I’m away all this week at the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades, better known as ICAST. Now in its 66th ICAST is a dealer show (i.e., it’s not open to consumers from the general public) where tackle manufacturers from all over the world convene in one location to get their goods into the hands of both wholesalers and retailers throughout the country.
ICAST takes place from July 11-14 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL and is presented by the American Sportfishing Association (ASA), the sportfishing industry’s trade association. I’ve probably been to a dozen different ICAST events, though I’m not really able to speak about the ones that were held in Las Vegas (what happens there stays there of course).
Long Island edition editor Matt Broderick and I will again be carrying our video equipment from booth-to-booth looking for some of the hottest new products coming later in 2023 and in early 2024 to showcase for The Fisherman’s readers. Last summer we walked about 5 miles of showroom floor and banged out more than 40 different product spotlights showcased at TheFisherman.com, broadcast twice weekly well into the spring of this year. As a pretty competitive Jersey guy, I’m always looking to improve on past performance, so let’s see if Matt and I can hit the 50 product benchmark in ’23.
One of the big events within the event itself is the New Product Showcase in which tackle exhibitors compete for the coveted “Best of Show” awards in 37 categories leading up to the coveted, overall “Best of Show” award. “Who will amaze the fishing world with their latest technology and design,” is what ASA asks at the icastfishing.org website. It could be saltwater, or perhaps fresh; but whatever product earns the coveted Best of Show grand prize you can rest assured knowing that Matt and I will have the details.
Yes, getting my grubby little hands on the latest rods, reels, lures and electronics literally months before they’re available to the general public is quite the thrill, like a kid in the actual candy factory! But thanks to “checked bag” fees implemented by the airline industry in recent years, there aren’t a lot of “samples” coming home with degenerate outdoor media writers like myself. I’m okay with that; by the time my Orlando to Newark plane departs on Friday night, all I’ll really be thinking about are the bucktails I already own which I expect to be deployed by dawn on Saturday after a week’s worth of ogling new gear.
A big takeaways from ICAST each year is the financial aspect. According to the ASA statistics, the money spent by companies and employees supporting anglers created an economic multiplier effect of an astounding $129 billion, while supporting 826,000 jobs and nearly $40 billion in salaries and wages. Nationally, 74 million anglers help generate $51.2 billion in retail sales each year on recreational fishing, producing $16.4 billion in state and federal tax revenues.
On a state level alone, ASA’s numbers show New Jersey’s share of retail recreational fishing sales at roughly $835 million, with Delaware accounting for $92.1 million, Pennsylvania coming in at $422.4 million and New York generating nearly $2 billion in retail tackle sales. These numbers of course represent both freshwater and saltwater retail sales. When it comes to saltwater retail sales alone, New Jersey is ranked 7th ($524.9 million) nationwide behind Florida ($4.30 billion), Texas ($2.17 billion), California ($995.8 million), North Carolina ($972.2 million), New York $724.3 million) and Louisiana ($636.3 million). According to ASA, Delaware comes in at about $100 million a year in saltwater retail sales.
Overall, ASA pegs the recreational fishing industry as generating more revenue each year than even Lockheed Martin; to paraphrase, recreational fishing in America is more important than the industrial military complex! Yeah, make fish cakes, not war.
