News & Notes from ICAST 2024

The 67th edition of the International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades (ICAST) fishing trade show officially opened the doors on Wednesday, July 17, 2024 at the Orange County Convention Center. Here’s a look at what’s happening in Orlando.

Pre-ICAST Events in the Books – According to Michael Tokunaga of S. Tokunaga Store in Hilo, Hawaii, "ICAST really is the Super Bowl of fishing tackle."

Many of the thousands attending this Central Florida event this week might agree, and there’s definitely a lot of good vibes and energy heading into this year’s show. And like Super Bowl week in NFL football, there's plenty of pre-ICAST gatherings leading up to Wednesday’s opening bell on the exhibit floor. On Monday, that included the newly rechristened ICAST Lunkers & Bunkers golf and fundraising fishing tournament where the links and fishing water combined forces.

Formerly known as Bass-N-Birdies, the event was held at the Celebration Golf Club and featured 18 holes of golf, four holes of fishing, breakfast, lunch, prizes and all for a good cause. The proceeds from the event benefit the American Sportfishing Association’s Keep America Fishing program, the ASA angler advocacy program.

On Super Tuesday, it was time for the 2024 version of the annual ICAST Cup bass fishing derby on Lake Toho near Kissimmee, Fla. A total of 36 teams competed in this year's event in an event that lasted from the bass boat blast off around sunrise until the weigh-in at Big Toho Marina that began at 10:30 a.m.

A fundraising effort that also raises money for ASA's Keep America Fishing program, the tournament is a staple event for ICAST week, formerly put on by the FLW Tour and now run by Major League Fishing. ICAST officials released a post-derby statement on Monday, noting that "This year, Toho lived up to its reputation thanks to the team from CPF Lures, who threw their own 10-inch ribbon tail worm for three bass weighing 15-7 and the win."

Pippin and George Take 10th Annual ICAST Cup – While 22,000-acre Lake Tohopekaliga—or Lake Toho as most anglers call it—was the host lake once again for this year’s ICAST Cup tournament on Tuesday morning this week, the win in the 10th annual derby came down to an extraordinarily small piece of water at the sizable Osceola County lake near Kissimmee, Fla.

In fact, you might call it almost postage-stamp small. That’s because when the final weigh-in was over for the 41 boats that were entered on Tuesday, the duo of winning anglers Chuck Pippin and Jason George told the event’s emcee and crowd that their success in weighing a three-bass limit actually came down to all fish being caught by 8 a.m. and all in an area that was scarcely the size of their bass boat according to a Major League Fishing news release.

George and Pippin, partners in CPF Lures, indicated that they leaned exclusively on one of their own baits for the winning bag limit of three-fish.

“We caught every single one of our bass on a 10-inch ribbon tail worm from CPF Lures,” said Pippin. “We’re really known for our 8-inch trick worm, but sometimes this time of year when the weather’s hot and the water’s dirty, they want a little more action, so we slipped over to the ribbon-tail. You can never go wrong with a June bug-colored bait on this lake.”

“It was a good day,” George agreed. “Chuck put us on some really good fish, and we just ran the ribbon tail worm – just old-school-style fishing all morning. The bites were pretty consistent, so when they would stop, we would just go to the next spot and get a few bites and continued that pattern all morning.”

Ironically, the short morning window of success for Pipkin and George took the pressure off of them and paved the way for their win.

“Even though we only fished four hours, we probably would have weighed in about the same if we’d fished eight hours, because they just kind of shut down on us,” said Pippin.

“But this win feels pretty good! I’ve fished the ICAST Cup a couple times, but I didn’t watch the weigh-in because I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself. However, now that we’ve won it, we’re already making plans to win it again next year!”

According to MLF, the Top 10 for Tuesday's 2024 ICAST Cup were:

• 1st: CPF Lures – Jason George and Chuck Pippin, three bass, 15 pounds, 7 ounces
• 2nd: American Baitworks – Robert Greenberg, JT Kenney and Justin Harant, three bass, 12-8
• 3rd: 10 CAN INC – Robert Isom, Michael Wilson and Stevie Brave, three bass, 12-6
• 4th: Gary Ford Well and Pump – Thad Ford and Nick Hawkins, three bass, 11-12
• 5th: Bull Bay Tackle – Jake Stines and Danny Hamm, three bass, 11-4
• 5th: T.A. Mahoney Co. – Mike Hardy and Tom Mahoney, three bass, 11-4
• 7th: Glacier Outdoor – Christine Hayton, Daniel Valois and Horaciso Clare, three bass, 10-11
• 8th: USA Bass – Nicole Abrams and Julie Leavitt, three bass, 10-8
• 9th: Bob’s Machine – Steven Pelini, Bryan Honnerlaw and Betty Bauman, three bass, 10-8
• 10th: Amera Trail, Steve “Boogie” Brown, Terry Segraves and Cindy Joint, three bass, 10-4

Some other numerical derby tidbits from the day's fishing activity at Lake Toho include that out of the 41 boats entered in the 2024 ICAST Cup derby, a total of 36 teams brought fish to the scales. On the hot and muggy summertime day, there were 36 three-fish limits weighed in by the ICAST Cup teams, including the day's biggest largemouth bass, a 6-lbs., 10-oz. specimen caught by the Grunden's Team consisting of Ben Crook and professional bass angler Randall Tharp.

Best of all for the 2024 ICAST Cup, ASA and MLF announced that a total of $8,200 was raised by the 10th ICAST Cup, with all of that money going to benefit the sportfishing industry’s angler advocacy program, Keep America Fishing.

With a format that annually sees teams comprised of exhibitors, media and even a handful of Tackle Warehouse Invitationals and Toyota Series anglers, organizers say that the charity tournament has raised more than $89,200 for Keep America Fishing.

Abrams, Leavitt earn spot on Team USA Bass — With the Olympic Games coming up in Paris later this month, there’s a whole lot of red, white and blue patriotism right now in the USA as our nation’s athletes get ready to compete against the world in the summer games.

That same sentiment is also true in bass fishing this week as Tuesday’s ICAST Cup tournament on 22,000-acre Lake Toho paved the way for a couple of anglers to secure their place on the USA Bass team and upcoming international bass fishing competition.

With USA Bass partnering with Major League Fishing and the American Sportfishing Association’s Keep America Fishing angler advocacy program, this week’s ICAST Cup event awarded the top-finishing women’s pair at the fundraising derby a spot on the 2025 USA Pan American Bass fishing team.

According to an MLF news release, that honor comes after the highest-finishing team of female anglers on Tuesday was Nicole Abrams and Julie Leavitt, two anglers who brought three bass to the stage totaling 10 pounds, 8 ounces. That bag limit was good enough for Abrams and Leavitt to earn their spot on Team USA Bass when it competes next year at the 2025 Pan American Bass Fishing Championship along with other top bass pros.

---