I am so excited to go to my first ICast! Who else will be there?

Will be there as soon as I can get off this work conference call - lol

I Will be promoting the Art of custom rod building at the Angler/s Resource Fuji booth. Plan is to build 2 rods at teh show, will glue up handles/seat in the morning, then wrap guides and do a Dec Wrap during the rest of the show. Looking forward to meeting builders and teaching them the Art.

Kelsey Kroll Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am so excited to go to my first ICast! Who else
> will be there?


I'm going. Even though retired now it will still be a working day visiting all of the brands my former company is still associated with. Lots of meetings all day long.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2022 03:41PM by Kent Griffith.

An amazing day at ICAST.

I really enjoyed meeting Gary Loomis and Aleks Maslov.

I met Gary in front of the booth, and he grabbed a rod to show me how light their new one is, and later on when I met Aleks at the back of the booth he disappeared up front and came back with a rod- the same one Gary had shown me earlier.

A booth full of rods, but both top men- Aleks and Gary- laid hands on one rod. This one:





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2022 04:52PM by Kent Griffith.

Gary called me this afternoon to talk awhile. He said that the event was large and well attended.

.................

About 20% bigger than last year and seemed to be a good crowd.

A number of rod building companies represented - American Tackle, Batson, Fuji/Anglers Resource, REC, Mudhole, NFC/RodBuilding.Org/Edge, Winthrop, SeaGuide, AB1, Stryker Rods, Lamiglass (tho I didn’t see any bare blanks) - hope I didn’t miss anyone.

Billy V was in the Fuji booth and Mary Christie & Mark Crouse were in the AmTac booth promoting the art of custom
Rod building

From what I understand ICAST is an industrial only event and is not open to the general public. If this is true, does it mean the industry grew by 20%?
Norm

Norman Miller Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> From what I understand ICAST is an industrial only
> event and is not open to the general public. If
> this is true, does it mean the industry grew by
> 20%?
> Norm



I wonder if covid caused previous years to be smaller and this year marks the attempt at returning to normal which could account for some of the perceived increase in size.

ADDED- found video of Roland Martin at ICAST and he mentions this same thing. [youtu.be]



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2022 05:10PM by Kent Griffith.

I think that particular rod is currently the ONLY one made with the new Air Carbon technology. I could be wrong, but I read the Tackle Tour review of this rod (which is worthwhile) and one of the goals of its development was to make a Medium Heavy power rod under 3 oz. An industry first? That is beside the point as I was drooling by that point.

To me it means that there were 20% more participants than last year. I noticed that there was a larger number of "cottage industries" present. Promoting lures, line, clothing, specialty items, hardware and other odds and ends.

All the big manes were there and many lesser known trying to break into the industry.

What caught my attention was the increased number of battery manufactures and reps there were, promoting lithium batteries and chargers.

While I was there, I had the privilege to meet and speak with Aleks, although we only talked for a short time he made feel like a valued friend.

All in all if was a memorable event.

Had a GREAT time there, didnt' see much of the show as I was busy @#$%& and trying to finish building a couple of rods at the Anglers Resource booth. BIG news on the way.
THanks to all those who stopped by to hang out and watch me work and tell jokes while doing so, lol.

Congrats to Mary McIntyre Christy for the work she has put in the last 10 years, to earn the spotlight at the American Tackle booth as their Featured Wrapper. I couldn't be happier and prouder of her.

If it was open to the general public, I don't think they could handle the attendence.

Ron Weber

The exhibitors don't sell to the general public so there wouldn't be much point in that. Aftma, Icast, FTD, etc. have always been trade shows for the industry jobbers, dealers, etc.


........

It was great to see everyone - Billy and Mary were on point!

My favorite moment was when Bill Dance walked into the booth to chat with Gary about the many ICASTs they have been to, and the conversation quickly turned to who had more pain in what part of the body. I did sneak this photo in though!

Best,
Aleks

Aleks, it was a pleasure meeting you and Gary Loomis. Thank you for keeping his legacy alive and moving forward!

I have followed Gary for his entire career. And I really enjoyed being able to spend a few minutes with Gary asking him about some of the things I have always wondered about... and for an example is his first rod company called LCI.

I wanted to ask Gary about Don Mook and find out what kind of influence Don was to his early rod making career.

And one of the interesting things to come out of that discussion is that Gary said his LCI company made rod blanks for I think he said 27 different companies, but maybe it was 37. I don't recall but the point is still the same... as Gary was rattling off some of the names of the companies he made blanks for like Browning and Bass Pro for example.

And this leaves me and the world in the dark on precisely what rods Gary has made throughout his career. I want all of his rods to be connected to his name, but I see now we will never know the extent of his rod making career. Could I own Browning and Bass Pro rods that Gary Loomis made? I never would have considered it. And now that I do, is there any way to ever find out or determine what all Gary has made or will his rod making career simply be filled with mysterious unknowns we will never know?

And to me that is a sad thing to consider being a collector of Gary Loomis rods. Now I know there are rods out there I will never know are connected back to Gary Loomis.

I wish his rods were better documented and more well known.

I was also surprised to hear Gary explain to me the how and why LCI went bust and was surprised to hear how the business side of it was all out of his hands. That Gary focused on product while business is left up to others until there is no business.

I always thought Gary was in charge or control over LCI, but after hearing him explain it, I see now more clearly his role. I was also surprised by his information about Don Mook.

Reading things online simply is not sufficient. I do hope Gary will one day put it all into print for us to learn from.

Thanks again Aleks and Gary! For keeping it alive!

I was glad to be able to tell Gary thank you, thank you for making fishing more enjoyable for us all!

The 20% larger was in reference to number of exhibitors over last year - which was down due to
Covid. A lot of the Asian companies were still lot there.

Was great to see and catch up with a lot of rod builders and suppliers to our craft!

On the last webinar, Gary and Aleks said NFC would introduce some new technology at ICAST. What was the new news? Epitome?