The 2015 International Convention of the Allied Sportfishing Trades Show (ICAST) was held July 14-17 in Orlando, Fla. It is the largest tackle show in the world, and many store owners and buyers compare walking the aisles to a child spending a few days with the elves in Santa Claus’ North Pole workshop. There are far more booths than can be visited and much more stuff than a fisherman can use in a lifetime. Still, ICAST continues to expand.
A spokesman for the American Sportfishing Association, the organizing group for ICAST, said the 2015 show was the largest yet, with more than 13,000 buyers and media members checking out the booths on more than 500,000 square feet of show floor and numerous seminar rooms. The displays included lots of new products, many improved products and an abundance of long-time favorites.
Products range from the latest tackle options to the newest fishing and boating accessories. Some of the products displayed at ICAST are so new they are prototypes and aren’t yet in production and may not be available until spring. Still others are beginning production and will be available in the next few months. My favorites were a mixture of this and aren’t meant to be a tease, but an advance notice of several products I consider special for a variety of reasons.
The New Product Showcase is the primary focal point of ICAST for many. It gives insight into what many manufacturers consider important for the fishing industry, with a special preview the night before the main show opens, with voting for the best new products in 24 categories. This year, 270 companies entered 889 new products in the 24 categories, an increase from 253 companies and 700 products in 2014.
In addition to the categories, the much-coveted “Best of Show” award is given.
For the past several years, an increasing number of booths for kayaks, stand-up paddleboards and accessories has been a trend. For the fourth time since 2011, a fishing kayak has won the overall “Best of Show” award; the Eddyline YakAttack special edition fishing kayak won this year.
The choice exemplifies the growing attraction of kayak fishing perfectly. The Eddyline YakAttack model combines the hull, layout and seat of the Eddyline C-135 Stratofisher with a selection of tracks, rod holders, camera holders, lights, anchoring system and storage from premiere kayak accessory manufacturer YakAttack (www.yakattack.us).
This year, I noticed plenty* of innovations in accessories, not just with tackle and lures. My favorite of the show was the Aegis Lifeshirts (www.lifeshirt.com). Lifeshirt makes four versions of inflatable personal flotation devices (PFDs) that are incorporated into shirts. Lifeshirt has the Watchdog line for kids, the Oceana line of active wear for ladies, the Stronghold line of unisex performance shirts for sports that require a PFD and the Sea Defender line of jersey style, loose fit, tech material shirts with UPF 50 sun protection ratings that were my favorite. Lifeshirts are available with hydrostatic automatic or manual inflation.
Freshwater and saltwater lures galore debuted at ICAST. I may have missed a couple, but the shrimp lures from Savage Gear and the Soft-Dog from MirrOlure really caught my attention. I like topwaters and shrimp lures, and these are special.
Savage Gear (www.savagegear-usa.com) offers five shrimp lures, two in multiple sizes, giving anglers eight options before colors. The Hard Shrimp is new and won the Best in Show award in the Hard Lure category, even though I would consider it a hybrid. It has a hard body combined with legs and antennae made of TPE soft plastic that flutter any time the lure is moving. It is a slow sinker but can be worked as a topwater at medium and faster retrieve speeds. It can also be counted down and worked under the surface with an erratic, slow to medium action. When paused, it sinks slowly, and the legs simulate a swimming shrimp. Savage Gear Soft Shrimp originated from computer scans of real shrimp and are very lifelike.
MirrOlure (www.mirrolure.com) had several new offerings, but I liked the Soft-Dog best. It has the shape and rattle of the Top Dog topwater lure, with the soft surface of their Paul Brown Original lures. Topwater lures move erratically, and sometimes fish miss. The movement and feel of this lure is just right, and fish that miss will readily return to attack again. Production is gearing up, and they should be shipped to stores by mid-October.
Marine electronics were a big deal at ICAST. Humminbird (www.humminbird.com) won the Best in Show award for Electronics for the fifth-straight year, this time with its Helix 7 SI that combines an ultra-bright, nearly glare-free screen, with the latest in imaging technologies. The Lowrance and Simrad (www.navico.com) 3-D modules were a big hit, too, especially with those who participated in their on-the-water demos. Weego (www.myweego.com) introduced a line of power packs/jump-starters that include a unit powerful enough to start a 6.3-liter gas or 4.8-liter diesel engine or charge all of your portable devices multiple times — and is small enough to fit in a tackle box with all your tackle.
Sunsect (www.sunsect.com) was another unique product shown at ICAST. This was originally developed for the military and, as the name implies, is a combination of sunscreen and insect repellent. I see it as particularly good for kayak, SUP, microskiff or wade fishermen who have minimal storage but need both products.
Other new products that caught my eye included the PowerStick from YOLOtek (www.yolotek.com), which won Best of Show in Giftware. I don’t understand that placement, but I like that the PowerStick plugs into a boat’s running lights and converts power to charge electronics through a pair of USB connections. Another thing that caught my eye was the variety of rod holders, electronics mounts, cup holders, tackle holders and more from SeaSucker (www.seasucker.com) that are attached by vacuum mounts and don’t require drilling. The vacuum seal is strong enough I had to struggle to loosen a grab handle from their display. Sea Striker (www.seastriker.com) introduced a new LED flounder light that is very bright, draws a minimum of electricity, is extremely light and operates cool enough it could also be used above water as a spotlight/floodlight if needed.
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