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Wrapping up our Event Coverage of ICAST 2008
This year, with our manufacturer-centric coverage, the challenge to cover
everything that the various brands had to offer was even more daunting but we're determined this time, to leave no stone unturned and so here we bring to you our
potpourri article full of miscellaneous reports. |
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Xtools debuts a smart mouthed scale
and upgraded pliers
XTools are well known for their revolutionary
floating tools designed for both fresh and saltwater. The company produces a
wide assortment of tools from pliers to digital
scales, and this ICAST the company debuted new feature rich additions to their
collection. |
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Gary Yamamoto plans Crappie and
Panfish line for October
This ICAST Gary Yamamoto was relatively quiet in regards to bass baits, mostly
because the company had already debuted new baits earlier this spring. But that
didn't mean the brand didn't have something up their sleeves and in just a month
Yamamoto will release new baits for Crappie and Panfish. |
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Get stung by the Wave Water Scorpion
Over the past few years Wave has grown a sizeable following among anglers for
their aggressively styled plastics, but this year the company looks to put the
sting on the competition with the wild new Water Scorpion. |
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Berkley debuts Heavy Weights, HollowBelly, and Crazy Legs
Walk up to the Berkley booth
and you are sure to see a plethora of new lures from the king of baits. This year the Berkley team
continues to build upon their popular Powerbait and Gulp! series baits and one
of their new plastics even won the "ICAST Best of Show" in the lure category. |
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Fin-Nor introduces a levelwind
reel for lighter line applications and a new sailfish rod
This year at ICAST the
saltwater powerhouse that is Fin-Nor introduced new products for offshore fishing
designed by seasoned big game anglers. This season new levelwind reels join the Offshore Casting
series reels and a sailfish specific rod is also debuted. |
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ima adds features to proven baits and
introduces the Big Stik
Established in 1998 ima is well known in Japan, and over
the last season the brand has become popular among both tournament and weekend
anglers. This ICAST ima debuted a number of new lures, as well as added features
to their existing popular offerings. |
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KVD partners up with Plano for the new
XL Gear Bag
With popular hybrid bags like the Flipsiders Plano
has attracted a much wider range of anglers, and this ICAST the company goes
tournament style with the KVD Signature Series XL gear bag. |
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Rapala Goes Clackin', Shallow, Deep, and Wide with Their New Lures
Rapala, a company well known for its lures is once again releasing baits with
elite characteristics. This year they have some
modern products such as a lipless crankbait with a built in sound chamber and
new variations of the popular X-Rap and DT crankbaits. |
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New motion from Maxota Lures
Exhibiting a exclusive lure motion that is made possible with the unique tail
design the Maxota Struggling Shad will be swimming into new stores soon and
mimics crippled and dying minnows. |
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Quantum Introduces New Rods Including a Custom Kevin VanDam cranking stick
With a full new line of reels
Quantum pairs them with new rods from signature series to species
specific sticks. This year we saw a new KVD rod designed specifically for
cranking and a few other exciting offerings worth exploring. |
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New Technical Tools for Advanced Anglers by Berkley
Last year Berkley introduced
a new set of tools and equipment for the skilled anglers under the TEC tool
series. At
ICAST this year the company releases new technically advanced gear to expand the line. |
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EGO's new Reach
and Wade nets
It has been a few
years since we have
looked at an EGO net
and during that time
the company has
taken their well
designed floating
nets and expanded
with new versions
for a greater range
of applications
including wade and
crappie fishing. |
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Big Bear Fishing Rods Takes a Swipe at the Bass Fishing Market with their New Rod Lineup
With the bass fishing rod market already experiencing overflow, the last thing we expected to see at ICAST
this year was a
brand new company
looking to take a
piece of the over
saturated market,
but that is exactly
what Big Bear Fishing Rods
is trying to do. |
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Extending their Tru-Life Lineup with New Hard and Soft Baits, Tru-Tungsten's Lineup for 2009
First stop at Tru-Tungsten was a check and see if the eight inch sized Tru-Life
Trout was available
and what we found
was an entire shelf
full of new product
to excite us for the
2009 fishing season! |
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The Rebirth of Airrus Rods
One might think that after the departure of Ken Whiting from Airrus rods about a year and a half ago, that the innovation and forward thinking reputation of the company would go by the wayside. Those assuming this to be inevitable
are mistaken. |
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Matching the Hatch with Hard Baits, Koppers Live Target Lures
Most all of the hardbait manufacturers offer their array of cranks, jerkbaits, and topwaters in a variety of colors meant to mimic local forage, and of course they do this on generic bodies or blanks. Koppers is a new bait company out of Canada taking a new approach to the art of making hardbaits. |
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E21 Expands the Carrot Rods and Introduces a New Wind, Rain & Ice Apparel
Last year E21 made their
debut at ICAST and they swept the show by winning a few ICAST Best of Show
awards. This year they did not win any awards for their new rods but did take
the Best of Show in Clothing. Let's see what's new for this new and exciting
company for 2009. |
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Accurate's new
Smaller 2 Speed
Extreme Reels and
Xnergy Rods
Survey the top saltwater guides and many will tell you that
when it comes to hardcore saltwater tackle nobody does it better than Accurate.
This ICAST Accurate introduced their new Boss Extreme 2 Speed reels and Xnergy
progressive taper
rods.
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Ardent Introduces a Technique Specific Flip-N-Pitch Reel and a Quick and Easy
Culling System
Ardent reels, known for their U.S. made reels gets innovative
this season with the
introduction of the unique F500 Flip-N-Pitch casting reel.
This reel resembles
a formula race car and is built with a singular technique specific purpose. In
addition the company
introduces the
clever "SmartCull" Culling System |
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WaveSpin Goes Small to Deliver Big
We received all manner of emails from the folks over at WaveSpin after we published our review of their original DH3000 spinning reel. Even Doug Hannon himself took the time to send us a note. So when we walked up to their booth at ICAST this year, H.M. Song, the manufacturing manager at WaveSpin was ready for us. |
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Bill Siementel Shares with TackleTour More of His "Secret" Projects!
When we stopped by the Spro booth to say hello to our friend Bill Siementel, we didn't really expect to see much other than some promised new colors of the BBZ-1 Trout and of course, the already previewed BBZ-1 Shad, but Bill was so excited to see us, he decided to pull something out of his secret stash... |
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Fin-tech takes a SHot at the Title ...
This segment lacks
the glamour and
flash of the
baitmaking side, yet
it is as essential
as the line on your
reel. Even still,
when you take a
close look at what
some of the
manufacturers are
making for this
market, you're often
left scratching your
head wondering why
you hadn't been able
to find "something
like this" sooner. |
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Twin Troller boat
offers foot control
and is an economical
option for anglers
With the rising costs of fuel smaller more portable electric boats are becoming
more and more attractive, and the new Twin Troller offers hands free
maneuverability. |
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Dobyns Rods Reveals Conservation Series Commemorative Sticks
Instead of showing
off new rods or
talking about what
they has planned for
the coming year, we
met up with founder
Gary Dobyns and Tim Cook of Tournament Fish Care Products, State Conservation Director for the Texas BASS Federation Nation, in person, their hopes for the future of America's favorite pass time fishing. |
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Castaic ReTools
their Rock Hard
Series
As we approached Castaic Soft Bait's booth at ICAST 2008, Jason Scott could barely contain his excitement to show us what he has planned for the very near future. The acquisition of his company by NatureVision was followed shortly by an investment of over half a million dollars in new tooling and techniques to bring quality baits to the masses. |
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Patience can be a Virtue, but Beware Jackall's Poison
and new lures
Last year, while
touring the Jackall booth at ICAST, Curt Arakawa, showed us some sticks that he requested we keep quiet until they were able to finalize some remaining details on how and when to bring them over from Japan. That process took an entire year to complete but now the wait is finally over |
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A Truly Exotic
Saltwater Spinning Reel, the new ZeeBaaS ZX-2
ZeeBaaS is the
creation of the Robert Koelewyn, the designer, engineer,
manufacturer of the original Van Staal Saltwater Spinning Reel. This ICAST
Robert unveiled the new ZX2 series spinning reel which is designed to simply to
be the best reel in the world... |
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Enthusiasts Beware There's a New Player In Town: Introducing Damiki
Very rarely does a
company debut with a
complete catalog of
product to showcase at
this event. Even more
rare is such a company
debuting with an entire
arsenal worthy of
consideration by the TackleTour
Enthusiast Crowd.
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US Reel puts a new spin on baitcasting with the
no eyelet SuperCaster
US Reel may be best known for their characteristic large diameter spool spinning
reels, but this ICAST what
really caught our attention was the introduction of the company's first
baitcaster, the SC1000 which is engineered just as inimitable as the company's
spinning reels.
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A new tail,
bluegill, and upgraded finishes from A.C. Plugs
A.C. Plugs has been
hard at work refining their lures and introduced a new tail design on their AC
Casitas as well as the final production version of their new AC Bluegill.
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A Year of Change on the Horizon For Kistler Custom Rods
At a time when more and more companies are sourcing their products overseas to battle the high cost of manufacturing within the United States, Kistler Custom Rods is taking steps to regain control over their brand and product by bringing all aspects of rod design and manufacturing in house.
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For G.Loomis, 2009 is all About Extending the GLX Brand
With each passing year,
the anticipation mounts
as to what G.Loomis will
offer in an increasingly
crowded market where
split rear grip, no
foregrip designs have
become mainstream. Would this be the year G.Loomis does something to answer their increasingly restless customer base?
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Pflueger improves upon popular models while Shakespeare introduces new reels
Continuing with reels
that we haven't
mentioned yet are a few
of the companies that
just joined the Pure
Fishing family, Pflueger and Shakespeare. Here we'll
highlight their most exciting offerings displayed on the show floor. |
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Phenix brings in Big Bass and introduces premium Elixir Trout Rods
Now Phenix is ready for primetime and delivering their bass rods in quantity and
introducing a new premium series of trout rods dubbed the "Elixir" series.
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Matt Servant of Mattlures Gives TT an Exclusive First Look at...
We received a phone call
from Matt Servant,
founder and CEO of Mattlures telling us of a project he had in the works which, with any luck, he was hoping to be able and show us at ICAST 2008. Details were sketchy as he was closely guarding the secrets of his project, but he ensured us it would be something exciting and something no one would expect to see from him.
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Falcon's new Expert series of rods make use of proprietary next-gen
CrossMatch graphite
Falcon Rods greeted us
at the show with a completely revamped Expert Series for the coming season, and
along with a new look the rods now make use of a hi-tech matrix of graphite that
is designed to make these bass rods stronger, lighter and significantly more
sensitive. |
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A fusion between tradition and next generation
design with the new St. Croix rods
This year they are
introducing not only
new series of rods
targeting specific
groups of anglers
but have done some
redesigning to their
top of the line
Legend Elite series,
bringing back the
traditional look
that many have come
to love over the
years and making use
of their new
SCVI
graphite material. |
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Abu Garcia and Berkley nails it with new rods and reels (Part 1)
Walking up to the Pure Fishing booth this year was almost like walking into a
football stadium. That's how huge their combined booths were since their merge
with Shakespeare, Pflueger, All-Star, Penn, and X-Tools. In part 1 of the Pure
Fishing ICAST article we'll focus on Abu Garcia reels that we haven't already
previewed and the all new Berkley rods. |
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Shimano redefines the Clarus, Convergence, and Scimitar rod lines
Mid way through the season Shimano surprised us with the
introduction of their Lucanus system, so it stood to reason that this ICAST the
company would focus on freshwater rods. Like the strategy with reels Shimano's
rod team refreshed the mid range of their lineup starting with the very rod that
put Shimano back into the rod game, the Clarus.
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Enthusiast Style at a Value Driven Price, Okuma Makes a Big Splash at ICAST 2008
What do you do once you’ve been recognized as a value leader in the tackle industry? Well, in the case of Okuma, after winning a Best Value Award in our Swimbait Rod Wars, you up the ante with a new product offering capable of redefining your company’s image from value oriented to innovative and exciting. |
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Shimano makes major updates and upgrades throughout their reel lineup
It has been a busy season for Shimano and the company updates many of their
popular reels with upgraded features and styling. Prior to the show we obtained
details of the refreshed Curado E and Citica E baitcasters which focus on
increased refinement
and improved
ergonomics. |
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Daiwa Celebrates 50
Years in the Industry by Upping the Ante in the Enthusiast Market
A little over a month ago, we
brought you the
first peak into
Daiwa’s 2009 product
catalog. Not long
after did we got our first up close and personal
look at these reels at this year’s ICAST, but we got to see what else is brewing
in Daiwa’s 2009 lineup including the long awaited Steez cranking sticks and the
unexpected Zillion and Fuego fishing rods! |
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New and improved baitcast and spinning reels by Quantum
Today Quantum proved they have more up their sleeves. As we walked up
to the booth we were greeted by Bob Bagby and he immediately introduced us to all
the hot items. |
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ICAST 2008, Get Ready for the Show!
With ICAST less than 36 away rumors are flying and consumers eagerly await
the next generation of new products. Is it going to be a golden year for reels,
or perhaps another season of breakout rod offerings, or will swimbaits continue
to dominate the lure
front? |