At ICAST, you don’t see a ton of fly fishing gear.

You see even less gear that can work with both fly, and standard tackle. Lucky Bug Lures has created something to do just that.

The Lucky Bug is a straight shank, Eagle Claw hook that is set inside a small plastic body and adorned with hackle, or flash. They come in several different sizes to fit your style of fishing, and the species of fish you target.

As mentioned above, they are very versatile and can be trolled, used on spinning tackle (with a split shot or a casting bubble), or fly fished. [Read more…]

In keeping with our theme of finding the new and unusual, we are very excited about this!

A European company is making some inroads stateside, and competitors should be put on notice. These guys are talented, and really know what they are doing.

There is some serious, outside-the-box thinking going on at Savage.

Take a look at a few of these designs and you will quickly see why we find them so exciting. [Read more…]

Jackall lures are known for excellent craft and quality design.

This is a company that pays attention to details, and produces a product commensurate with that commitment. This year at ICAST 2012 they have a handful of new designs that really stand out among a giant crowd.

Let’s look at a few designs that will make their way into your tackle box soon. [Read more…]

Orlando, Florida– The first night of ICAST 2012 has come to an with the announcement of the industry awards.

ManVersusFish.com was on hand for all of the announcements, and we have them for you here.

On top of the standard award categories that are traditionally given, a new category was awarded called the “Fish Smart Tackle Award.” This award is given to equipment that innovates in the safe release of fish.

ICAST 2012 Award Winners had the difficult task of standing out against a crowd of over 1500 competitors in various categories. Awards were given based on the votes of buyers and media in attendance.

Trust me when I say figuring out where our votes where going to go was no easy task.  [Read more…]

Strike King’s Rage Tail imprint has some very exciting things happening at ICAST 2012.

They have so many, it was tough to get the down low on each of them, but we did get a few specifics worked out.

All in all, the Rage Tail baits look very exciting. The split-tail offerings have tails that kick up an amazing fuss. If you are looking for massive amounts of water disturbance, this is a good place to start. [Read more…]

ICAST 2012 is in full effect, and we are all over the floor looking for the unique, unusual, and effective.

There are several trends going on that are easy to spot. For example, everyone and their mother is coming out with an umbrella style rig. These things are all over the place.

This is fine and dandy, but we want to bring light to products that aren’t going to get as much press—but absolutely should.

One such product is by a company called Freedom Tackle.  [Read more…]

The next category in our ICAST 2012 preview series of post is all about rods.

While the vast majority of new reels this year are experiencing face lifts and slight tweeks and improvements, rods are a whole different ballgame.

The vast majority of new research and engineering is going into rods.

We won’t hit everyone with something new in this preview (check back for the live updates tomorrow for that), but we want to give you a few things to look forward to. [Read more…]

Tomorrow, the ICAST 2012 show will officially kick off in Orlando, Florida.

We will be covering all the action of the show live from the floor, but until that coverage begins tomorrow morning, we will give you some previews of what to expect.

First, let’s start by looking at reels.

Understand first, that we will not see a great deal of new technologies or massive upgrades in the reel department. What we will see is existing designs being upgraded and re-worked, largely making the effort to reduce the weight of the reels.

Let’s run down a few of the larger manufactures and what we know for sure we will see from them. [Read more…]