ICAST 2023

[RichF]

Geez, I thought the Conquests were bad….$900 for a rod…ouch Shimano.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Just now, RichF said:

Geez, I thought the Conquests were bad….$900 for a rod…ouch Shimano.

The best part is that I bet it's made in China ?

[Brett's_daddy]

https://www.tackledirect.com/shimano-curado-200-m-baitcasting-reels.html

 

 

[JN94]

46 minutes ago, Brett's_daddy said:

https://www.tackledirect.com/shimano-curado-200-m-baitcasting-reels.html

 

 

Looks sexy

[NorthernBasser]

2 hours ago, Brett's_daddy said:

https://www.tackledirect.com/shimano-curado-200-m-baitcasting-reels.html

 

 

So it's the Curado M, not L? 

 

I thought for sure they would've been able to make the new model a little lighter than the K. Guess not. 

1 hour ago, JNorman said:

Looks sexy

I like the looks of the K better. Mostly because of the darker handle. 

[Cgolf]

The Zman dark sleeper style bait has my attention. I would feel better spending that much on one plastic bait knowing it will hold up for many fish. The new Rage bait on a slider head would be really interesting to me.

 

The Rapala Ned bait could be interesting if the new more durable plastic they are talking about will play well with all the rest of my plastics. I will likely try the Rapala Jerkbait since I have had good luck with the shadow rap series.

[Cbump]

My favorites from the BASS link:

 

Spro CJ Flip

SK Gravel Dawg

SK J300 deep sinking jerkbait

War Eagle Jiu Jigsu

Chatterbait Elite EVO

Berkley Nessie

All the rapala plastics

Zman Mulletron

 and the SK yellow lens

[Glenn]

3″ Yama Craw Arrives

https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/bass-yamamoto-craw071023.html

[KP Duty]

On 7/7/2023 at 11:40 AM, AlabamaSpothunter said:

The best part is that I bet it's made in China ?

Poison glorious and ultima are made in Japan ?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Nice, biggest disappoint when I came back to the sport was to see all the JDM high end rods at my local store made in China...Shimano, MegaBass, Daiwa, all of their high end stuff was made there.

 

 

[KP Duty]

Yeah, someone posted on Tackle Tour's forums that their recently purchased JDM steez rod said 'assembled in china' on it.  I wouldn't be surprised if Shimano follows.  Hope not!

[GReb]

The packaging of the new Rapala soft plastics is odd to me. Rapala has always had a very conservative, old school look to their marketing and these look like Googan. 

[lunkerboss923]

Brett Hite has a video on YouTube. The rod is black with red accents and isn't glass. 

[NorthernBasser]

Available to preorder on The Hookup Tackle for...$450! 

[thunderblack]

7 hours ago, NorthernBasser said:

Available to preorder on The Hookup Tackle for...$450! 

 what item?

[NorthernBasser]

2 hours ago, thunderblack said:

 what item?

Whoops. I meant to quote @lunkerboss923. The new Evergreen Combat Stick.

 

Another rod with a good price jump is the Fenwick World Class rods. They will start at $420. Woof.

 

ARK has re-designed a few of their series as well. I really like the handles on the current casting rods. They have a nice taper and are quite comfy. Not sure I like them going away from that.

 

[NorthernBasser]

18 hours ago, lunkerboss923 said:

Brett Hite has a video on YouTube. The rod is black with red accents and isn't glass. 

 

16 hours ago, NorthernBasser said:

Available to preorder on The Hookup Tackle for...$450! 

 

Ok, so I guess there's a Combat Stick and a Super Combat Stick. $230 vs $450 according to TW (for the 7'3 H, which is all they're showing on the site right now). Maybe shorter versions are $420. The Super is the black/red one with a carbon handle.

 

 

[evilcatfish]

I wish they used the ecs reel seat on the super like they did the regular, maybe just painted red or whatever. I think the one used is from alps?  I’ll probably give one of the regular combat sticks a go at some point 

[WRB]

Berkley Nessie Soft swimbait wins best of show.

Tom

 

[softwateronly]

A 7" glide bait at 1oz opens up a world to people who don't want to fully go down the swimbait rabbit hole.  I'm interested in it.

 

scott

[WRB]

It’s available in 3 sizes 5”, 7” and 9”.

Tom

[NorthernBasser]

Not gonna lie, the Nessie looks pretty legit, considering the price. Only $10 for a 7" and $13 for the 9". I wonder how durable that plastic is. I heard it's a ripoff from some other company, but what isn't nowadays? That's the fishing world we live in. Video I saw, it has nice action. That's the one thing I was skeptical of. 

[Pat Brown]

With my luck losing expensive baits and how long they last actually fishing them in the water before they're gone with the tricks I like to do to pull bites. I'll be fishing these Nessie baits a lot!

 

I reckon that 9" is gonna get wore out during the winter months this year at the ole Pressured Pond ™.  Hope the big girls are ready for soft glide baits.  ??

[NorthernBasser]

I'm gonna have to find a heavier ice fishing jigging rod if I wanna use it up here this winter. ? Man, I envy you southern guys. 

[Aaron_H]

The finesse/compact Booyah Covert spinnerbaits look good, too. I have been enjoying the compact frames so far on my spinnerbait grind this year trying to figure them out. Wish they had a double Indiana blade version.

 

The updated Intenza rods look great too, but the hook keeper is in a dumb spot (keeper should be on the opposite side of the blank from the reel it's not that hard IMO) but a Fuji EZ keeper solves that.