New Stuff Season

If you're a fisherman, the end of June and the first half of July can be a pretty fun time of the year. Not because of some hot bite, although I'm certainly not denying that those exist. Right about now is when word starts trickling out about cool new fishing products that will be released in two weeks at the ICAST show. Put on by the American Sportfishing Association, ICAST is a huge trade show and the place where fishing tackle manufacturers introduce the next year's product releases to retail and wholesale buyers and to the fishing media. This year's show is July 14-17 in Orlando.

Rods, apparel, lures, kayaks, reels, terminal tackle... you name it. If it is sport fishing gear, several companies that make it probably will be at ICAST, and some will have new products to show.

Many products aren't revealed until the media and buyer preview reception of the New Product Showcase, which takes place the evening before the main show floor opens. That said, many companies favor a PR and sales head start over the surprise factor, so a couple of weeks before the show they begin trickling out information about products and select samples. With today's electronic media and especially social media sites, word of anything noteworthy pretty well spreads immediately.

Because I attend the show and write about products in magazines and on websites, I get a lot of emails alerting me about cool new stuff, along with a few packages containing things to field test. In fact, I'll share some of the stuff that looks extra cool to me between now and the end of the show. I got information just today about the Plano A-Series QuickTop Tackle Bag (pictured above). I'll write more soon about this really cool hybrid box, which has some feature that make it stand out from anything before it.

In truth, though, if you pay attention to fishing news website or follow pro anglers or guides or fishing tackle manufacturers on Facebook, Twitter or other social media sites, you've likely heard about several new products in recent days. That will grow dramatically over the next couple of weeks.

Most stuff won't actually be in full production and in stores for several months. Now is just when the products get announced and the companies start trying to build interest so they can fill store shelves once the products do hit production. For me, it's a really fun time of the year.

Gear: Plano 3700 Guide Series, ICAST Winner

Think that all tackle bags are created equal, beyond considerations of size? Think again. Take a look at this video as industry insider David Rose tells about the new Plano Guide Series Tackle Bag that took best of show for tackle management at this year's ICAST show. As David breaks down the features, think about your own fishing situations, the stuff you want to keep dry or protected, the baits types that are working best and that you want to keep handy and the benefit of things like a bag that doesn't fill with water when the rain decides to fall while you are fishing. Make it personal to your own situations and it's pretty easy to see what set apart this gear bag and helped make it winner in the New Product Showcase. For more fishing videos, be sure to check out Jeff Samsel on YouTube.

My Old Tackle Box

While sorting stuff in my fishing basement last night, Nathaniel came across a tackle box he'd never seen before and one I hadn't opened for years. It was the first "big box" I got while I was growing up -- probably when I was around Nathaniel's age (14) or just a bit younger. With three trays on each side, my old green Plano tackle box was pretty grand and fancy seeming to me when I first got it. I'm quite certain I stocked it with every hook, weight and lure I owned the very day I got it, and I remember spending a lot of time cleaning trays and moving stuff around as I got new baits. You can't tell that today as it has been picked through and has been out of service for a couple of decades, but my tackle box was one of very few things that I tried to keep in good order as a young man.

That box sat on the bank and in boats beside me in a lot of different setting through about a decade of active use, always ready with whatever bait I  needed. The box, as it is today, is less of a true boyhood collection than I'd prefer. Over the years some slightly newer stuff has landed in it, while baits I often used have been removed. Still, when I look into the box I see a now-broken Bang O Lure that produced dozens of bass from the banks of small Florida lakes; a baby bass pattern Rebel crankbait that was one of my first lures with an extra realistic finish; a couple of packets of Culprit worms, which were my mainstays for many years. I still remember the first time I ever fished with Culprit Ribbontails because it was also the first time a friend and I ever went through a whole packet of worms in a single afternoon. We found a seriously active group of fish in a canal off Crystal River, and after that I was seriously sold on green shad 7 1/2-inch Culprits.

Nathaniel also found the old brown single-tray box that preceded the one in the picture, but it is empty now and has broken trays. Meanwhile, I came across my Grandpa's old pool-cue-like boat rod that he used to take out on deep-sea boats. It's pretty fun unearthing old treasures as we work together to gain order in the fishing basement. I wonder what else we'll discover?