Trends from ICAST 2010
Posted by Jason Sealock on Fri, Jul 16, 2010 @ 08:15 AM
Every year there are certain tackle trends that expose themselves at ICAST. This year I noticed several trends but not all of them necessarily new in regards to the type of tackle being offered by manufacturers.
There was a move by a lot of rod and reel manufacturers to provide higher end rods and reels at much more affordable prices. Of course Kistler and G.Loomis set new bars as far as cost of rods with the new Z.Bone and NRX both hitting the $500 price tag.
But several companies like Pinnacle, Abu Garcia, Falcon, Wright & McGill, St. Croix, and others had rods and reels that were in that $79 to $119 range that had high end features without high end cost.
At the end of the day it's about how much anglers can afford and even then it's how much they are willing to spend to go play with the fish.
Another trend we saw for sure on the bass side was shallow crankbaits in the 0-3 foot range. Strike King, Bandit, XCalibur, Koppers Live Target, Spro, Rapala and a few others we're probably forgetting all had new big bodied crankbaits that will bang around cover in shallow water.
Several high-end fishing lines were introduced this year from Sufix, Sunline, Toray and others. And there were some new great priced lines also being offered from Stren, Berkley, Northland and more.
As always there were a lot of existing tackle line extensions from new sizes of popular baits to popular new colors in existing shapes.
The mood at ICAST was pretty upbeat with most of the folks I talked with and there was a lot of talk about the companies who were noticeably absent this year. Overall I thought the show was good and it was great to see all our friends in the fishing industry. Here's hoping we're all wildly successful in our own little niches in 2011.