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Gary Loomis Maintains his Edge
It's been a couple of years since we've had the chance to catch up with Edge Rods, but when we saw Gary Loomis's smiling face at the booth, we knew they must have had something good baking in the rod oven. Here's what we found out.
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Fenwick Extends Elite Tech and Updates Aetos
Fenwick continues their steady and deliberate revival refining existing rod series with lighter, higher performing blanks. Last year, it was about their new top end World Class series of rods - which, by the way, are currently under review by us. This year, Fenwick turned their attention to their popular mid-level rod for some serious refinement. |
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Gammy Extends Their Swivel Reach
It was a relatively quiet show this year for Gamakatsu - at least on the bass side. The company continues to refine their G-Finesse series of hooks finally bringing to market a hook Shin Fukae shared with us some time ago - the Swivel Shot Worm.
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Getting a Handle on Gill Marine
With their big introduction of the Vortex Hood during last year's ICAST, things were a bit more quiet and subdued in the Gill booth this year. We stopped by nonetheless to see what the company had to show.
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Owner's Turn to go Beast-Mode
It can't be easy for terminal tackle companies to continually innovate and develop new product to debut each passing year at ICAST, but Owner managed to address something this year sorely needed by big bait fisherman - larger swimbait hooks!
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New Smoother Braided Lines from Sunline
Having nearly exhausted what can be done with fluorocarbon material in fishing lines - at least for now - Sunline turned their attention to some new braided lines this year leveraging a new IZANAS PE material to develop two new eight (8) strand braids. |
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Rapala Brands Making Noise at ICAST 2016
Rapala is another company that went relatively low key this year focusing on new colors for existing baits and just a couple of quiet introductions. Here's what we saw at Rapala's booth during ICAST 2016. |
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Reaching Optimum Madness in Big Baits!
If you've followed our coverage of ICAST in the past, you'll know that while Optimum Bait Company has products under their own name, they are also the distributors of many other popular bait brands including Kahara, Deps, AA Worms, Reins and ima. Keeping the baits and names all straight can be a challenge so this year, we're going to discuss just a few key baits within this large umbrella.
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Hanging Out with Molix
When it comes to innovative or just plain interesting product, Molix always has something up their sleeves for us at ICAST. We look forward to visiting with this Italian manufacturer each and every year to get a taste of their unique flair and style. Once again we were not disappointed.
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Pflueger Doubles Down on Value
Pflueger's motto has always been to provide solid performing reels at price points that make it easy to adopt their brand. They further their quest in that goal this year with a refinement of their already popular and very value driven spinning reel lineup. |
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Simms Takes On The Challenge Of...
Everything
Each and every year Simms just about overwhelms us with new product. How this manufacturer continues to up their game each and every year is really quite astounding, but of course, many more budget minded anglers dismiss the company right away for the cost of their product. Simms is aware of the grumbling and has a new rain suit that's a bit more affordable than their top end ProDry rainsuit. Let's take a look!
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Denali Doubling Down and Going on the AttaX
Denali has slowly and steadily been revamping their rod lineups over the last couple of years. They've continued that trend this year with the refinement of their popular Kovert series of rods and extending their technique specific reach with a series of sticks to support the big bait trend.
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Gliding Along with Lucky Craft USA
Keeping things simple this year, Lucky Craft has a single bait debut this year but several new colors extending throughout their existing lineup of baits. Let's take a look.
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The Swiss Army Knife of Emergency Batteries
This year, Weego introduced a
unit that's more than just an emergency starter battery making it more likely
for you to have around when you're in the outdoors. |
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G-Rods Looks to Change the Game with Their New Mid-Tier Bass Rods!
Perhaps no company made a bigger splash with us at last year's ICAST thank G-Rods International, so we were anxious to see what this relatively new manufacturer had in store for ICAST 2016.
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In Search of Practical or Elite? Abu Has an Answer for Both
Seven years ago, at ICAST 2009, Abu Garcia debuted their Vendetta bass rods - a series that would set the tone for others to come in both style and value. This year, they re-imaged this series and introduced a more affordable version of their flagship Fantasista.
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Missile Bait's Offer They're Betting Few Bass Can Refuse
We caught up with BASS Elite Series Pro Ish Monroe in the Missile Baits booth to lean what's new with the manufacturer for 2017. For Missile Baits, it's all about that craw.
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New Baits from Megabass
Riding their successful introduction of the Levante series of rods last year, Megabass turned their focus to new bait introductions for 2017. We take a look at six baits that are new to the US market, but not necessarily worldwide. |
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New Colors and Packable Rain Suits from Huk Gear
Thanks to their now signature camouflage pattern licensed from Kryptek,
Huk Gear is one of the fastest
growing apparel manufacturers in the fishing industry. The combination of
aggressive styling, attractive patterns and colors, and garments that are super
comfortable to wear has hit an accord with consumers. |
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An UltraFast Spincast Reel from Zebco/Quantum
With recent, exciting introductions like the EXO and Smoke reels, we never know quite what to expect at Quantum from year to year. This year we were greeted by none other than KVD himself who took the time to walk us through what the company has planned for 2017.
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River2Sea is Going Mad and Doubles Down on the Plopper!
We were somewhat disappointed last year to find our friends over at River2Sea had nothing new to share. This year, while the manufacturer did have some new stuff to show us, they still chose to keep things relatively low key with only two new bait introductions and some new colors to be made available throughout their bait lineup.
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Spro's New Spittin' Shad
Another booth that's normally hopping with new product introductions is Spro. This year the company extended their topwater offerings with a new, spitting frog and new colors for an established frog bait. They then simply extended the utility of a couple of bait lineups with new colors. Let's take a look.
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Abu Garcia Goes to the Xtreme in Both Weight and Speed
The long-standing threshold for a bass-sized low profile baitcasing has been six (6) ounces. Break this threshold and you've entered the realm of highly coveted and often, difficult-to-afford flagship reels. This year, one manufacturer has shattered that barrier by introducing a sub-five ounce (-5oz) reel! Introducing the 4.5 ounce Abu Garcia REVO MGXtreme!
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Jackall of All Trades - New Gantia
Swimbaits and Gavacho Popper Frogs
Is there any lure category that Jackall can't address? It sure doesn't
seem like it as the brand continues to expand their already very robust offering
year after year. Fresh off their successful Ganteral Jr. and Rhythm Wave soft
swimbait spring launches the team at Jackall surprised us at ICAST with more
offers designed to target big and aggressive fish. |
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Phenix Goes Back Out on Recon
Phenix original Recon and subsequent Recon 2 series of rods are arguably their most popular suite of bass rods, so we were a bit surprised when the company debuted yet another revision to this line at this year's show. Here's a look at the new Recon Elite series of rods from Phenix.
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Old School is New Again with St. Croix's Legend Glass
If there's one thing that's been missing in St. Croix's extensive lineup of bass rods, it's a series of rods dedicated to moving baits. This top tier manufacturer addressed that oversight this year at ICAST in a big way. So big, in fact, that they won Best in Show Freshwater rod with their brand new Legend Glass sticks.
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BBB Makes a Bid for the Squad with their Suicide Shad
Big Bite Baits is quietly and effectively becoming a huge player in the soft bait market. While the company's Real Deal Shad variations have been a success, what's been missing in their arsenal is a hollow body paddletail swimbait. Enter this year's ICAST introduction, the Suicide Shad.
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They Hybrid Tech Fueling Kistler's Feel n Reel Rod Series
How do you breathe new life into an already top selling rod line? If you're Kistler Custom Rods, you introduce a subset of composite blank sticks that answer the call of anglers wanting the versatility of a moving bait stick with the power of a traditional worm and jig rod. Introducing the "Feel and Reel" S2 KLX rods by Kistler. |
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Stormr's New Lightweight Garments Protect
Anglers From the Sun and Rain
STORMR started with neoprene based foul weather
gear designed to tackle the toughest conditions including surf and offshore
fishing. While those garments were extremely robust they were overkill for
certain fishing situations. While there is absolutely a place and time for those
jackets and bibs this season Stormr is introduces lighter more packable
garments. |
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ICAST 2016 New Product Showcase Best
of Show Winners!
Day two of ICAST is in the books and the New Product Showcase Winners have been
announced. It was a great year for Minn Kota, Lew's who won in multiple
categories, Pure Fishing who took home top honors in fly and saltwater reels,
and Savage Gear won for the third year in a row with their Suicide Duck. |
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A Balance Between Form and Function, the Exciting
New 13 Fishing Muse Rods
13 Fishing's rod's have always had an edgy feel to them,
and even the more affordable rods look and perform like they should be competing
in a higher segment. This ICAST the big rod announcement was the introduction of
the updated Muse Series, a new lineup that is tailored to offer a balance of
form and function at a great price. |
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Get Low! Lew's New Super Low Profile (SLP)
Series Gets Down
Lew's continues to roll out notable new products season after season and this
season when it comes to baitcasters that had one goal in mind, to deliver an
even lower profile baitcaster. Today at ICAST they introduced the new Super Low
Profile (SLP) Series. |
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Okuma Uses Advanced Materials to Make the New
Helios SX Spinning reels Lighter and Tougher
As time goes on reel manufacturers gain access to new
technologies and materials so there are more opportunities to make reels not
only lighter but more durable, and while it may sound like an oxymoron, that is
exactly what Okuma sought to do with the new Helios SX spinning reels. |
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Souped up and Ready to Crank, the New 13 Fishing
Concept A3 Baitcasters
13 Fishing's Concept baitcasting Series continues to undergo
refinement and upgrades each season and this year the company that isn't afraid
of taking chances turns things up in a big way when it comes to souped up
gearing and drag systems. |
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G.Loomis Ushers in the New GLX Rod Series
Three letters that every Loomis fan knows… GLX, the rod
series that redefined the brand all the way back in 1993. This ICAST G.Loomis
introduces the next generation with the introduction of 35 new GLX bass rods,
offered in lengths, powers and actions for jig and worm, all-around G. Loomis
Mag Bass, spin jig, flip-punch, ShakyHead and drop shot fishing situations. |
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It's Getting Hot in Here! Meet the
Updated Tatula CT Reels
The Daiwa Steez may get all the attention but when it comes to which reel
the company sells a whole lot more of we need to turn to the more mainstream
oriented workhorse reel known as the Tatula. The Tatula Series has become more
refined over time and Type R variants really started to blur the lines between
mainstream and premium level performance. |
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Going Lighter, Quieter,
and More Responsive – Shimano’s New Stradic CI4+ and Metanium MGL
In usual Shimano fashion the company made a big splash this
ICAST at the new Product Showcase rolling out two new freshwater reels designed to really up the ante in not
just performance but ergonomics. These new products included the Stradic CI4+
and the arrival of the ultra-refined Metanium MGL. |
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