Deadliest Catch’s Sig Hansen Says He Changed His Mind About Retirement (Exclusive)

Sig Hansen has a new outlook on the future of his career.

Season 21 of the Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch came to an end on Friday, Oct. 31 with a major health scare for the legendary captain, 59, as he was rushed to the hospital after collapsing on board in part due to exhaustion. The doctor recommended Hansen consider retirement, which he tells PEOPLE has become a more realistic possibility over the years despite his past resistance to the idea.

“I’m a fisherman — you’ve got to remember, you’re talking to a professional liar here,” he jokes of previously saying he won’t retire. “I lie for a living. You do know that, right?”

“I think I’ve got a few more years left in me,” he continues. “I think about it all the time. And when I do think about retiring, it’s only because I’ve lost so many people, and I’m more fearful every time we go out on the water. And so that’s very true, a part of it is just, you think about your own mortality, and I’m fearful.”

Sig Hansen.Discovery Channel

Over the course of his lengthy career, Hansen, who has suffered two heart attacks in recent years, admits his outlook on the industry and his goals have shifted. While his primary focus used to be the job, Hansen says he has become much more of a family man than he ever imagined.

“I don’t have the same mentality I did as before, where you look at everything as a challenge,” he explains. “It’s still challenging, but it’s not the same. I’ve been there, done that, and now I want to spend more time with my family, my wife [June]. Look at all the years and decades that she’s given up for me, waiting. It’s got to go the other way.”

“The retirement is obvious, that’s going to happen,” he adds. “I’ve got four grandkids now. I used to laugh at all these old-timers when they brag about their grandkids and talk about how that’s their whole world. I’m like, ‘You guys are nuts. Can’t we talk about fishing?’ And now, I’m one of those guys. Can’t help it. And I love it. I really do.”

Hansen was the youngest captain in Alaska at 22, and he has gotten to watch his 30-year-old daughter, Mandy, as her own captain this season. He gushes that she “impressed” him, but he also never wants her to feel like she needs to follow in his footsteps.

“Mandy is a go-getter, she’s got the right attitude,” he notes. “If she does want to take over permanently, or her husband, Clark, who’s with us as well, and he’s doing a tremendous job, I don’t have a problem with it. But I do feel like she’s got other avenues as well.”

Hansen says Mandy has found success in real estate and even bought a marina with houseboats, which she and Clark are managing.

“The point to all that is at least she has something to fall back on, because fishing is volatile,” he shares. “The income is so volatile, up and down, that it’s not something that you can really count on at times. We had a closure here a couple of years ago for king crab and you’ve got a couple of years where you’re not doing much, and that hurts. So you’ve got to be well-established to be able to survive those financial storms. I think with her passion and her drive, if she wants to do it, that’s fine. I’m proud of her. And you’re not going to say no to a person like that. All they’re going to do is do it more.”

If she ultimately does choose to step into his position, Hansen says his best advice would be for her to know her boundaries. He further acknowledges that this was something he struggled with when he started out.

“I had no boundaries because I had to prove to everyone that I could be as good or better — you had to,” Hansen recalls. “When you do overstep, bad things can happen, real things can happen. And by boundaries, I mean your boat’s limitations, the weather conditions and what you’re dealing with, because it’s very real. And sometimes the most simple mistake can cost you your life or someone else’s.”