Well, I've been in Las Vegas for the annual ICAST trade show - finished up day one today. Not too many new things in general, but there were some nice surprises. The folks from Accurate showed off the beginnings of a new smaller spinning reel. It's one that will be some time off, but it will be a welcome addition to their line. Okuma had a new Makaira 8, one some folks here have been waiting on. We can thank Alan Tani for this one, it's his baby. They are said to be in inventory and with luck I'll have them at the shop when I get back from the show. Okuma also showed off some new low profile baitcasters, spinning reels and the Makaira series rods. Interesting pieces, and we placed orders for all of 'em.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chark,

Other great surprises... PENN LISTENED!!! The will indeed have the Fathom reels on the market without levelwinds. I played with 'em extensively at the show, they will be a winner for Penn and will give Daiwa some competition with the Saltist star drag series. The Penn has some advantages to justify a modestly higher price, adjustable handle, better spool, arguably better drag system. They looked like very strong pieces. Also, there will be lever drag Squall reels coming soon. Again, pricing was aggressive and they'll find their place in the market.

New Squall

Fox, an English firm we've been following, showed off their prototype two speed spinning reel. This piece should become available in December. Very interesting reel with a 6:1 and 2:1 gear ratio, making it very, very interesting indeed. Only catch, $1500. But, it could be indicative of a future direction in spinning reels. Can they handle the stress? Time will tell. For my money, this piece was the most interesting new product and deserving of best new product at the show. Certainly it's the most innovative reel I saw.

Other products that struck my eye... Ahi/Promar had a dandy new sandab gangian. Nifty product, will catch those little flatties in a quantity sufficient to make a meal. New rod components from ALPS, new braid and mono from Seaguar (who celebrated their 40th anniversary at the show with a beautiful (and probably tasty) cake. I found a $4k line winder I really want to buy for the shop = SUPER PIECE! New swivels from AFW, some interesting travel rods from FOX (though pricey for the higher end) - all using Spiggot ferrules. And, on the other side of innovative, gadzooks there were some yucky reels shown by a couple firms. These were obvious Chinese produced Avet knock-offs and had 3rd rate machining and feel. I don't want to name names, impolite, but part of the name rhymes with YUCK! They'll be sold by a couple East coast firms, simply marketing second rate products with higher than average dealer markup and lower than average production value. There were several others, and the lack of innovation and basic copy-cat production was a bit offensive and disappointing to me. (almost as disappointing as missing a piece of the Seaguar cake). Again this year Avet stayed out of the show. I wish they'd have gone, but they are on a roll and probably didn't want to provide more opportunity for the knock off producers to see what they are up to, and frankly they don't play the political game too well. Interestingly, the bike manufacturer really didn't have anything that I saw in the new product showcase, for voting as best of show. No reels from the bike guys were in the best of show area. (possible that I missed some freshwater stuff, but on the salty side Penn, Daiwa and a couple others were in the display). For what it's worth, day one at the show, I was most impressed with Penn and Okuma - both showed some surprises, both showed some excellent new products.

That's all I remember for now... Until tomorrow.

And, the winner was...Berkley Nanofil new super line (really only a freshwater product at the present time) won the Best of Show. On the saltwater side, Daiwa won Best Saltwater reel with their new Saltiga 5000. We had it on the Weekly Specials page a couple weeks ago, will be back up in a day or so.

Walt sent over a link to Saltwater Sportsmen's interviews. If you look closely at the Penn interview with Mike Rice you'll catch the Charkster lurking in the background.
http://www.saltwatersportsman....?bctid=1053223776001

How soon if you know yet, before the Penn Fathom is in the Charkbait?

The levelwind version has been in our stock for about 10 months, I guess. The new non-levelwind probably October/November.

Great. I don't want a levelwind. I like the new reels. Maybe I'll get one for my Dec. trip.

I have to agree about the Fox Stratos reel . $1500 ain't cheap ,but when you start adding studio ocean mark spools and handles to Saltiga's (or Stella's) you don't get much change out of $1500 for a single speed spinner.