![[FISH]rx Logo in Black](https://fish-rx.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/FRXLOGO-BLK.png){kind=small}
Who is [FISH]rx
Daniel Dahlin grew up in the South Bay. He’s been fishing since he was three — trout in the San Gabriels, bat rays off the Newport docks, whatever bit. The SoCal inshore bass scene came later, around 2018, when he started working on a whale watching boat called the Matt Walsh and started bringing his rod. That’s when he found the fishery. MDR has been home water ever since.
He started pouring baits in late 2020. Not because he had a plan, but because the slug he wanted didn’t exist in LA. So he made one, then a craw, and figured the rest out from there. The first thing he made caught a spotted bay bass. Everything he’s poured since has also caught fish. That’s still the bar.
The name and what it means
The brand started as Dahlin Baits. It made sense at the time — his name, fishing. But as the operation grew past soft plastics into bladed tackle, lead, and merch, the name stopped fitting. The rebrand to [FISH]rx happened in late 2024.
Four years of interviewing fishermen for the Time on the Water podcast and you start to notice a pattern. Almost everyone says it. Fishing is my therapy. Not as a figure of speech. They mean it. It gets them outside, slows them down, gives them something to focus on that isn’t whatever else is going on.
That’s what the rx is pointing at — fishing as a prescription, except you don’t need one. Rod, reel, line, hook. Start there and figure the rest out.
How the baits get made
Every handcrafted soft plastic bait gets trimmed by hand and handled before it ships. The ones that don’t meet the standard get fished by Daniel. The ones that do meet the standard also get fished by Daniel. That’s how you know if something actually works.
The store closes when Daniel’s at an event and reopens when he’s back with stock. Small batch means every bait gets handled before it leaves. That’s not a workaround, that’s the whole idea.
The community is [FISH]rx
The baits get tested on the water, but the brand gets tested in the community. Tournaments, events, conversations on the dock … that’s where honest feedback comes from, and that’s where most of the relationships that shaped [FISH]rx were built. That includes collabs with local tackle shops and independent builders like Deeks Jigs — people who hold the same standard for the fishery. The people who fish these baits are the same people Daniel fishes with, and that shows up in the product.
The Time on the Water podcast grew out of that same impulse — an excuse to stay connected, talk fishing, and bring other people into the conversation. It’s on YouTube now, live every Tuesday with co-hosts Charly and Luke — Luke also runs Bait Slingers and Artemis Charters out of the same SoCal inshore scene. Weekly guests, honest conversation, and a perspective on fishing you’re not going to find anywhere else.
The Field Notes guides came from the same place — practical fishing knowledge from the water Daniel fishes every week, written down so it’s useful to anyone fishing the same harbors.
The lineup
Soft plastics, bladed tackle, lead, merch. Started in SoCal’s back bays. Tested everywhere it’s been thrown since. If you like what’s in the shop now, catch me in five years.