Who couldn’t like to visit the world’s largest fishing tackle toy store? Yep, the doors were open July 10-12 at the annual ICAST (International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trade) show, which was open to fishing tackle buyers and media.
The show consisted of 650,000 square feet of fishing tackle and services. How big is that? Well, there were 56 aisles about 200-feet long each filled with everything fishing except boats and outboard motors. Realistically, 2½ days of the show is not enough time to cover it all as some of the booths were over 1,000 square feet in size and loaded with products.
ICAST kicked off on July 9 with the ICAST Cup fishing tournament held on Lake Toho where the Lew’s team consisting of pro Peter Thliveros, John Carman and Matthew Mattingly (John and Matt are buyers with Pitman Creek Distribution) winning the event. Later in the day, the New Product Showcase opened for only buyers and media to vote on new products (Best of Show awards – 26 categories) that tackle companies are introducing for 2020. Most new products will be in stores in time for Christmas.
The biggest buzz of the show was about the year of the trolling motor. Three companies introduced new trolling motors that were all focused on helping anglers catch more fish easily.
Garmin introduced the “Best of Show” award-winning Force trolling motor. The motor comes with a cordless foot control pad, handheld remote control and is totally integrated with Garmin electronics such as livescope. The motor has a brushless drive unit, which reduces noise and provides more power.
Lowrance introduced the Ghost trolling motor, which also has a cordless foot control pad. This motor is also designed to be integrated with all Lowrance electronics and has a brushless drive unit.
Motor Guide reinvented the Tour motor with true cable steering and a stronger mount. All the motors have GPS anchor capability, much like Minn Kota’s spot-lock. Unfortunately, all the new trolling motors will retail over $3,000.
For the sixth straight year Lew’s Fishing won the “Best of Show” award for rod and reel combo. The Mach Smash rod and reel, which is an eye-catching red, consists of an 8-bearing reel with an IM6 rod that has Winn Dri-Tac grips. The bait cast combo will retail for $129.95 and the spinning combo will be $99.95. Lew’s Fishing also introduced the Custom LITE Speed Spool reel that weighs only 4.9 ounces with 11 bearings and has a 20-pound drag. Also new from Lew’s are Tennessee-style handles on the Pro-Ti and Inshore fishing rods.
Phenix Custom Quality Rods introduced the totally redesigned M1 rod, which now is lighter, stronger and has all cork grips. These carbon fiber rods will start at $169. Shimano won “Best of Show – Freshwater Reel” with the SLX DC baitcasting reel. This reel has the digital braking technology to control spool speed. St. Croix won “Best of Show-Freshwater Rod” with the new Mojo Bass Glass Rip N’ Chatter rod. This rod was designed for lipless crank baits and chatter baits.
There were a lot of new colors and sizes for existing lures that were shown at the show.
Some of the new hard baits introduced were:
Strike King KVD Wake Crank Bait, Strike King Rage Tour Grade Ned Head, Z-man Chatterbait Freedom, Z-man Finesse BulletZ jig head, Booyah Prank topwater bait designed by Zell Rowland and from Jenko Fishing the TrapLine lipless crankbait. All the new hard baits introduced had been either designed and/or tested by pros who fish BASS, FLW Tour or Major League Fishing.
On the soft bait side of baits, some new ones introduced at ICAST were:
Strike King Rage Ned Bug, Zman Big TRD, Game Changer Lures Eeliminator, Lunkerhunt Phantom Spider and the Zman Mag SwimZ. Companies showing new soft baits showed many new colors especially laminated paint schemes.
There were quite a few new fishing tackle accessories presented at the show. Some of the items that will be poplar were:
Lithium Pro PowerPack lithium battery, which will sell at under $700, Mustad Tungsten worm weights being offered at an affordable price, Lew’s Synthetic Reel Oil by Lucas, Strike King Tour Grade fishing lines (fluorocarbon, mono and braid will be available), Slime Line Competition Edition pan fish line, Cal Coast Battle Box, Bubba 110v Electric Filet knife and Wiley X Climate Control series sunglasses.
Even with all the new items shown, many of the tackle companies were already talking about designing and testing new products for next year’s ICAST. As told to us, some products can take up to 2-3 years to develop the final product. Again, most of the new products shown this year will become available beginning as early as mid-August and rolling out through this fall. It is time to start making that Christmas wish list.
