What’s new at 2023 ICAST by Brad Wiegmann

What’s ICAST? It’s the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades (ICAST) and it took place for the 66^th year at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. It’s the largest trade show for fishing related companies to come and show products, sign up new fishing tackle retailers or order products from a company direct.


For crappie anglers it’s all about new products and when will they be available. Sometimes new products will have a soft release before ICAST then formally announced at ICAST. Members of the media will see these new products in pre-ICAST emails, at the new product showcase or at the company’s booth at ICAST. Some companies may even send out samples to members of the media to test out before attending ICAST.


Products are only for sale to retailers coming to ICAST. In general they order them and the product is shipped directly to the store. Some of the companies will have special ICAST pricing or free shipping if orders are made at the booth. These companies are typically not your garage tackle builders and pay a federal excise tax that is imposed on the sale of sport fishing equipment.


On the water starts the event off with products being shown to members of the media and attending retailers. It happens outside next to a large pond where companies can show off their products by casting into the pond or taking a kayak out for a spin to see how it performs. Casting lures and new rods or reels is popular on the water.


ICAST lasts officially 3 days inside the expo hall. This year many of the companies had products designed for crappie anglers. It’s a long list, but here are the products that companies had to show.




Let’s start with B’n’M Poles and their 3 new poles that are already in high demand from crappie anglers that use live imaging technology. “Our new telescoping carbon fiber that has 13 sections and is 24.5 feet long,” Jason McDuffie National Sales Manager continued, “We are calling it the Ambush Rod by Caps and Coleman because crappie will never see you coming. The goal of the Ambush Rod is to stay as far away from the crappie if they are finicky or spooky yet still present a minnow or lure to get them to bite.”


B’n’M Poles also introduced the 16- and 18-foot Black Diamond poles at ICAST although the 16 foot Black Diamond had been available in limited quantities before ICAST, but sold out quickly. “The 16 foot, 3 piece Black Diamond pole was designed for anglers fishing live imaging sonar,” Jack Wells the owner of B’n’M Poles continued, “Like all of our poles the 16 foot Black Diamond is made with genuine Portuguese cork handle, a carbon fiber reel seat and only weights 9.6-ounces.”


“We also have the 18 foot Black Diamond pole that’s new for this year at ICAST,” Wells went on, “It’s a 3 piece pole with genuine Portuguese cork handle, carbon fiber reel seat, however, unlike the 16-foot Black Diamond the 18 foot Black Diamond pole has a weight counter balance system. This weight counter balance system makes it easier to hold a rod all day and it’s stiff enough to set the hook and get a crappie in the boat.”



Crappie Magnet announced they are teaming up with Blake Phillips with the Eye Hole Jig. This included new packaging and products anglers can look forward to in the future. Most companies had a pro staffer in their booth representing their products. Crappie Magnet had pro staffer John Godwin in the booth talking fishing and new products.

Mr. Crappie aka Wally Marshall had a line of new products including Maxie Waxie, Sugar Glider and Teen-Zee Jig. Jenko Fishing released the new Tony Sheppard approved Gill Bob. The Gill Bob is uniquely shaded soft plastic baitfish shaped soft plastic lure. Z-Man Fishing released the 2-inch Baby Ballerz, 1.75-inch Micro Goat and Micro Shad Headz. All of these products are designed as finesse series baits.



Spoons for crappie fishing were introduced by Mr. Crappie and Dixie Jet Lures with their new ½-ounce Crappie Slab Spoon. The Crappie Slab Spoon comes in 4 popular colors crappie love. Sunglasses worth noting were Hook & Bullet had a booth showing off their popular sunglasses with crappie angler and Bajio has new reader sunglasses with a smaller area of magnification making them easy to see out of when not looking at the magnification area.



Other note worthy products included a hard medium lure case by SKB Fishing that can hold multiple crankbaits. Also for anglers that love to troll crankbaits Secur-My-Lure released their new storage system that makes storing and transporting crankbaits on poles easier.