All Roads Lead to ICAST

ICAST exhibitors share stories from the trail to the industry’s largest trade show.

In 2022, Brian McKinnon, founder of startup PacBak, found himself standing in front of a swarm of cameras, awash in an ovation from tackle manufacturers, retailers and media members gathered at ICAST, the annual sportfishing trade show hosted by the American Sportfishing Association. McKinnon—an Alaskan angler that booked the smallest booth available just two weeks before the show’s doors opened—had just won ICAST Best of Show.

“We were a full-blown startup,” McKinnon echoes from behind the wheel of a wrapped Toyota Tundra nicknamed Izzy. “At the time, we didn’t have a warehouse. We didn’t have anything. We had three prototype coolers and six prototype sealers. That’s it.”

Fast forward nearly two years and McKinnon says he barely left Izzy’s side in six months. Izzy was in the booth when McKinnon returned to ICAST in 2023 with a much larger footprint. And with a camper riding over the bed and a full complement of his company’s award-winning combination cooler and vacuum sealer designed to “Keep Adventure Fresh,” McKinnon has since traveled from Colorado to New Jersey to Miami to further fuel growth.

“2023 was about coming back to ICAST and saying thank you,” McKinnon says. “It was about shaking hands and showing everyone that we didn’t take what was given to us for granted.”

Today, the company that carried prototypes across the continent in 2022 is selling production models to more than 50 dealers from the Bering Sea to Biscayne Bay.

Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s were so impressed by his product that they brought McKinnon home for an official product launch in Alaska. “It all started with ICAST,” crackles McKinnon. “We had a little 10×10 booth, the cheapest thing we could get; but from that point, it just went crazy. After winning ICAST, companies were coming at us from every angle.”

As McKinnon pulls out of a campsite near Florida’s Gulf Islands National Seashore, another ICAST exhibitor is settling into an office on Florida’s Atlantic Coast. Not far from the interstellar launch pads of Cape Canaveral, Bajío Sunglasses founder Al Perkinson is surrounded by a creative hum of tattoo guns, photography and product design encircling his desk.

Perkinson’s long, grey hair hints to the ethos of Bajío, a self-described group of ‘punk rock’ anglers that proudly joined McKinnon in piloting part of their booth onto the ICAST show floor last year—their vehicle, a school bus tattooed in fish art that in-house content creator Jay Johnson uses to tour around America. “We have our booth divided into two parts,” adds Perkinson. “We call it the mullet booth. It’s business at the front and party at the back.”

Perkinson likens ICAST to an industry-wide party, one that’s thriving at the perfect moment in time. “Some of the other trade shows are a shadow of their former selves,” says Parkinson, “But ICAST is doing great. It still feels like people are having fun there, like the fishing community is there and represented.”

Since 2021, Bajío has been expanding its footprint at ICAST alongside its footprint in retail stores across the globe. Less than five years after Perkinson founded Bajío, the young company’s reputation has been cemented in part thanks to an ICAST award for Best Eyewear in 2022.  “For a little brand like ours to win at that stage of our development really gave us a lot of legitimacy,” says Perkinson. “It gets attention. We were David taking on Goliath and people noticed us. We are a creator brand that differentiates ourselves by being more creative, more fun and more interesting, and for our little ragtag band to beat the big boys was pretty fun. It really meant a lot.”

Last year, 13,346 attendees from all 50 states as well as 80 countries made the pilgrimage to ICAST, where more than 630 exhibitors constructed a playground of trade show booths brimming with new fishing tackle, apparel, lifestyle products and boating equipment.

With hundreds of exhibitors occupying booths ranging from the resplendent to the humble, ICAST can represent into a rogue’s gallery of fishing brands. On the floor, Bajío’s tattooed school bus and PacBak’s camper-topped Toyota blend with sleek, polished marine electronics displays and professionally-lit stands spotlighting the most sophisticated rod and reel technology on the planet.

Established brands with generational legacies in the industry sit alongside startup success stories.

At his desk just south of Los Angeles, AFTCO Marketing Director Matt Florentino now shares collection of 20 ICAST product awards, all earned since his own home-brewed crew of product designers and marketing professionals reeled in their first trophy in 2018.

“We are humble, but proud of them,” says Florentino, a SoCal original who’s often found plucking calico bass from the kelp forests of the Pacific Coast. Though AFTCO was founded in 1958, it didn’t pick up a win at ICAST for six decades. “It became a launchpad for us. It really ignited a fire. We already wanted to build good products and innovative products, but winning that first one at ICAST really poured fuel on that idea.”

Since winning their first award six years ago, AFTCO has expanded their show presence by donating booth proceeds to conservation charities, spotlighting sustainable product materials and even recycling their entire booth from 2023. And they keep coming back year after year to challenge their team and connect with industry friends.

“There are our people,” adds Florentino. “We aren’t punk rock, you know? But this is our community. These are our people. Whether it’s pro-team, media, industry friends or buyers, we always want to create a little hub where people can come hang out.”

ICAST 2024 is scheduled for July 16-19 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.