Looking forward to ICAST 2018

When this week’s Spacefish Fishing Report comes out, the largest fishing tackle manufacturer’s trade show in the world will be kicking off in Orlando at the Orange County Convention Center.

The International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades, better known as ICAST, is like fishing geek heaven. When I first visited ICAST nine years ago, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning, and I still feel like that today. All the new rods, reels, lures and more, plus unique tackle from all over the world will be there on display.

I remember a few years ago I was standing at the Betts Tackle booth looking at a huge display of small fly rod poppers. “Aw man, that brings back memories,” says a stranger who walked up next to me. For the next few minutes we discuss the simple joys of catching bluegill and other panfish on fly rod poppers. I finally looked over and saw it was Chris Fischer and he was holding a massive circle hook.

“What are you going to use that for?” I asked.

“Dude,” he replied, “We’re going to be using this to catch great white sharks for a National Geographic documentary.”

Sure enough, a couple years later I saw Fisher on the National Geographic Channel catching great whites with that massive hook.

These are the kind of experiences you get at ICAST. I could go on and on, like the time my daughter hung out with Mark Zona, or the time I accidentally photobombed Kevin Van Dam while they were taping a promo for Bass Pro Shops, or the time I had dinner with Jimmy Houston, or……

I hope I get more experiences like that this year, and if I do, you’ll hear about it here on Spacefish. And I’ll be checking out all the new tackle. If I find cool new gear that I think can help us catch more fish here on the Space Coast, I’ll let you know about it.