After watching the first episode of Season 15 of Bering Sea Gold last night, a lot of people are speculating about the Shawn Pomrenke vs. Kris Kelly feud.
One of the big questions is this: if Kris Kelly is such a nuisance to Mr. Gold, why doesn’t Shawn just kick him off the Tomcod claim?
Well first of all, Tomcod isn’t a claim, it’s a lease from the state of Alaska.
Second, it’s not that simple.
Mr. Gold isn’t the full owner of Tomcod
Shawn isn’t a full 100% owner of Tomcod, he shares it with another guy. Both are authorized to allow offshore miners to work the lease and receive royalties from their work.
There are a lot of guys that work Tomcod that you don’t see on the show. Some of them work under Shawn’s authorization, and some work under McCully’s authorization.
Obviously if the Kelly’s were under Shawn’s authorization they would be gone already, but they’re not. That’s why they explained the crew member James was “grandfathered in” to working on Tomcod.
There’s a lot more to the story, but the point stands that Shawn, like the rest of us, sometimes just has to mine next to people he doesn’t like, and conflict can ensue.
Here’s my explanation.
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Buy real gold mined by me and my crew on the Eroica straight from the Bering Sea.
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Brief history of Tomcod
Tomcod is the largest lease tract portrayed on the show. It’s a whopping 2000 acres and is actually made up of a number of smaller leases combined into one.
It’s changed hands many, many times over the years, and has been controlled by various individuals and mining corporations since it formed as an offshore prospecting permit issued by the state of Alaska in 1962.
It is one of the largest and most productive offshore gold leases in the Bering Sea, and continues to be worked by dredgers today.
With gold from the Bering Sea being some of the purest, it makes sense why everyone wants to mine on this lucrative lease.
- Why is Jane Kilcher on Bering Sea Gold? (EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH JANE) - December 15, 2022
- Who owns the Tomcod Claim in Bering Sea Gold? - December 7, 2022
- Emily Riedel’s Guide to Building a Bering Sea Gold Diver Dredge - November 12, 2022


Hi Emily, I cannot stand the Kellys; they are rather arrogant, and they are just big opportunists, who are not able to find their own claim. Didn’t they try to steal your gold, too? Well, they are just nasty parasites and ridiculous clowns. Lots of greetings from South Tyrol, Dario Z.
Seems to me like the Kelly’s are right here. In the first episode of the season, Shawn admits he’s going to go over and dig all around him. Shawn was the ass. Since Kris Kelly had a kid, it seems like he is trying to do right. I wouldn’t mind seeing Shawn get fined for this one. He deserves it.
look at the actually footage the reaper nation was mining while Shawn was prospecting then the bully tried to pull out say goodbye to your mining license your in the wrong Shawn they where mining long before the The Christine Rose showed you you arrogant peace of shit no wounder you had to buy out your own old man out if you can’t even work with your own family then of course your in the right (coff coff bullshit)
Hi Emily,
Have you ever considered owning your own barge instead of relative simple sluice dredge? I mean, we know that aside from the gold all of the participants of the show get a certain amount of money per episode. Dredging without divers and with an excavator is lot more profitable if done proper.
Anyway, aside from this I cannot stand Vernon. That guy can only shout, talks always in the ‘we’ sense, while he is doing nothing himself. He gets so easily pissed if a diver has an issue. Somebody should kick his fat ass in the water and let him do 10 hours of dredging. Well, just my 4 cents.
He only pays for it all
Capitalism at it’s finest! I like to see woman and men work for living; instead sitting on their butt’s and cheating America! I suppose all you miners!
Congrats on the new family Emily, I’m guessing baby girl
The Kelly’s are such scumbags they embarrass the Irish nation and all Irish people who are honest hard working people.
The Kelly’s are scum of the earth . If you have watched the whole series it is apparent from the beginning the have no initiative on there own. Something they learned from there scumbag father who contributes absolutely nothing . He was only on the boat so he could steal gold from his own flesh and blood. Chris Kelly is so jealous of Shawn that he just follows him around and doesn’t prospect and find his own gold. It maybe technically legal but lining up on another miners line is morally corrupt !
Why don’t suction hoses have bars or a grid at the nozzle to stop big rocks that clog the hose? Notice that barges have excavators on them and that limits depth to dredge. As a kid I saw cranes with clamshell buckets attached to cables that dug in the harbor to deepen channels., no excavators. These, I would think, would be great in going deeper that any excavator. Wonder why they don’t use these?
Shawn did not fair well in fight against Andy Kelley did he big mouth. He starts it gets ass kicked then calls the cops PUSSSSSYYYYY
Hey Ed! Suction hoses like ours have a reducer ring that limits the size of boulders that it can easily intake. You need to strike a balance, because it’s important to be able to suck up sizeable rocks and boulders in order to move enough material to pay, but you also can’t be sucking up hose jammers constantly. With a 1-2″ reducer ring dredgers can suck up big rocks and only get the occasional rock jam. The worst is rocks that are shaped like a torpedo! They’ll get past the reducer ring with high potential to jam the hose
Yeah, just like Chris crooked father stealing gold from his own son. Kelly’s suck ass.
Kris Kelly is an inspiration. He came from the bottom and made it to the top. He got smacked down hundreds of times and he just keeps getting up and and starting over. The difference between him and the rest of us is that his mistakes are broadcast on TV where as your mistakes will be forgotten.
The Kelly’s couldn’t find their ass with two hands!
Yes he is high on himself
Thank you Emily for that explanation. It helps with the understanding a appreciation of the show.
Kris Kelly is no inspiration. He doesn’t want to do the work OR follow simple mining rules or rather laws. He wants to leech off of others, he wouldn’t know how to prospect if it unfolded right in front of him. Last season he went down the coast to that little town and it may have been technically legally, but it wasn’t cool morally, and the town showed them how wrong it was to mine there. And this year he wants to do the same thing to Shawn. It may be technically legal, but he is so busy trying to do the fast, sleazy thing instead of doing the work. Kris Kelly is typical of what is wrong with the youth of today. They can’t do math without a calculator, they can’t read a story, they have to watch the movie and they are lazy. Kris Kelly can quit comparing himself to anyone who actually has a brain and does the work required to be a real goldminer. He is embarrassing himself!
The show would be better without the Kellys
Your off your rocker there the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree like son like his jail bird fathered these guys are scumbags and are floating parasites of you losten to kris it sll about me me me he owns f all its his buddy who put the money up all the do is try and live off others so once a parasite always. Just like him claim jumping segment he put on the guide to successful mining ya ok there lol bahahah
Shut up you piece of filth .
Shawn’s old and broke back moron.
The Kelly’s like the folks downing Shawn in these comments are scumbags.
THE KELLYS ARE 3 LOSERS AND BULLIES.EXAMPLE THE FATHER WENT TO JAIL FOR BEATING UP HIS WIFE?
ENOUGH SAID ON WHAT THEIR LIKE THEY SHOULD BE KICKED OUT OF NOME….
ALSO SHAUN IS A HARD GRAFFTER!HE CAN WORK 24 HOURS SOLID HER DESERVES HIS RICHES.
Hi, Emily
Just saying hello to you from Vienna Austria, as I just found out that you are an opera singer, great stuff!
Very much enjoying the show! And also congratulations to your husband, marriage, and lovely baby!
Much love and Wishing you lots of success, Elisabeth
Hey, I’ve got a question about Tomcod. The name Tomcod. What is it…a name for a person? Or does it mean something else? It’s a totally random name to me and I’ve never seen an answer to where it came from.
The Kelly’s aren’t so bad. Sean is delusional WTF Mr gold that’s a joke looks like an fn pauper
Andy kicked Sean’s ass
Kelly’s have always been a piss ant in Shawn side for years a bunch of lazy punks who I don’t have any clue why they would finance that out fit as there old man clean out the box whenever they are not looking what a bunch of cali punks
While I am not a huge fan of the Kellys, I can’t stand Chris McCully on the show this year. He comes off as an arrogant punk. So cocky.
You have noticed Ven’s hearing aids?
Definitely scum of the earth.. Their father is the worst..he just beat his girlfriend so bad she was in the hospital with life threatening head injury..what a sorry excuse of a man. I will admit Kris is trying to establish himself as a decent guy nowadays.
Hilarious when Americans think they are Irish.
the kelly’s are just cali’s rednecks. EVERY state, has their rednecks. and he actually has a decent business plan, he just keeps reinvesting EVERYTHING, into better and better equipment. that’s kind of inspirational. and bound to end up as a success. it’ll be interesting to see if his clamshell dredge works. should. the only thing with the kelly’s, is that if something CAN go wrong, it WILL. probably why the producers like them. that, and the fact that kris will probably burst a blood vessel, ON CAMERA, at some point.
kind of agree with the mccully post. but he’ll learn. or the producers will. and for god sakes, be DONE with the grams thing. it’s been ounces for over a decade. deal with it. and the one liner “quotes”, are old, and too frequently used. and you never credit the original, quotER. try it sometime.
as for shaun, he’s pretty much just an older version of the kelly’s. but a bit more mechanically competent. the pomrenkes and the kellys, both, loud, violent, and driven. bound to clash. again, a reality shows dream. as well as the drama between him and his dad. sad, really. maybe shame on the show for promoting that.
vern, should cut his channel cat in half, and then double it’s width. and zeke, should just have much larger pontoons on his new 14″ unit. don’t know why everyone keeps taking a patio boat (made for lakes) out in the ocean, when you just have to come right back in when you get waves over a foot or two tall. he ALMOST had the right idea with his sailboat. i’m working on the solutions, but can’t discuss them.
so, emily, this seems like your op, so, a few questions, if i may… first, congrats on your girl, and secondly, on your season. was curious if you have a list of stats for your dives. it appears that you’re going with a 10″ (is that right?), but it sure looks like the sluice you’ve got is more like for a 6″ or 8″. so, do you have a REAL estimate, as to the amount of material you actually process in a standard hour? and is it just ridiculously less because of the height it has to be lifted? and then how is that size sluice handling the potential 2500-3000 gpm water? or do you have a smaller pump? just curious about the setup, and what it’s actually capable of.
lastly, what are the chances of getting the show to document a lot more of the numbers, for each of the miners. like, days on the water, average hours diving, basic equipment (like, 10″ suction, or, 3 yard bucket), maybe depth?, and then add these to the page with the ounces. or maybe just create a locked google spreadsheet, that only the show can alter, but anyone can view.
thanks much, and good luck, with ALL your endeavors, paul.
Hi Lanie, I agree with you 100%. I will start to like Chris Kelly, thinking he is going to be a better man, and then he will F up again. All of them are takers and mouchers and want the easy way out. Dam, they steal from each other! Shawn has prospected, tested that for a long time. Where ever Shawn goes, Chris is not going to be far behind.
Kelly’s are a piece if S_it.
All of um. Their time will come. Carma is a B
He did not “kick his ass” He hit him. Ofcourse he did…Most Bullies know how to fight. It’s a way of life for all the Kelly’s. (That poor little innocent baby) Shawn is a real man. A very hard working man. He earns everything. You have to watch out for people like the Kelly’s. Sneaky and take, take, take
Your mother was hilarious 😂 I kicked her out after u showed my dikkky doodle up her steam and stove oipe. She’s screaming the whole time give it to me , give me 12 inches , so I said ok then I will need to fuck you 12 no 4 times no wait I’ll need to fukkkk you 2 times cause I got a 6incher. She screamed so me gman. I said u know I’m not your son right, I said but I am yer daddy. Fyi I’m yer daddy too.
Your mother was hilarious 😂 I kicked her out after u showed my dikkky doodle up her steam and stove oipe. She’s screaming the whole time give it to me , give me 12 inches , so I said ok then I will need to fuck you 12 no 4 times no wait I’ll need to fukkkk you 2 times cause I got a 6incher. She screamed so me gman. I said u know I’m not your son right, I said but I am yer daddy. Fyi I’m yer daddy too.
Fukkk off she says
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Does Kris Kelly have Asperger’s?
Holy hell. This has to be a Kelly. Incoherent with atrocious grammar. 🤦🏻♀️