Holiday Fishing Gift Guide – 2018

With the holidays fast approaching, gift buying usually starts to creep into everyone’s mind sooner or later.  If there is a special fisherman or fisherlady in your life, it may seem like it, but they really aren’t that hard to buy for.  Usually anything used for, about, in or around fishing should do.

I’m going to try to help you out with the top new fishing and fishing related products from ICAST 2018.  These are all of the products that won their Best Of category at this years show.

I’ll try to keep it as organized as possible, but here are all of the winners.  There will be a wide variety of pricing down below, as these are strictly the winners at the ICAST show.

Fishing Rods

Best New Freshwater Rod

The Best New Freshwater Rod went to St. Croix Legend Glass Casting Rods.  These rods looked pretty nice at the show.  They seem well built and had really nice componentry.

Here are a few of the bullet points from the rods:

• Integrated Poly Curve (IPC) Tooling Technology
• Super Premium 100% Linear S-Glass
• Fuji K Series Concept Tangle Free Guides
• Fuji ECS Reel Seat
• Split Grip/Super Grade Cork Handle

For more information on the St. Croix Legend Glass Rods, please click here.

Best New Saltwater Rod

As it turns out, the Best New Saltwater Rod fell into the kayak fishing category with the new St. Croix Mojo Yak Rods. As an avid kayak fisherman myself, I find this quite exciting.  Not a bad second win for the St. Croix team so far.

St. Croix Mojo Yak Rod features:

• Integrated Poly Curve (IPC) mandrel technology
• Premium, high-modulus SCIII graphite
• Kigan Master hand 3D guides with aluminum oxide rings
• Fuji ECS reel seat
• Custom Winn split-grip handle design
• Kigan hook keeper
• Two coats of Flex-Coat slow cure finish
• 5-year warranty
• Designed specifically for kayak anglers

For more information on the St. Croix Mojo Yak Rods please click here.

Best Fly Fishing Rod

Ok, this just doesn’t seem fair.  The Best Fly Fishing Rod goes to St. Croix with their St. Croix Mojo Trout fly rods.  These look to be a really nice beginner to intermediate fly rod with good components.

St. Croix Mojo Trout Rods feature:

• Premium, high-modulus SCIII Graphite
• Slim-profile ferrules
• Kigan Master Hand 3D stripper guides with aluminum oxide rings and black frames
• Sea Guide snake guides with black PVD coating for extra hardness and increased smoothness
• Uplocking, machined aluminum reel seat
• Premium-grade cork handle
• Kigan hook keeper
• Two coats of Flex-Coat slow cure finish
• Includes cloth rod sock
• 5 year warranty

For more information on the St. Croix Mojo Fly Trout rods click here.

Fishing Reels

Best New Freshwater Fishing Reel

The Best New Freshwater Fishing Reel went to the Shimano Curado DC low profile baitcast reel.  This new DC stands for Digital Control.  If you have a diehard fisherman who is also a techie, this might be the reel for them.

Shimano DC reels feature:

• Cross Carbon Drag
• Hagane Body (?)
• I-DC4 Braking
• Micro Module Gear
• S A-RB Bearings
• X-Ship

For information on the new Shimano Curado DC reels, please click here.

Best New Saltwater Reel

The Best New Saltwater Reel category was won by Shimano with their reintroduction of the Tekota a Star Drag reel. It looks like they’ve added some corrosion resistance as well as a new handle design and a new anti-fogging lens for their line counter models.

The Shimano Tekota a series feature:

• 3+1 Bearings
• Coreprotect
• MPN-Tek

For more information on the Shimano Tekota a Star Drag please click here.

Best New Fly Reel

The Best New Fly Reel of the year went to Seigler Fly Reels for their introduction of their new lever drag fly reel.   They look to be very nice, but I can’t find a ton of information about them. From what I can tell, these are for big game saltwater use.

For more information on the Seigler Fly Reels, or if you just want to see what a $1,500 fly reel looks  like, click here.

Fishing Combo’s

Best Combo

This years best new Combo went to Lew’s fishing with their new Lew’s Team Custom Black Combo.  These combo look very nice, and sleek with their dark coloring.  If you have a serious bass angler in your life, this might be a nice combo to add to their arsenal.

The Lews Team Custom Black Combo’s feature:

One-piece HM50 Tour Grade graphite blank with Nano technology
American Tackle Microwave guides with Nanoliteinserts
Lew’s custom lightweight graphite skeletal reel seat
Winn Dri-Tac split grip
New Lew’s exclusive VTR System (Vibration Transfer Ring) direct contact with the blank, transferring vibration directly to your hands

For more information on the Lew’s Team Custom Black Combo, please click here.

Best Kids Combo

The winner of this years Best Kids Tackle went to Dude Perfect for their fishing game.  Apparently all kids know who the Dude Perfect guys are.  This little gave looks like the perfect way to get your kids involved in fishing in a fun, interactive way.

Best Fishing Line

This years winner of the Best Fishing Line category went to Power Pro for their new Super Slick V2 Braid.  This braid is pretty darn slick, that is for sure.

For more information on the full lineup of Power Pro lines, click here.

Baits

Now we can get into what every fisherman needs, baits.  These categories cover the basics, and there were some really cool items on display this year.

Best New Freshwater Soft Bait

The best new Freshwater Soft Bait went to Live Target for their Hollow Body Crawfish. These were great looking baits, that will entice some big bass for sure.  They look great, and I’m excited to add these to the arsenal. If you are a jig fisherman, these may become a must.  It doesn’t look like they are available yet, per Live Target anyway, but they should be soon.  Hopefully before the holiday.  Check out this link for more great items from Live Target.

Best New Freshwater Hard Bait

The Best New Freshwater Hard Bait category was won by Westin Baits for their Freddy The Frog top water wake bait. This ultra-realistic bait give a nice top water waking action that entices hungry bass.  If the fisherperson in your life is a top water specialist, this would definitely be a stocking stuffer.

Westin has been known overseas for their realistic patters and swimming actions.  To check out a good selection of their baits, click here.

Best New Saltwater Soft Bait

The Best New Saltwater Soft Bait category was taken by Live Target with their soft Fleeing Shrimp baits.  This bait is perfect for redfish, snook, trout, and many other inshore species.  The ultra-realistic baitew   should entice many a bite.

To check out the entire selection of Live Target baits, click here.

Best New Saltwater Hard Bait

The Best New Saltwater Hard Bait winner was 13 Fishing for the Octopi.  These are really cool looking baits.  Unfortunately, I can’t find any info on them.  I guess Santa will have to wait another year for these guys.

Once you are done with baits, we will step into the Terminal Tackle category.

Terminal Tackle

Best New Terminal Tackle

This category can really encompass a lot of items.  This years Best New Terminal Tackle went to Rapala for the VMC Neko Skirt. These skirts are easily added to your worms or other soft plastics with their unique nail design.   If you are a soft plastic fisherman, the super popular Neko style fishing is ready for you to take advantage of.

To check out the full selection of Rapala VMC Neko Skirts, please click here.

Best Tackle Management

The winner for Best Tackle Management went to the Lure Lock Tackle Box with ElasTack Liner.  These are pretty nice boxes and something that every fisherman needs.  We all have the need to store our items, and it sure is nice to keep moisture out of your lures.

If you are interested in seeing other sizes and the rest of the Lure Lok lineup, please click here.

 

Now for the fisherman that has all of the rods and reels and baits that they can ever need, here are a couple of the other fun categories from ICAST.

 

Best Fly Fishing Accessory

The winner of the Best Fly Fishing Accessory is the YETI Panga Airtight, Waterproof and Submersible Bags.

Now this is a cool item.  We’ve all backpacks, but none that can be fully submersed.  And for the fly fisherman, and heck most any wade fisherman, this is going to be a great item. No need to worry about your car keys, camera, etc., while crawling around on slippery rocks.

Like I said, these are cool!  For more information on the YETI Panga backpack, please click here.

And since we are talking accessories, how about:

Best New Accessory

The Best New Accessory category went to Yeti with their Yeti- Tundra Haul cooler.  This thing is built tough and ready to tackle any situation.  If you have a gear head in your family, or someone who already has way too many coolers, like myself, this might be a nice gift.

The Yeti – Tundra Haul features:

• Never Flat Wheels- A solid, single-piece tire construction that is impact and puncture resistant
• Strong Arm Handle – A durable welded aluminum arm with comfortable grips.  The curved design tracks left or right for heel-friendly towing.
• Rotomolded Construction – Makes it armored to the core and virtually indestructible
• Permafrost Insulation – Pressure injected commercial-grade polyurethane foam in the walls and lid makes sure your ice stays ice.

For more information on the Yeti- Tundra Haul cooler, please click here.

Best Giftware Item

A fun section of ICAST to peruse is the Giftware section.  Lots of cool items and ideas every year.  This years Best Giftware Item went to the Cauldryn Coffee Travel Mug.  Haven’t you ever wanted an App controlled coffee mug that you can even boil your own water in?  Well if you have, this is the one.

This is a pretty nice mug that features:

ALL DAY TEMPERATURE CONTROL: You never have to worry about drinking your coffee or tea at anything less than the perfect temperature ever again. Cauldryn’s battery pack provides power for all day temperature control. You can even plug it in.
SELECT YOUR FAVORITE TEMPERATURE: Cauldryn allows you to choose any temperature between room temp and boiling. Whether you want to drink the perfect cup of coffee, brew your tea, or heat up your soup. Cauldryn is ready when you are.
APP CONTROL: The free Cauldryn app allows you to control your bottle from your phone. It even has convenient one touch options for common tasks like brewing green tea, and cooking freeze dried food.
EASY TO USE CONTROLS: With a simple arrow and LCD screen combo to set the temperature, using the Cauldryn couldn’t be simpler.
READY WHEN YOU ARE: With a rechargeable battery, plug in base, and DC/12V base (optional). Cauldryn is the solution for people on the go.

For more information on the Cauldryn Coffee Travel Mug, please click here.

 

Other than a few super high dollar items, that should just about cover all of this years Best Of Show categories and items.  For the most part all of the items are out in the market and can also be found at the links I have provided.

I hope this helps in making your holiday buying selections a little bit easier for 2018.  If you like this post, please subscribe to Davey’s World.

 

Happy Holidays!

Davey