Comments (0) | Add a comment
ICAST gadgets aim to end anglers' tales of ones that got away
-
CRAIG L. MORAN/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
CastAway’s Vice President Scott Luft, center, is flanked by wife-and-husband fishing team members Linda Ward, left, and Scott Ward at the American Sportfishing Association’s ICAST show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show offered new twists on familiar equipment. » Buy this photo
Tools
More Photos
-
Bimini Bay Outfitters Vice President Edward Feldscott displays new Zombi Eye Jig at ICAST. CRAIG L. MORAN/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL » Buy this photo
-
Vexilar sales and marketing manager Tom Zenanko demonstrates the Fish Scout on Wednesday at the American Sportfishing Association’s ICAST show at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Fish Scout, a combination of sonar and an underwater camera, also measures water depth, direction and temperature. The show drew 7,000 attendees and featured an eclectic array of fishing equipment. CRAIG L. MORAN/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL » Buy this photo
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Jul. 14, 2011 | 2:14 p.m.
After ticking off the innovations of his company's new line of lures, Jerry Gomber added a confession.
"The old saying is still true that most of the lures on the shelves are designed to catch fisherman more than fish," said Gomber, director of development of performance products at Bimini Bay Outfitters in Mahwah, N.J.
The Zombi Eye line of lures, just now coming to the market, features a green eye set in the metal lure like a small emerald. Research and anglers' lore hold that fish respond to that kind of color and light more than just a black dot. But it also looks different in a tackle shop, an attraction to a fisherman trying to improve his luck.
Although Bimini Bay ran the Zombi Eyes through tests before putting it on sale, Gomber said the company does not have any statistics to show improved results.
"We feel confident in saying that it will attract more bites," he said. "After that, it is up to the fisherman."
Bimini Bay encapsulated the approach taken by many of the companies renting the 1,260 booths at the American Sportfishing Association's ICAST show, which runs through Friday at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Not an industry prone to major innovations, sportfishing equipment makers tend to reconfigure existing products with new materials and new looks.
"When you get down to it, it is still a rod, still a reel, and still a line with a hook on it," said Rob Southwick, who heads his own industry consulting firm in Fernandina Beach, Fla. "The innovations come not in concept, but in weight, performance and durability."
They also carry the implicit hope that somehow weekend fisherman will have more to show for their boat time than just fish stories, much in the way that high-tech golf drivers are supposed to send balls farther and straighter down the fairway.
Carbon-based fibers, for example, have cut the weight of rods from the days when cane was the material of choice, yet retain the strength to reel in a feisty marlin. Anyone pausing near a rod manufacturers' booth Wednesday was almost reflexively handed the latest model by a salesman, just to show how they practically float in midair.
"Everything is getting smaller, lighter and stronger and that's what people want," said Victor Tang, who runs the Fisherman Depot tackle shop in College Point, N.Y.
Airrus, an Italian rod maker with a Las Vegas office, touted a one bass weighing just 130 grams, or 4.6 ounces, but promised the next model would come in at 105 grams.
The past couple of years have been a mixed bag for the industry. Southwick counted a 3 percent rise in the number of fishing licenses issued in 2009, the strongest growth rate since the 1970s, as people who worked fewer hours or not at all decided to drown a worm rather than sit at home. As a result, the sales of basic items such as hooks and line rose, although high-end paraphernalia suffered, he said.
Still, the market has rebounded enough for some equipment makers to roll out $1,000-plus reels and other new big-ticket gadgets.
Vexilar of Minneapolis unveiled its $1,200 Fish Scout, a combination of sonar and an underwater camera that also measures water depth, direction and temperature.
"There's nothing that can get away," salesman Tom Zenanko promised. "You can see where they are and where the are going, but you still have to catch them."
The reliance on incremental product improvements, however, has hindered Las Vegas-based Outdoor Specialty innovations. Two years ago, it brought out a hook that allows anglers to avoid line-weakening knots by winding the line around it. So far only 26 stores have been willing to give it shelf space.
"It's an uphill battle," company President Ron Baskett said. "There's been over 100 years of people tying knots, and we came along with the easy2hook and said you don't have to tie knots. People say that's neat, but they are afraid it won't work."
The ICAST show drew 7,000 attendees. Next year it will be held in Orlando, Fla.
Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Comments
Terms & Conditions
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The Review-Journal does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please use the Report Abuse button.
Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 24 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.