Each year at this time, the American Sportfishing Association hosts the largest trade show in the industry. It’s called ICAST, which is an acronym for International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades.
The event runs three days and is held at the Orange County Convention Center, just outside of Orlando, Florida. Among its many patrons are manufacturers, sales reps, angling celebrities, media and, of course, the buyers. It’s a huge three day sales event and they come from all over the globe to participate.
It’s an exciting time, when new products are the focus. And believe me, there are plenty to see.
That said, I would like to share those I feel are standouts in design and application — products that I know will help you catch more fish, or at least make the experience far more enjoyable,
A litany of lithiums
With so many lithium battery brands now on the market, it’s hard to tell one from the other. All promise increased power and longer life. But like anything else, some will outperform the others.
The trolling motor battery I’m most impressed with is Don’t Die Lithium by Lithium Battery Company (LBC) of Tampa, Fla. Although somewhat new to the marine industry, they’ve been in battery business for decades. Among their heavy hitting clients are SpaceX and Google, so they enter our arena with truly impressive credentials.
Their all-new Don’t Die Lithium 36-volt, 60-amp-hour lithium trolling motor battery offers features the others lack — including a color LED Battery Level Indicator that tells you when you need to recharge, and an illuminated rest button should the battery ever go to sleep (which can happen with inferior chargers). Should the battery shut down, simply press and hold the reset button for three seconds and it will wake up, ready for recharging.
More sophisticated features include Don’t Die’s built-in 4G network with 24/7 uptime, which allows you to stay connected and informed with real-time monitoring. With WiFi networking and automatic firmware updates, you will always have access to the latest features and improvements. Add to that the Don’t Die App with built-in Bluetooth, you’ll remain safely connected anytime you’re on the water. And Don’t Die’s Built-In GPS feature eliminates any worry of theft — you will always know the exact location of your battery, giving you peace of mind and added security.
To top things off, LBC is introducing its groundbreaking Cloud Monitoring System, which provides constant vigilance and immediate diagnosis, enabling the company to monitor your entire system remotely — so that they can tell you whether your charger is performing correctly, or if there are any issues with wiring or your trolling motor.
For more information on this remarkable battery, visit www.LithiumBatteryCompany.com .
Shimano all in
My favorite all around spinning reel for fresh and inshore saltwater is the Shimano Stradic. It’s super smooth, efficient and incredibly reliable. Even better, they’re affordable.
This year, Shimano upped the ante on this light-tackle workhorse with several key improvements. And they did it without jacking the price out of range.
Still built on the proven CoreSolid frame, the new Stradic now incorporates what the company calls Infinity Drive — an advanced, stabilizing structure that creates exceptionally light winding. More specifically, the main shaft — previously supported by the pinion gear — is now reinforced by a low-friction bushing, which significantly reduces frictional resistance.
Additionally, the main shaft has undergone a proprietary surface treatment and special processing to drastically reduce rotational torque … resulting in a reel that can freely wind, even under heavy load.
The new reel also features Shimano’s Infinity Xross (pronounced cross), which vastly improves surface contact between the drive gear and pinion gear. This revolutionary design distributes the load placed on the gear tooth surface across a wider area to minimize stress points, which in turn improves overall gear performance and durability.
They also improved the drag system with their unique Dura Cross washers, which utilize innovative materials woven into a unique pattern compared to conventional drag washers. The result is a silky smooth, longer lasting drag system and fewer lost fish.
Combine all of this with the Stradic’s current features, and you’re looking at an incredible reel for the price — fresh or saltwater. For more information, visit https://fish.shimano.com/en-US .
Yamamoto molding the future
Since becoming a part of Good Sportsman Marketing (GSM), the Yamamoto brand has expanded its offering to include several well-designed products, including the Speed Senko, Ned Senko and Yamatanuki — all of which were instant hits with consumers.
Fanning that flame, they now offer the Yamatanuki in a new, smaller 2.5-inch size, which is designed for what the company describes as ‘power-finesse’ fishing. Alone, the 2.5 Yamatanuki weighs 1/4-ounce and comes in eight attractive colors. Like it’s bigger, 3.5-inch brother, it has the same tantalizing sway and shimmy on the fall and can be rigged multiple ways for an array of different presentations — perfect for smallmouth, spots and largemouth bass.
Their other new notable entry is the Scope Shad — a 3-inch soft plastic, fluke-style bait designed for light line vertical jigging, drop-shotting or underspin applications.
Because of its special formulation, the lure returns a strong signal to any brand of forward-facing sonar. And, with Yamamoto’s Super Mega Floater feature, it will remain highly buoyant at any depth.
The Scope Shad comes in 13 colors specific to clear water applications, all chosen to fool the toughest, most pressured bass. For more information, go to www.baits.com .
Power-Pole and Garmin in sync
Here’s a prime example of two industry leaders working together to improve the performance of each other’s products and your angling experience.
Utilizing Garmin’s new Smart Anchor feature, any time anchor lock is activated on a Force trolling motor, the chart plotter will detect the water’s depth and, if it’s shallow enough, automatically deploy your Power-Poles to hold the boat in position.
If the poles and trolling motor are both deployed and you’re ready to move to another spot, their Auto Stow feature will automatically retract the poles while you stow the trolling motor
When moving around with the trolling motor, Smart Anchor Jog will automatically stow your Power-Poles until you’re in position. Once in place, it will either redeploy the Power-Poles or engage the Force’s Anchor Lock feature to hold position.
If you’re dealing with current or high winds and the poles start to lose contact, Garmin’s Drag Detection feature will stow the Power-Poles and use the trolling motor to get you back into position, then redeploy the poles.
That’s true integration of your Garmin electronics, Force trolling motor and Power-Pole shallow water anchors. To learn more, go to www.garmin.com/en-US/c/marine/.
