Inventing the Gill Shield

Hi, my name is Marc Callies, and I am the inventor of the Gill Shield. 

Fishing has been my passion since I was a little kid. I was fortunate to grow up in a family where my parents made it a priority to take my brothers and me fishing as often as possible.  I have so many fun memories of those weekend fishing trips with my parents and brothers. Now that I have a family of my own, I have come to appreciate the joys and frustrations of teaching children to fish. 

The idea for the Gill Shield came to me one morning while fishing with my family on one of our favorite local lakes. We had invited my in-laws to fish with us that day, so our boat included four adults and two children. It was late spring, and the conditions were perfect – we immediately started catching bluegills. The problem was, the bluegills were hitting fast and swallowing the hook almost every cast, many times before the bobber would even move. Very quickly, I found myself spending more time removing hooks from bluegills throats than time helping my family fish. And because some of the bluegills were too small to keep, I was running out of ways to creatively “discard” the fish that were too injured to swim away (you know the trick – throw them far!). 

I started to look for products that would prevent panfish from swallowing the hook. I couldn’t find anything that would do what I was envisioning so I developed the Gill Shield. Since developing this product, I have seen it become a “must have” in the tackle boxes of experienced and inexperienced anglers alike. Whether you are an avid angler looking to fill the freezer with panfish, a conservationist who prefers to catch and release, or you enjoy fishing with children, I am proud to offer you a revolutionary fishing tool to make your panfishing experience a fulfilling one.