years catching one and a half million to two and a half million pounds of crab.
“The last thing I need are thrill seekers,” said Colburn, whose biggest ever King crab was 28 pounds. “We’re not bungee jumpers. We fish. We usually get our crew by word of mouth.”
Everything you see on TV is real. The boat, the cold, the size of the crabs and the danger.
And that’s what draws people to tune in and to meet Colburn.
“The show is fun to watch,” said Madison Peters, a sophomore-to-be at Lakewood Ranch High School. “I like the boat because my dad, Doug Peters, is a boat captain.”
Madison’s mother, Linda, said she has met the captain before and he is very kind to his fans.
“He’s a real person, not a typical star, and that’s why people like him,” Linda Peters said.
Milt Flinn of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch and Tommy Klauber of the Polo Grill both watch the show.
“It’s one of my favorite shows,” Flinn said. “It’s exciting. Captain Keith is one of the last of the great hunters and his life is in great peril every episode. And, how about those king crabs. I love ’em. They’re delicious.”
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