Stuff that generated the most buzz – overall or just inside my own head. 😁

1. Rapala's launch of the Jacob Wheeler-designed CrushCity soft-plastics

Been to many a new-product announcement over the years. Pretty dang certain I've never seen one so slam crowded as the Rapala launch of the new CrushCity plastics. Usually these deals are in rooms with seats and the seats aren't 100% occupado. This room had no seats and peeps were packed in like sardines – or, if you're from up north, smelt...😆

Rapala showed intro vids on all the baits, then they had a brief intro from the Rapala peeps, then Jacob got up there. It was quiet. Everyone was listening – phones in the air, recording. Without trying or even realizing it (I asked him later), Jacob had the room. The only guy I can liken that to at ICAST is Kevin VanDam some years back.

Of course the baits will tell the tale over time – and for sure Rapala is all-in with Jacob – but it was a cool experience.

I did tell Jacob that later and he was like:

🤣

Here's a good YT vid that runs down the new baits. The CrushCity baits are available for pre-order on TW.

2. KastKing's launch of the iReel One

Maaaaaan I was skeptical. Real skeptical. A reel with a chip in it? An app that talks to you? I was like, No thanks!

BUT I should be past the point of doubting the KastKing guys because they're always pushing the envelope and don't really miss. When they explained this reel to me – with a tour pro listening too – it got interesting.

Few things off the bat.

- You don't need to charge the reel to use it.

- You don't need to use the Bluetooth functions at all.

- You don't need to use them while you're fishing BUT they can still record so you can look at the data later.

There's way too much to say about it here but the biggest deal appears to be: retrieve speed. As in, it measures your actual retrieve speed. So if you don't get a bite at 1.1 mph but you do at 0.9 or 1.5, that's useful info...if you're the type that wants to know that...and I'd say most tour pros would be because – once again – they're all bassin' nerds looking for an advantage.

And yes it does account for change in retrieve speed as you lose and gain line on your spool.

Met company founder Tate Cui – who is a fisherman and went to Syracuse U (middle in the pic below, along with prez Al Noraker and marketing honco Joe Woodward) – there for the first time and he in fact said that retrieve speed was the focus...meaning they focused on a practical application, not just tech for tech's sake:

For all you forward-facing sonar folks, the reel will also let you know how long your cast is.

There's a lot more new stuff too, like this line guide...

...but the bottom line is the reel got a lot of buzz. Word is retailers dug it and I saw some guys from other reel companies in the KastKing booth checkin' it out!

3. PRADCO Fishing bought Great Lakes Finesse

If you're readin' every Blaster you will have heard about Great Lakes Finesse (GLF) recently because the company's former owner Dan Miguel (above right with PRADCO Fishing head man Bruce Stanton) was half the team that caught that insane 32+ lb all-smallmouth limit on the St Lawrence.

Now GLF is owned by PRADCO Fishing, which owns many brands like BOOYAH, YUM, War Eagle, Bomber and more, but til now not much finesse stuff. Which is THE trend from ICAST in my 2c. Which I'll get to in #2 below.

I would say this is a score for PRADCO because the company is now in finesse, and because GLF has something good and different (almost ultra-finesse) going on – and Dan says more is coming.

Reminder that a bunch of the GLF stuff is on TW.

4. GSM bought Big Bite Baits

Little history revistin': GSM bought a bunch of hunting brands, decided to do the same thing in fishing, bought Yamamoto, Rat-L-Trap, Buckeye and a couple more, and at ICAST announced it just bought Big Bite Baits. Seems like a "good fit" because Yamamoto is what I'd call a "premium" soft-plastics and Big Bite is different.

What also came with the deal is D&J Plastics – believe it's in GA but for some reason I thought it was in AL – which makes soft-plastic baits for lotsa folks.

This is in the buzzin' section because lots of folks were talking about how GSM is looking for companies to gobble up like the cookie monster does with cookies. I asked GSM's fishing head man Crispin Powley (above) if he was walking around ICAST with the Jaws theme or the Darth Vader theme playing on his phone, and he said neither: Godzilla. 😁

Anyhow will be interesting to see if Big Bite pros like Michael "top 10" Neal will now use Yamamoto, etc stuff – assumin' so? Maybe in some cases?

FINESSE was the #1 trend by far. Small stuff, finesse stuff, finesse gear, such like:

Is it driven by forward-facing sonar? Yep, but not just that.

For sure forward-facing sonar and finesse techniques and companies coming out with finesse stuff are kinda a self-reinforcing loop – one drives the other and so on.

But more fishing pressure is a real thing. Several folks mentioned how since Covid – when more people started fishing and more folks started working from home/flex hours – ramp lots on major lakes are often full or close to it even on weekdays.

Also big tourney fields – all that practice and then tournaments can put a hurtin' on the "easy" fish.

It's not all bad, it's just what's happening and it's leading to more finesse. Brandon Coulter joked, "A dropshot is power fishing now." Funny but some truth to that in some places!

More about new finesse baits 'n more in the next BB. For now gotta mention 2 more finessey things:

1. Yo-Zuri is big in saltwater where the braid to fluoro thing has been going a lot longer than in bassin'. In the salty world, apparently they never use fluoro made for a mainline as a leader – because leader fluoro is different than mainline fluoro, namely a little stiffer and more abrasion-resistant. Knot strength can be better too.

> Yo-Zuri's Chris Bishop: "For deep techniques it doesn't matter. But if you're fishing a leader shallow around [cover like] docks, it does matter."

So Yo-Zuri came out with new Super Fluorocarbon Leaders, which Tackle Warehouse already has up to 20 lb:

2. Got a long, tough update about bass fishing in Japan. For whatever reason I thought that the Japanese ultra-finesse movement was because they liked to fish that way. But I was told it's really because they have to fish that way if they want to catch anything – one guy's perspective but he lives there so....

The Japanese gov't – aided by commercial fishermen on some lakes, like Biwa – is actively trying to remove all black bass...because they're "invasive" and apparently also demonized in the media. So they do stuff like dragging nets across spawning flats and sucking up fry with hoses, and get paid bounties.

😡

Take a sec and think about not being able to catch bass using power techniques...how dang terrible would that be! Made me want to somehow help our Japanese bassin' bros.

Sure hope it doesn't end up thataway here. Don't think it will, but as we all know some groups are looking for any way to sneak in and stop fishing – excuses like invasive species, fish viruses, on-shore weigh-ins, causing division within the fishing community, etc. It's all out there right now!

One recent example: ME tried to sneak in a ban on bass tournaments in northern lakes – check out their logic and remember they tried to do it with ZERO public awareness/input...I guess because they think they "know" what's good for everyone more than their own citizens?

> The Maine Dept of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife issued in June the proposed rule changes to fishing regulations, with 1 point tucked into the middle of the 9-page document now grabbing the attention of various anglers.

> The proposal caught state lawmakers and outdoors groups off guard. While the vast majority of bass fishing tournaments happen in southern ME, opponents to the proposed ban noted small communities in the northern part of the state see an economic boost from the events.

> “Bass tournaments are not permitted in any waters within the North Zone,” the proposed change says, defining the area as Aroostook, Piscataquis, Somerset and Franklin counties, along with Oxford County north of the Androscoggin River and Penobscot County north of routes 11 and 157.

> While managed as a sport fish in southern Maine, bass are considered an invasive species in the North Zone, where coldwater sport fish like salmon and trout are more prevalent.

> The state wants to take away any rules suggesting it supports the proliferation of bass in the North Zone, [Francis Brautigam, head inland fisheries] said, adding the change would only affect about 5 water bodies that host less than 5% of organized bass tournaments here and help the coldwater species. “We’re trying to prevent the loss of something that makes our state unique,” he said.

Those 2 things he mentioned 100% do not connect and have nothing to do with one another – but lmk if you see that differently. Holding fewer bass tournaments will help trout not get "lost"?? I truly hate double-speak. Hey Francis – If there was a benefit and it's a no-brainer, why be sneaky about it? Remember who pays your salary mang!

More than a few lithium battery companies at ICAST, and after talkin' to a few of 'em – gotta say again: We fishermen don't know nearly enough about lithiums. They're nothing like lead acid and AGM, and apparently each brand is different – the cells are different, the computer chips in 'em are different, how they discharge is different, etc.

Why does that matter? All that stuff affects how your electronics and troller perform, on a daily basis and long term.

All lithiums seem to have more and longer-lasting power, which can be good. But seems like (to me anyhow) that they're not just a battery in the conventional sense, like it's just a power source that lets you turn stuff on and run it. They're more complicated than that.

So is battery X, which might be $X00 cheaper, really as good as battery Y? Why should we pay $2,000 for a dang battery vs half that or less? Kinda important questions and personally I don't know how to answer 'em – yet.

What's your electronics setup? Is it just like your bud's? Are we all aware that – just like with computers – as screens and trollers get better, they get more demanding power-wise and more finicky? Would you put any ol' battery in your work computer? (If you say "yep" and have a good answer for it, you know more about batteries than me – which ain't hard!)

Anyhow you get where I'm going. All I can tell you is I've learned enough so far to know that most of us for sure don't know near enough about these batteries to be spending serious $$ on them. Or that's the way I feel anyhow.

The battery question is an INTEGRAL part of the whole electronics setup thing (duh). The units, the troller, the cables/wires and the batteries – meaning we can't just take 'em for granted anymore if we're going to lithiums.

One battery dude I talked to was adamant that some lithium batteries aren't great, that electronics manufacturers know that, and they're not happy about having to address customer complaints that are really battery-caused problems. If true, I can only see that going one way...or maybe two.

On the plus side I was told be a couple folks that a good lithium battery, taken care of, can still be going strong after 10+ years. That's amazing.

Let's figure this out bass-heads!

The first reason this was the biggest surprise to me is cuz I'd never heard about it. I'm not gonna say I hear everything, but the fact that I heard nothing about this and who all is involved is impressive. I guess that's one NDA that worked! 😆

Anyhow, here's the deal which I got from KJ Queen's dad Jeff Queen, who's big-time involved in the deal:

- Off-season league for pros.

- Not trying to compete with B.A.S.S. and MLF.

- Teams are state/regional – like this:

- Guys fish individually but scores are team scores.

More from the MCF site:

> Each game lasts 3 hours and is divided into 3 periods. Team members and the coach are in constant communication to aid in finding the bass. However, rules prevent any angler from sharing an area they have fished during that period with another team member.

> ...each angler can only score their 3 largest fish each period. The 5 anglers combine their weights to form their team’s score. The team with the most combined weight at the end of the 3rd period is the winner of the game.

> Each game counts towards the overall record of each team within their division. The top team in each division advances to the Master Cup Fishing National Championship. Teams will compete in the best of 7 games for the chance to be the first to ever hoist the Legends of Bass Trophy.

Word is the teams owners are major fishing brands and wealthy peeps, and several top pros are already signed to teams. Also Jeff said it WILL happen, tho a shorter season in year 1.

Sounds like you will be able to watch the live broadcasts – hosts not yet announced – and/or choose to watch just the camera in one angler's boat, which has been a long time coming in bassin', glad to see it.

One more thing: Peeps will be able to place $ bets on stuff.

Sounds interesting, potentially cool, let's see what happens.... More info is at mastercupfishing DOT com (sorry can't link it).