If you'd have wandered onto a Southern California pier in the early 00s, you might have seen a young man peering over the rails, plotting how to catch the leopard shark he was watching patrol the pilings below.

​

That young man was company founder Ben, and in one of those circular twists that life throws at you, many years later he found himself looking at that same pier, but this time whilst working as a professional fishing guide on a nearby beach. The quarry? That famous leopard shark.

​

Inspired by that early encounter and with plenty of tournament and international fishing experience under his belt, Ben set up American Sea Fishing's tackle, outfitting and guiding business in 2018 to help anglers in their pursuit of surf and inshore species such as California's famous leopard shark.

​

As the guiding service expanded its scope from sharks and surf perch to corbina, croaker, halibut and bass, the need for good quality tackle increased to target each species. Quickly, one big problem became apparent: it was hard and sometimes impossible to find top quality tackle for inshore, pier and surf fishing in North America.

​

Growing up fishing saltwater and fresh, and spending years fishing the ocean in his European homeland, Ben recognized that many of the surf fishing rigs, hooks, sinkers, leaders and setups for sale in shops and recommended online fell short of the kind of usability and quality he'd gotten used to.

 

Lots of tackle was just cheap, ineffective gear repurposed for pier or surf fishing - other items like certain commonly-used hooks, rigs and sinkers were hopelessly outdated. No doubt, using this kind of gear costs people fish every sessions - which is not what you want when running a guiding business.

​

You see, with many of the the Old World countries offering massive amounts of fishable coastline, surf fishing culture and techniques in Europe are, on average, a little more advanced than those employed by many North American anglers.

 

It's like asking a European angler to fish for bass - or an American to fish for carp. It's just not been in the fishing culture for as long, so inevitably good techniques are less widespread.

​

So, by mixing the best of the rest of the World's inshore and surf fishing techniques and tackle, with the kind of insights into what really works you only get from being a guide and lifelong angler, Ben launched American Sea Fishing's first range of rigs and kits in 2019.

​

Since then, the company has helped thousands of happy customers catch their dream fish and has expanded its range to include rigs for many North American surf and shark species, premium quality tournament-grade hooks, lines, leaders, swivels, baits and terminal tackle, surf fishing sinkers and accessories – all carefully developed and picked to be a game-changer for a surf angler who wants to catch some serious fish.

 

American Sea Fishing's continuing mission is simple - to help people catch more fish.