First cast
ORLANDO, Fla. — Mike Iaconelli, the fishing star that he is, surprisingly still gets starstruck.
After he feigned being bitten by a beetle lure at the Molix booth then sang for this BassCam, he said he still gets that feeling of awe whenever he is around his fishing heroes.
Three of the biggest luminaries in bass fishing were not far away at the time. Down the next aisle at their booth was Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston and Roland Martin. Last year they formed Th3 Legends, a company that gives their seal of approval on products deemed worthy.
The Legends stood at their booth together for an hour on Thursday, greeting a steady line of fans who felt the same way Iaconelli does. They each received an autographed photo and most posed with them and had someone take a shot with their camera — some even picked their favorite to stand next to. Ike might have enjoyed that if he wasn’t working the Molix booth.
“They still make me a little starstruck,” Ike said. “Jimmy Houston, Roland Martin, Bill Dance and Rick Clunn, they’re the legends of the sport. When I was 10, 11, 12 years old, I wanted to be these guys. And that stuck with me.”
Ike said he encountered Rick Clunn at ICAST the day before and had a conversation, as he’s done many times. Even though Ike has a Classic and an AOY to his credit, he said he still gets that wobbly feeling of standing next to greatness.
“I’m trying to be cool, ‘Oh, yeah, hey,’ but I’m still secretly like giddy,” he said. “I’ve told him that. It’s just that I’m still a huge fan of the sport.”
Two in the well
Grant Koppers is a fastidious man. That helps when you are making true-to-life lures, like he does at LiveTarget. His latest, which just won Best of Show in the soft lure category, is the Hollow Body Sunfish. Later this month we’ll delve into the three-year journey of making this bait.
The awards can certainly help that one product and that company but also an entire field, like last year’s Predator XL benefitted kayaking in general.
There were 889 products from 270 companies in this year’s New Product Showcase. Buyers and media check them out and vote for their favorite in 24 categories.
Some companies never win a coveted Best of Show, while others like LiveTarget just keep stacking them up. It can be a big feather in their cap and helps to validate their efforts.
This year there were several first-in, first-win companies, namely the Overall Best of Show winner, Eddyline kayaks with its C-135 YakAttack Edition. Other first-time exhibitors that won were Under Armour, Lifeshirt, RinseKit and YOLOtek.
Click here for the Best of Show winners.
Three’s company
The ‘I’ in ICAST is for international, and we learn more of the great Japanese influence in the industry from Seigo Saito’s photo gallery. But what about other countries?
Europe has some awesome fishing and some great developments, like this year’s announcement of a new fourth type of line, Gliss.
The Daily Limit also ran across a first-time exhibitor from Brazil called NTK, a part of IRP, International Recreation Products.
Alex Macedo is its president, and he finally pushed the button to bring a team and products from San Paulo to the huge U.S. market.
“For us, it’s something that we’ve always been looking at,” Macedo said. “We’ve been planning for 8 years how to come to the states — what are the regulations, and what are the products. What brings us here is the new market.”
Macedo found some success in his first show, having already visited with Walmart buyers while Bass Pro Shops and Dick’s were stopping by later.
NTK has a variety of camping gear as well as fishing tackle, through it was designed more for the South America fishing.
“It’s a little bit different than American,” said Hideki Takahashi, who runs their fishing side with rods starting at 5 foot, 3 inches. “The shorter rods bring more precision to a short cast, more comfort during the fight.”
Four on the floor
A man in a kilt drew curiousity, and of course he was from Scotland. Ross Honey, who hails from near Glascow, was there to draw attention to the World Predator Classic, the largest event in Europe with 23 countries represented.
“We organize events and deal with participants from all over the world,” Honey said. “This is the biggest angling show in the world and therefore, you have to be here.
“We’re actually expanding our event and coming to America. Lots of Americans actually come and compete in our events in Europe.”
The World Predator Classic is a catch and release event, with points accumulating over three days for anglers trying to land three zander, “like a walleye on steriods,” three perch and one pike per day.
Honey showed an image of the event’s blastoff – men dressed in period outfits shooting a huge 17th century cannon. “We’ve got two of those we fire,” he said.
OK, what about the kilt?
“This is actually my family tartan, my dress tartan,” Honey said. “Then of course, you have the hunting tartan as well. That’s red and blue.”
What about bagpipes?
“No I haven’t got any bagpipes,” he said. “That’s for later on tonight.”
That’s a limit
There’s tons of other characters at ICAST, and Bert Kaplan is right up there. Kaplan, 84, attended his first fishing industry shindig back in 1959, and his consecutive attendance streak is now 57.
Watching the event change over time is interesting, but not quite as interesting, and funny, as what he did to get arrested at his very first show.
Culling
- There were almost 13,000 representatives of the global sportfishing community helping fill 500,000 square feet at the Orange County Convention Center. ASA President and CEO Mike Nussman takes the show’s growth and popularity as a great achievement. “Our commitment to our member exhibitors, media and all show attendees is to listen and improve this show in any and every way we can,” he said. Mission accomplished.
- Elite anglers were out in full force on the show room floor helping their sponsors deliver the message of their products. B.A.S.S. photographers were there to catch the Elites invade ICAST, as well as see the Coolest displays, shoot the myriad of products and even see Ott DeFoe catch a nice one during the newest feature, ICAST on the Water.
- Florida Governor Rick Scott met with industry leaders on Thursday at ICAST in a round-table discussion “about being more effective in advocating for our sport and working to keep Florida the No. 1 fishing and boating state in the U.S.”
- “Social media exploded this year,” ASA’s Communications Director Mary Jane Williamsons said. “More than 7,000 people engaged with us on ICAST’s Facebook page this week, reaching more than 93,000 people.” She said another 107,000 people engaged with ICAST via Twitter.
- ICAST 2016 is being held July 12-15, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. See you there.