The Method
The starting kit
What's going into Baja, item by item, with weights. Not the answer — the baseline everything else gets measured against.
Read →Self-contained · On foot · Saltwater · Worldwide
No boat. No chair. Everything on your back and miles of beach in front of you. Being prepared, rehearsed and adaptable can be the difference between catching fish and not. Special operators organize a loadout in layers, so they are still effective after dropping one. We do the same with fishing gear: every item belongs to one of four lines, and the line is decided by one question: if you lose everything above this, can you still fish?
Simply put, we are chasing
shore angling perfection.
A loadout modeled after Special Ops that fits in a carry-on and has the durability and versatility to catch whatever presents itself, on any coast, on foot. We test gear honestly and publish the failures with the wins. We represent only brands that stand behind their products and keep innovating, and we intend to be part of that innovation. We fish as stewards: the fish and the water are the resource everything else depends on, and every beach gets left better than we found it. We fish for the body and the mind as much as for what is on the end of the line. And we go to see the world, one shoreline and one culture at a time.
One bag, any coast, whatever bites.
The fish and the water are the resource. Leave it better.
Miles on sand, early light, a clear head. The fishing is the excuse.
And innovate. We plan to be part of it.
More kids on the beach with a rod, and a way in for them.
New water, new countries, new people. See the world by its shorelines.
What you wear: footwear, sand socks, sun layers, hat, gloves, the watch, the belt. Decides how far you can walk before anything in a pack does.
The rod and reel in your hands, and what is attached to what you wear: on the belt, in zipped pockets, on a lanyard or a retractor. Never in a bag.
The sling, chest pack, day pack or surf belt, worn continuously while you fish. It carries equipment between casts: lures, leader and terminal tackle, the spare spool, water, and the backup reel and rod.
The ruck. Carried on long hauls, staged at the truck or hotel on short ones. It carries what keeps you out there: the water reserve, food, rain shell, the full first aid kit, spare lures, bulk tackle and the repair kit.
Preparation, preparation, preparation. “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” — often attributed to Abraham Lincoln
The lines are not a packing list. They are a way of deciding, before you leave the truck, which of them come with you — and the thing that decides it is not the fish. It is the walk back.
| How far | What comes | What stays |
|---|---|---|
| Within sight of the truck | First line, and second if you are working lures. | The pack. The truck is your third line. |
| Out of sight, back on this tide | First and second, on your body. | Third line, packed and staged at the truck. |
| A mile or more, or past anything the tide closes | All three. Water, light and the full first aid kit come along. | Nothing. There is no going back for it. |
Three miles out is three miles home, paid tired, in the dark, against a tide that came in behind you. Every extra mile toward feeding fish costs two, so the turnaround time and the cut-offs get written down before the first cast — on a slate, not a phone.
Species never enters into it. The same bag covers whatever the beach turns up. Distance decides how much of it leaves the truck.
99 items, broken down to the finer details, each assigned a line, a pairing and a way to fly. Five to ten a month get carried on the Kohala Coast first; what survives graduates to the trips abroad. One list drives this, the register and every review, so nothing here can drift.
Worn, Electronics
Rod and reel, Rod and reel combos, The record, Eyewear, Tools, Terminal tackle, Electronics, Signaling, Safety, Skin and body, Bait
Rod and reel, Lures, Terminal tackle, Line and leader, Bait, Tools, The record, Water and food, Storage, Electronics, Eyewear, Optics, Skin and body, Safety
Water and food, Worn, Safety, Skin and body, Lures, Line and leader, Rod and reel, Terminal tackle, Repair, Electronics, Storage, Bait, Eyewear
Sand beaches, estuaries, cuts and rock piles on the southern cape. Roosters, jacks and whatever the cooling water pushes in.
The longest fringing reef in the islands, walked at low water, with rock shelves and sea cliffs at either end. Ask first.
One trip, back to back. Andaman mangroves and estuary mouths, then atoll flats walked under serious sun. Nothing gets rinsed at home in between.
Guanacaste rock points and sand coves, then Golfo Dulce: gulf water, mangrove and river mouths in the wet season. The leg that closes the testing year.
There is no definitive kit yet. That's the point. A loadout comes together over the next year, and then it keeps earning its place on every new coastline.
What's going into Baja, item by item, with weights. Not the answer — the baseline everything else gets measured against.
Read →A twelve-dollar dive slate is the most overlooked item a shore angler carries. What to write on it, and the two entries that get you off the beach.
Read →TSA permits rods in carry-on. That isn't the rule that costs you one — the airline's length limit is, and the officer's judgment is.
Read →Twelve months, five coastlines, everything carried on foot. Sand, coral, mangrove, rock and rainforest river mouths, and the coastlines after that. We're testing our way toward a loadout that keeps earning its place and publishing every result — including the things that fail. If you make something that has to survive that, we should talk.
The field trial →