Billed as the world’s largest sportfishing trade show, it never fails to deliver. For the second year in a row the festivities began with the ICAST Cup and ICAST on the water.
The ICAST Cup is a fishing event that pairs FLW anglers with an ICAST exhibitor and a media fishing partner. I was fortunate to be on the boat with local FLW angler Ken Lucas. Ken claims Lake Toho as his home waters so I expected to catch some Toho Bass.
My fishing partner from the exibitor ranks was Kevin Bennett, president of Lithium Pro Batteries, Kevin’s maintenance free batteries are the perfect fit for marine applications because they can do everything a lead acid battery can do only faster and they are only 1/3 the weight of lead acid alternatives.
Ken’s Phoenix Diamond V was entered as boat number 54 which qued us up for a flight 2 launch at 6:45 from Big Toho Marina. The quite morning water of Toho erupted into a line of boat wakes and bumpy rides as competitors shot off in every direction in search of Toho bass.
Ken ran for a pretty good distance before pulling up on the first spot. He gave us some expert instruction on the bait we were using and the way to present it to warm weather Toho bass. Then he gave a prediction. “This is one of many spots we will have to hit today,” explained Ken. “Summer fishing and the warm water will make the bite tough. We will visit as many spots as we need to catch a good bag. Some of these guys are going to find out just how tough hot weather fishing is on Toho.”
Ken’ prediction was right on and it did turn out to be a tough bite. Nevertheless, it did not take Kevin long to put the first fish in the net and take the stink off the boat. We were fishing Peter T rigs with a dark purple worm. A slow drag across offshore structure was the ticket to a respectable bag by the end of the day. I managed to contribute a 20-inch fish and a couple smaller ones to our 5 fish bag that we would take to the weigh-in. We visited 10 to 20 of those offshore structure spots to produce our 13 pound plus bag. That weight was good for a top ten finish as we claimed the 7th place spot.
The weigh-in line at the FLW trailer was lined with anglers holding fish bags in aerated holding tanks. FLW goes the extra mile to care for and release fish back into the lake. The tanks hold a large quantity of water and individual hoses that anglers place directly in their bag to resuscitate the fish. There is one goal at the end of the day, that’s to get the fish back in the water for someone else to catch another day.
Following ICAST Cup was ICAST on the water. A large contingency of exhibitors gave visitors a preview to what they would find in their booths at ICAST the following days. Later that day I attended the New Product Showcase where the new and innovative products were displayed. Visitors to the showcase were given a ballot to vote for their favorite new product. Final results of the voting will be posted soon.
The next event is the big show itself. I will be to Orlando to check out what’s new in the fishing industry for 2016. I will be reporting some of the best of the best here in ODU Magazine.