Gill Nets on Alone: The Item That Quietly Wins Seasons

The gill net is not a flashy pick. It doesn't get the same screen time as a bow kill or a big knife, and across the seasons in our database it only shows up on 14 contestants' ten-item lists out of nearly 200 tracked. But look at who those 14 people are, and the pattern is hard to ignore.

The winners who packed one

Alan Kay took a small-gauge gill net to win season 1, setting it in the tideline to catch mussels, crab, and fish alongside foraged limpets and seaweed. David McIntyre used his in combination with a seafood box trap and a floating fishing line to win season 2 after what started as a brutal early food shortage. Jim and Ted Baird relied on theirs, alongside a recurve bow and crosscut saw, to win season 4's "Lost & Found" as a team. Roland Welker used a gill net together with a longbow and snare wire to reach the fixed 100-day threshold and take the season 7 Million Dollar Challenge. And William Larkham Jr., a commercial fisherman by trade, leaned on a homemade gill net and fishing kit to win season 11 in the fish-rich Mackenzie River Delta.

That's six winners out of the roughly 14 contestants who ever carried one.

Winner	Season	Days	Gill net role
Alan Kay	US 1	56	Tideline shellfish and fish, paired with foraging
David McIntyre	US 2	66	Combined with box trap and floating line
Jim & Ted Baird	US 4	75	Team lake fishing alongside bow and saw
Roland Welker	US 7	100	Paired with longbow and snare wire
William Larkham Jr.	US 11	84	Primary food source in a fish-rich delta

Why it works so well

A gill net doesn't require you to be present. You set it once in the right spot and it keeps working while you sleep, build shelter, or manage firewood, unlike active fishing with a line and hooks, which needs your attention, or hunting, which needs a successful stalk and shot every single time. Over a run that can stretch past two months, that difference in time and energy cost compounds fast.

It also isn't location-dependent in the way a lot of people assume. It shows up as a winning tool in coastal tideline settings (Kay), lake environments (the Bairds), and river deltas (Larkham), which tells you the underlying logic (passive, low-effort, repeatable food) matters more than the specific body of water.

The catch

Official rules on gill net dimensions vary by source and possibly by season, with some documentation citing 1.5m deep by 6m long with 2-inch mesh, and others citing different dimensions entirely. It's also just one item out of ten, competing for a slot against an axe, saw, sleeping bag, and fire starter that most contestants consider non-negotiable. That's likely why it stays a minority pick even though its win rate looks this strong. Check the official rules breakdown for what's actually documented about size limits before assuming any specific spec applies to a given season.

If you're building out a mental gear list of your own, the fishing kit is the more commonly picked food-gathering tool and a reasonable complement to a net rather than a replacement for one, and the full picture of what's available lives on the gear database.