One of sportfishing’s most storied brands added an emphatic bookmark to its historic books at ICAST ’24 in Orlando, FL by claiming the Overall Best of Show award at ICAST 2024 with the PENN Fathom Electric. What PENN says is the world’s first and only reel with an integrated battery took home Best Saltwater Reel at the ICAST “Best of Category” awards and carried the momentum over to topple 40 other category winners for Overall Best of Show.
The Fathom Electric became the first fishing reel to win Overall Best of Show at ICAST since the Shimano Curado E in 2008. “There have been a lot of innovations in other categories in the past few years,” said Penn Brand Manager Ben Joyce. “For the winner to actually be a reel means a lot to us.”
Joyce said the Fathom Electric was under development for four years before finally making its public debut at ICAST 2024. “We started from the ground up,” Joyce said, adding “Battery technology finally improved to the point where we could put something portable on the market, but PENN didn’t really have a history with battery stuff. We had to learn about how much power we could put through it, how much torque it could take.”
There were more than 40 different product categories in this year’s New Product Showcase at ICAST in Orlando, with PENN’s Fathom Electric emerging as best overall according to the voters. A full listing those individual product winners appears below, with The Fisherman’s editorial team getting a chance to review several of the items and many, many more in our biweekly New Product Spotlight video series at TheFisherman.com.
ICAST (International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades) celebrated its 67th year this summer, and will return to the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL from July 15-18, 2025. Presented by the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) it is the premier destination for every sportfishing manufacturer and dealer who considers anglers their target audience. Learn more at www.icastfishing.org.
