ICAST Isn’t Dying, It’s Evolving

Happy Monday Spacefish!

Last week I wrote a tackle review after our trip to ICAST. This week I wanted to wrap up ICAST, and give some of my final thoughts on the show as a whole. I chose a cool fishing picture to put as the cover because for years, I imagined ICAST as Disney World for fishermen. As a kid paging through tackle catalogs and magazine articles, it felt like a mythical place where every company unveiled revolutionary new products and the future of fishing was decided in a convention hall somewhere in Orlando.

This year, I finally got to experience it for myself, and like many first-time attendees, I walked away with mixed feelings. If you’ve spent any time on YouTube or social media after ICAST, you’ve probably heard the same refrain.

“ICAST is dying”…”Nothing is innovative anymore”…”Every booth has another copycat lure”…”I’ve already seen everything online.”
After spending two days walking the show floor, I understand why people feel that way. But I also think they may be missing something in their analysis. ICAST isn’t dying, it’s evolving.

The End of the Big Reveal

For decades, ICAST served three essential purposes. It was where manufacturers introduced new products. Retailers placed orders for the coming year. Outdoor media gathered to learn what was new and report it back to anglers. If you wanted to know what the fishing industry looked like, you went to ICAST. Today, technology has changed all of that.

A company no longer needs to wait until July to unveil its newest lure. It can upload a teaser to Instagram, post a YouTube video, email thousands of customers, and have the product selling online before the trade show doors even open.

By the time many anglers see ICAST coverage, they’ve already watched half a dozen reviews from their favorite creators. That’s not necessarily ICAST’s fault, but it is simply the reality of how information moves in 2026. Social media didn’t kill the product launch, it democratized it.

Innovation???

Another common criticism is that true innovation has become harder to find. After several days on the floor, I think there’s definitely truth to that. Yes, there were genuinely interesting products, but there were also dozens of variations on familiar themes.

Another glide bait ….Another soft plastic with a slightly different appendage…Another flavor of scented bait…..Another accessory designed around forward-facing sonar (insert puke face emoji here)….and my lord, if I see another urchin style, cat toy looking bait I just may start a fight.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the industry has stopped innovating. Incremental improvements are a natural part of any mature market, and yes, the fishing industry is a mature market. The challenge is that incremental improvements don’t generate the same excitement as genuine breakthroughs. When every booth promises the “next big thing,” eventually everything begins to feel… a little familiar, and frankly anti-climactic.

The Room Where It Happens

The biggest surprise wasn’t the tackle, it was the conversations I had with people. I went to ICAST expecting to spend most of my time studying new products.But a good chunk of my time was spent talking. I found myself talking with editors, content creators, lure designers, retailers, conservation groups, marketing teams, and company owners. Some of those conversations lasted five minutes, others lasted close to an hour. Many were worth far more than any free sample or giveaway, and that’s when it hit me… ICAST isn’t really a tackle show anymore. It’s a networking show.

Most anglers experience fishing through rods, reels, boats, and lures; but there’s an entire industry behind those products. Retail buyers placing orders, manufacturers meeting distributors, product designers discussing next year’s ideas, tourism agencies promoting fisheries, and content creators meeting potential sponsors.

Those interactions rarely make it onto YouTube videos, because they’re not flashy, they’re not exciting, and they’re not entertaining. But they’re the conversations that shape the direction of the sport. Consumers see the finished product, but ICAST is where many of those products, and partnerships, begin.

The Show Has Changed Because Fishing Has Changed… Is ICAST Still Worth It?

The fishing industry today looks very different than it did twenty years ago. Brands no longer depend solely on magazine advertising, and retailers don’t have to wait for printed catalogs. Consumers can now compare products instantly from their phones, and influencers often reach larger audiences than traditional media; so in many ways, companies are investing just as much in people as they are in products. The outdoor writer, the YouTuber content creator, the fishing guide, the tournament angler, or the tackle shop owner. Those relationships matter because trust matters, and trust is increasingly what sells fishing tackle.

So… Is ICAST Still Worth It? For the average weekend angler, maybe not in the way it once was. If your goal is simply to learn about the newest lure for redfish or bass, you’ll probably see it on social media weeks before the trade show opens. But if your goal is to understand where the fishing industry is headed, or to become part of it, there’s still no substitute for walking those aisles.

By the end of the week, I realized I’d stopped asking, “What’s new?” Instead, I was asking, “Who should I meet?” That may be the biggest lesson I brought home from my first ICAST. The giant booths are still there, the bass tanks are still there, and the new products are still there.

But the real action isn’t happening under the bright lights. It’s happening in the conversations between people quietly building the future of fishing. ICAST hasn’t stopped mattering. It just matters for different reasons than it used to.

Final Perspective: “REEL Guys vs ICAST”

One thing that struck me at ICAST wasn’t the new baits or the giant booths. It was how easy it is for the industry to lose sight of the average angler. Walk the floor long enough and you’ll see every imaginable gadget, accessory, and “must-have” product. There are cup holders for your cup holders. Mounts for your electronics. Electronics for your electronics. Sunglasses that cost more than the kayak I learned to fish from during Covid times, and boats with more screens than my classroom at school.

None of that is inherently bad, If someone enjoys owning the latest gear and can afford it, more power to them. But somewhere along the way, I couldn’t help wondering…Who is all of this actually for? Because most of the fishermen I know aren’t rolling into the ramp with a $150,000 bay boat. They’re launching a used jon boat, or they’re dragging a kayak off the truck by themselves before sunrise. They’re fishing after work for two hours after picking the kids up.

They’re trying to decide whether they can justify buying one new lure, or if they’ll just tie on the same DOA CAL Shad they’ve been catching fish on for five years. The average fisherman isn’t asking how many 16-inch graphs he can mount on the console. He’s asking where the mullet are, or if the bass are schooling up to feed on shad or are they up in the kissimmee grass. They’re wondering if the water levels are up enough for the snook to be pushed into the mangroves or if they should be fishing deeper dock lines. They’re trying to figure out why yesterday’s bite disappeared overnight…That’s fishing.

ICAST is still a remarkable event, and I came home with plenty of ideas and a notebook full of conversations that made the trip worthwhile. But I also came home convinced that the industry sometimes spends more time selling solutions than teaching people to understand the problems. We don’t need another gimmick every July; we need more people explaining tides, and seasonal movements, and wind, and water clarity, and forage, and fish behavior, and barometric pressure. Because those things have never gone out of style. If there’s one lesson I took home from ICAST, it’s this: The best piece of fishing equipment you’ll ever own sits between your ears, everything else is just helping you use it.

Conclusion

As we drove home from Orlando, I kept coming back to a simple question: What actually helps someone become a better angler? Sometimes it’s a new lure. Sometimes it’s a better kayak. Sometimes it’s a piece of equipment that genuinely solves a problem. But more often than not, it’s knowledge. It’s learning to read a tide chart. Understanding why bait is stacked on one shoreline instead of another. Recognizing how wind, water clarity, and seasonal patterns influence fish behavior long before you ever make a cast.

That’s one of the reasons I’m grateful to work with businesses like Kayaks by Bo and Strike Zone Fishing. Sure, they sell kayaks and tackle; that’s their business. But what keeps people coming back isn’t just what’s on the shelves. It’s the conversations. It’s the willingness to answer questions, rig a kayak the right way, recommend the lure that actually fits the conditions instead of the most expensive one, and help anglers become more confident on the water.

That’s the side of the fishing industry I hope never changes. ICAST reminded me that there will always be another lure, another gadget, and another trend promising to revolutionize fishing. Some will be genuinely innovative. Others will disappear as quickly as they arrived.

But fish will still be fish. They’ll still follow the tides. They’ll still relate to current, forage, and structure. They’ll still reward the anglers who spend more time learning the water than chasing the latest marketing campaign. Because as Lyonel Baratheon once famously said, “the gods don’t favor a fraud.” In the end, that’s what I hope my writing continues to do. Not convince you to buy more fishing tackle. Just help you understand the water a little better.

Thanks for taking the time to read this; stay safe, be happy, and go catch some fish! Until next time!