Last week, we traveled to Las Vegas for the American Sportfishing Association’s annual ICAST show to get a sneak peak at the lastest and greatest new fishing products for 2008!  All of the big names in fishing were there - Shimano, Daiwa, Quantum, Penn, Berkeley, and more – along with plenty of smaller companies and international manufacturers as well.  We saw some truly innovative and exciting products and even got to brush shoulders with lots of professional anglers and TV personalities like Jose Wejebe, Roland Martin, Jimmy Houston, Hank Parker, and Chris Fischer; just about everyone who is anyone in the world of sportfishing was there!

Plenty of great new products were unveiled at this year’s ICAST show.  Overall, the consensus was that this years show featured far more exciting new products than years past.  The “Best in Show” award, which was voted by all attendees, was the new Shimano Curado E series reel - 7 bearings, a lightweight frame, variable braking system, and a smaller profile are some of the great features of this hot new baitcaster.  We were equally excited by the new Shimano Stella SW, Symetre, Sahara, Sonora, and Solstace reels.  Look for these awesome new reels to arrive in our stores over the next few months as soon as they become available to the public!

We also saw plenty of other new tackle that has us very excited.  St. Croix’s new Avid Inshore rod looks to be the perfect rod for redfish and seatrout in our area.  Berkeley rolled out several additions to its popular Saltwater Gulp line, including a 4″ Peeler Crab, Gulp Alive Jerk Shads, Gulp Alive Assortments, and new 4″ Gulp Baitfish that is sure to be a hot trout bait this fall!  We were extremely impressed with some of the new Strike Pro hard baits and will be adding some new baits like the Tai Stick topwater bait to our lineup.  These baits have been getting A LOT of press on the Gulf Coast tournament trail and are equally effective in our Lowcountry waters.  The Wavespin reel was another impressive product, as it reducing line twist and windknots and features a 2 year unconditional warranty, all for around $80!  Another reel that should be perfect for our fishery is the new Daiwa Coastal spinning reel; with a sealed drag, hollow stainless bearings, and all corrosion-resistant bearings, this reel is a nice upgrade to the already popular line of Daiwa inshore reels. 

We are also very excited to get our hands on the new BioBaits from Big Bite Baits.  Unlike other heavily scented artificials, these biodegradable baits won’t dry up on your hook despite the fact that they are made of over 85% menhaden – lookout redfish!  Z-Man Fishing rolled out a great new line-up of offshore and inshore baits, ranging from the ever-popular Chatterbaits to some great looking jerkbaits and swimbaits made of their incredibly durable Elaztec plastic to a full spread of offshore trolling lures, daisy chains, and dredges.  We also can’t wait to try the new weighted soft plastic jerkbaits from Tru-Tungsten, which feature very realistic color schemes and molded-in tungsten powder that allows them to be fished on a worm hook with no additional weight!

All-in-all, this year’s ICAST was quite a show.  Look for these hot new products and more at both locations of The Charleston Angler in the next few months!!!