Daggerfish
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Daggerfish Handreels are compact, portable fishing kits, complete with everything you need for simpl Handcrafted essentials for connecting to the wilderness
12/06/2025
We're at our last outdoor show of the year in Ohiopyle PA as part for Wilderness Voyageurs Holiday Market! Come on down and find us from now until 4pm!
11/19/2025
Michael of just released a great video covering his first weekend of handlining! You'll see him get over the learning curve and pulls in a mess of trout using a variety of tools from Daggerfish. Plus, gorgeous scenery and beautiful phtography. Link in bio or check out the video on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECO8j9Z8bKg
11/18/2025
Next week, we're hosting handline fishing classes at a couple of our favorite local outdoor stores!
In this one-hour class, you’ll learn how to rig a handline for bait and fly fishing, how to set your hook and reel in your fish, and get to practice a variety of casting techniques with demo equipment. Plus, all participants receive a free digital copy of the Handline Fishing Field Manual!
The classes are free but space is limited! Learn more and register here: https://www.daggerfishgear.com/blogs/shopnotes/upcoming-handline-fishing-classes-nov-2025
10/28/2025
It's Tackle Tuesday! This week: Free Rigs and Texas Rigs
People LOVE these rigs. They're simple to tie, effective in weeds, and great for fishing off the bottom, especially for bass. For handlining, the weight at the end of the line makes casting easier and more accurate. I prefer the free rig, since you can use the same teardrop weights you use for your drop-shot rig.
To tie, thread a teardrop weight or a bullet or egg sinker onto your line. Tie on an offset hook and thread a soft plastic bait onto the hook, and bury the tip of the hook into the body of the soft plastic to prevent weeds from snagging. Cast with a whip or flick cast.
You can see more of the best tackle setups for handlines in the Handline Fishing Field Manual. Get your free PDF copy at https://www.daggerfishgear.com/handline-book
10/21/2025
Tackle Tuesday! This week: Slip Bobbers
Slip bobbers are one of the secret weapons of handline fishing. Allowing the weight of the bobber to slide to the end of the line makes casting easier and more accurate, while still allowing you to fish at depth.
Tie on a bobber stop knot, slide on a bead, and then slip on the bobber and add a hook with a little weight to it. Set your depth with your stopper knot, and keep it at the bottom of your spool when reeling to ensure it doesn't catch when casting.
You can see more of the best tackle setups for handlines in the Handline Fishing Field Manual. Get your free PDF copy at https://www.daggerfishgear.com/handline-book
Collapsible Nets are back in stock on the website! Here's the proper way to collapse them
10/17/2025
New batch of collapsible nets incoming from our partner Handy Pack! Working on the leather straps today.
10/14/2025
Our buddy Barnabas just had his YouTube account deleted by a phising attack - 400+ videos of handlining lost. He's taking it with good humor, but I'm sorry for the loss of his years of great and honest content, and the help it's been getting people into the hobby of handline fishing. He's off social media now, but you can send him good vibes. Thank you Barnabas for all the help you've been to me and other handliners over the last few years!
10/14/2025
It's Tackle Tuesday! This week: Jerkbait
Jerkbaits are a variety of crankbait that mimic the motions of injured or distressed prey. Since handlines have a slower retrieve speed than mechanical reels, jerkbaits are the preferred crankbait for handline fishing. These lures benefit from slower, jerkier motions when reeling in, making them perfect for handline fishing.
You can use sinking or floating crankbaits with a handline, or topwater lures like frogs, all to great effect. Just tie a crankbait to the end of your line and cast with a whip or flick cast, then slowly tug the lure in as you reel.
You can see more of the best tackle setups for handlines in the Handline Fishing Field Manual. Get your free PDF copy at https://www.daggerfishgear.com/handline-book
10/09/2025
Starting tomorrow we're back in Ohiopyle for the Buckwheat Festival! Come find us with , learn to cast a handline, and ask me about my pancakes and pickles story.
10/08/2025
Accessories on sale! Take 15% off automatically when you get 3 or or more select accessories for fly fishing, spin fishing, handlining, foraging, or exploration. See what's on sale here: https://www.daggerfishgear.com/pages/featured
Part two! In this one. We very quickly go through the sanding and finishing process that makes the grain POP. This beautygot mixed in with our regular maple handlines, so it might just be in your next order!
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About the Daggerfish Gear Company
I’m Adam, founder of Daggerfish, and I grew up in the National Parks. My dad was a Park Ranger, and so my family lived in and around some of the most wild places in the country.
As a kid, I didn’t really appreciate the incredible fortune of growing up in these places, and the skills that a childhood spent in the woods will teach you. As an adult, I’ve seen how living disconnected from the wilderness makes us incomplete, and how returning to it builds resilience, courage, and calm.
I started the Daggerfish Gear Company after realizing how important it was for me to get back into the forest, and relearning how to become more comfortable in nature. From what I’ve seen, a lot of camping gear is about either resisting nature (e.g., glamping) or achieving some goal in nature (e.g., ultralight FKTs). I guess there’s nothing wrong with this, but neither of these ways were what I was looking for. I make gear for the third way. For me, it’s not about how many miles you hike or how many of the comforts of home you can bring with you, it’s about letting yourself be comfortable with more a more basic way of being.
I believe in the importance of being a human animal, and I make tools and equipment to help people increase their feeling of versatility, competence, and comfort in nature. Knowledge and experience breeds confidence, and confidence breeds calm. Please, take my tools to the woods. Use them to live deliberately. Take care of the ecosystems that nourish us. And take care of yourself.