ICAST This, ICAST That… Closet Insiders & Brand-New Gear?!
- By: Joseph Simonds
- on
- Found In: Fishing Tips, Inshore Fishing, Salt Strong Podcast, Tackle & Gear
ICAST this.
ICAST that.
Closet Insiders?
A larger Otis reel?
Tougher Prawns, with a Micro Prawn on the way?
Luke and I just returned from our 11th ICAST, so we sat down to talk about what stood out at the show and catch everyone up on what has been happening at Salt Strong.
Featured Software:
Featured Gear:
- Lure 1: Prawn XT OG (4.3″)
- Lure 2: Prawn XT Jr. (3.5″)
- Lure 3: Prawn XT Micro (2.5″) (Coming Soon)
- Reel: Otis 3000 (Coming Soon)
Was the New Fishing Gear at ICAST Worth the Hype?
ICAST is one of the largest fishing industry events in the world.
Roughly 14,000 manufacturers, retailers, media members, guides, and other fishing professionals gather to see the newest rods, reels, lures, electronics, and accessories.
Before the internet, this was where tackle dealers went to discover what manufacturers were releasing next.
Today, it is still an incredible place to reconnect with people and get your hands on new products.
But was there any revolutionary new fishing gear this year?
Honestly, not much.
There were plenty of bigger, stronger, and more expensive versions of products that already existed.
One of the biggest trends was the sea urchin style lure currently taking over freshwater bass fishing. It catches a ton of air when cast, but anglers are buying them so quickly that companies are making tackle trays specifically for them.
Will it work for redfish?
Luke bought a few to find out.
We also found two interesting lures inside smaller international booths. We are not revealing much until Luke can properly test them, but they looked promising enough to bring home.
The odds are always against a new lure making the cut. For every custom lure we release, Luke has usually tested 10 to 20 others that did not perform noticeably better than what was already available.
Still, these two earned a trip to the water.
One of the best ICAST moments had nothing to do with gear.
Bill Dance received an award recognizing his impact on fishing. Steve Harvey helped present it and shared an incredible story about watching Bill Dance on display televisions while he was homeless and trying to become a comedian.
Those fishing lessons helped Steve catch food during one of the hardest periods of his life.
That was easily one of the most powerful moments of the show.
Why Experienced Anglers Are Quietly Using Smart Fishing Spots
Captain Peter Deeks recently introduced us to a new term:
Closet Insider.
These are experienced anglers, guides, and lifelong fishermen who are Salt Strong Insider members but rarely post in the community or talk about it publicly.
Peter will be talking with someone who clearly knows how to catch fish, and that person will casually mention marking a spot inside Smart Fishing Spots.
That is when Peter realizes he has found another closet Insider.
We met several of them at ICAST.
Many were using Smart Fishing Spots to:
- Track complete fishing routes
- Log catches on a private map
- Review tides and weather from past trips
- Filter catches by month, tide, and wind
- Find patterns they might otherwise forget
The GPS tracking feature can continue recording while your phone is in sleep mode. After the trip, you can review the entire route and see exactly where the action happened.
That can quickly reveal your 90/10 zone.
You may discover that most of the trip was spent covering unproductive water while nearly every strike occurred along one small ledge, point, shoreline, or depth change.
Your catch log helps preserve those lessons.
It is easy to remember your last trip. It is much harder to remember the exact tide, wind, route, and productive areas from one year ago.
Logging that information allows every fishing trip to make the next one better.
The New Fish Strong Gear Luke Is Testing
Outside of the ICAST discussion, Luke also shared a few exciting Fish Strong updates.
The first is a larger version of our Otis spinning reel.
The Otis 2500 has been used and abused by anglers from Texas to Virginia for roughly three years. Before releasing it, we tested dozens of reels and built a pretty impressive reel graveyard in the process.
Now, Luke is testing a new 3000 size version.
The sample weighs just 7.6 ounces, which is extremely light for a saltwater capable reel in this size. It has the same smooth feel as the 2500, with more capacity and power for larger fish.
Luke’s next job is to put it against big snook, redfish, and hopefully a tarpon.
He also shared a first look at a tiny 2.5 inch shrimp lure made from our new extra tough material.
The original sample arrived in a color that looked like it came straight from Chernobyl.
Luke hated the color.
The snook did not.
His first drop produced a snook around 30 inches. That same tiny lure went on to catch roughly 20 snook without showing meaningful damage.
The new Prawn XT OG and Prawn XT Jr. use the same extra tough material.
Luke has already put individual Prawn XT lures through dozens of grouper, snapper, jacks, and other fish. Even after being bounced around reefs and rocky structure, the tails and bodies remained intact.
The material is extremely tough while still being flexible enough to move naturally.
It takes slightly more effort to rig than a traditional soft plastic. But once it is properly rigged on a jighead, it stays in place extremely well.
Is it pufferfish proof?
We are not making that claim yet.
Luke still wants to find a pufferfish flat, set up a few underwater cameras, and see what happens.
Final Thoughts
ICAST is still one of the best places to reconnect with the fishing industry and discover products that might otherwise go unnoticed.
But the biggest booth does not always have the best product.
The most hyped lure does not always catch the most fish.
And the angler who never posts in the community might secretly be using every Smart Fishing Spots feature available.
Now, Luke has a strange sea urchin lure to test, two mystery lures we cannot reveal yet, a larger reel to put against big fish, and some incredibly tough shrimp lures to keep abusing.
The fish will determine which ones earn a permanent place in our tackle boxes.
Which one would you like Luke to test first?
Let us know in the comments!
Tight lines!
Related categories:
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish ever trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
Does the new prawn material store well with standard plastisol ?
No they will react and melt. keep the new ones in the packages they come in
It’s always best to avoid storing any 2 different soft plastic materials together because some react with one another. I’m actually not sure if these do have a bad reaction or not because I have a habit of never letting touch one another for long periods of time. I’ll test this out though to see if these new ones actually do react to plastisol or not.
Does it react/breakdown with Dr. Juice application?
Thanks for the Icast update Lou. We appreciate your reports and comments.
Why not send out the new tough prawn xts to the tackle tester members. I would be happy to try them against the numerous chompers that pufferize my paddletail every trip out on the flats.
We weren’t able to get enough packs in this first batch to allow for it to be a free tackle tester. The next batch will be much bigger, so we’ll be able to do it then (likely towards the end of this year or early next year).
Interesting, in my industry (at trade shows for the past 30 years all over the world) I sense similar trending ‘same only different’ concepts in products from company to company. Management technology is most of what is sold, and products become copies of other company products galore! Brands add same but different, or sometimes same but branded under another name, but never much new. I always look to small emerging companies and creators in my secular industry because the name brands, consumer brands, and mass produced products simply have gotten lazy, and decide to look over the shoulders of their competitors and try to ‘capture the market’ by adding & expanding. Im glad I am part of SaltStrong, and feel Im in with originators here. Thank you gents for this iCast report.
Thanks for the Icast update
Thanks for the updates guys!!! Been with you from the start and it it only gets better…..what a ride
Waiting for the new Otis!!!
Thanks for the info. Developing a puffer proof soft plastic would be quite an accomplishment.
Looking forward to hearing about the Otis 3000 and a perfect rode to use with it.
So awesome ….
We got some “non-chalant” giant fish catching with Luke,
We got some “Chernobyl green” examples from Joe 🤣
I WILL be ordering the Otis 3000 the very second it’s available !!
Do you have any plans to make the travel rod in a medium/medium heavy configuration? I think that would be a great product. Your current med.light/medium is excellent.
Yes, we actually have that developed and in stock right now. Here’s a link: https://fishstrong.com/products/slam-stick-spinning-rod-travel