FEATURE | ICAST
38 www.tackletradeworld.com
BEST YEAR YET!
ICAST 2018, which took place at the Orange County Convention Centre (OCCC) in Orlando
Florida, has been proclaimed by industry professionals as the “Best Yet”. More than 15,000
representatives from the domestic and international recreational fishing and boating
community att ended the annual gathering, organised by the American Sportfishing
Association (ASA) from July the 10th to the 13th, for its 61st year and what a year it was.
The show kicked off on Tuesday
the 10th of July with the ICAST
Super Tuesday events which
included “On the Water” product
demonstrations from leading tackle
manufacturers which enabled buyers
and media to really get a feel and
view of products in action and in their
intended environments. The venue
used for this event was held on the
OCCC grounds outside the north side
of the exhibit hall which proved to be a
great success.
Other events on Tuesday included
The ICAST Cup and the Bass & Birdies
Classic.
The ICAST Cup is the Industry
Bass Fishing Tournament, this
year, sponsored by Fishing League
Worldwide (FLW), where professional
anglers are paired with media
representatives and other industry
professionals in order to compete for
the coveted trophy. Held on Lake Toho,
in Kissimmee, Florida, the tournament
ended in a tie win, between the teams
of Lew’s Fishing with John Carmen,
Peter Thliveros and Matthew Mattingly
and Co-angler.com with Thomas
Gomez, Billy Benedetti and Cesar
Jaimes.
Florida Sportsman’s Bass &
Birdies Classic was the fi fth, annual
golf/fi shing tournament where
congratulations went to Ricardo Ortiz,
Drew Gregory, Greg Boston and Kyle
Weisenburger for winning the 2018
Bass & Birdies Classic title.
While a lot of fun, these events
gave buyers and media additional
opportunities to try out product and
network with industry representatives.
The proceeds generated from these
events support Keep America Fishing
(KAF), ASA’s angler advocacy program
where the FLW ICAST Cup raised
$12,000 for KAF.
SHOW DAY
The day started early for over 600
industry professionals who attended
the annual “State of the Industry
Breakfast.” This year’s breakfasts
keynote speaker was Commander Kirk
Lippold who was the Commander of
the warship, USS Cole, when it was
targeted by al Qaeda and lives were
lost. His harrowing account of that
day and his underlying message about
leadership really hit home with the
breakfast attendees.
During the industry breakfast
there was a focus on how the overall
industry is facing a number of
challenges with participation in the
sport being just one of them. Young
anglers are becoming more reluctant to
take up fi shing and boating however in
order to address this, the Recreational
Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF)
has set its stall out in an ambitious
effort to increase the current number
of 46 million anglers to 60 million
anglers in 60 months. The good news
is that fi shing participation is up to
49.1 million with key target audiences
showing increasing numbers; Three
million fi rst-time anglers 11.6 million
youth anglers (aged 6-17) and 4.2
million hispanic anglers. INSERT 60 in
60 Logo here
Also speaking at the Industry
Breakfast was Kirk Immens who said
after the show, “For me, one of the
highlights of the week was our Friday
Angler Development Day. ASA worked
with FLW and B.A.S.S. to invite local
high school fi shing clubs to see the
show. These young people are our
future and it’s important for them to
see the industry in action. I don’t know
if it was me or them who was more
excited for them to be here.”
/www.tackletradeworld.com
/Co-angler.com