INSIDE STORY: The Brave Last Days of Deadliest Catch's Capt. Phil Harris - Tributes, Deadliest Catch : People.com

The inside story of Captain Phil Harris's last days.

Harris talked to younger son Jake, 24, whom he told PEOPLE in 2008 "has fishing in his blood," about the business. "I'm going to be looking at that [captain's] chair in a different way," Jake says. "We definitely talked about it, but I just didn't expect this to happen so soon. That's definitely something where I would take over and take the responsibility."

As for his older son, "he told me to get out of fishing," Josh says. "I do love fishing, don't get me wrong, but it was one of those deals where he wanted to see me do something better. He gave me the encouragement. My life goal was to show him I could be a man, you know, and I could fish, and I did the best job that I could, and he recognized that as being a good job and gave me kudos."

But on Feb. 9, after walking for a bit and working on physical therapy, Phil Harris sat down in his bed next to best friend Dan Mittman to take a break. "He said, 'Danny, I don't feel as good as I did yesterday,' " Mittman recalls. "They rolled about five doctors through there and they said, 'You can stay here,' but, I understood, though."

Later that day, Phil died with his closest family and friends surrounding him.

More here.