Like many people who travelled home from ICAST during the nationwide airline disruptions, I spent more time than I had anticipated in the Orlando International Airport. Fortunately, our delay wasn’t as bad as other people’s and, after our original connecting flight was cancelled, my wife and I barely made it onto another one that got us home to Arkansas.
Now that it’s all behind me, I’ve had time to reflect on the experience. Even though the show seemed a little lighter than it had been in previous years, my overall impression of the event was good.
The fun started on Monday with the Lunkers & Bunkers Golf Tournament. That set the mood for a good week that saw my sponsor Grundens presenting live music in their booth and then winning the Warm Weather Technical Apparel category with their Tough Sun Masked Hoodie.
It feels good seeing my sponsors succeed, because they put in a lot of hard work, as do I. It makes my job easier to promote sponsors that are putting out good products. When I have confidence in the product, it makes my job easier.
As a pro, you want to have people around you with products that give you confidence on the water. That’s so important in this sport, so I’m thankful to represent the companies that I do.
The most unique thing I saw at ICAST was the Bajio sunglasses booth — they had one dude giving haircuts and one dude giving tattoos. I thought that was interesting.
I don’t have any tattoos, but I have a brand. I did some stupid stuff in high school and college, and one of my buddies had a branding iron with a ‘C.’ So, of course I got that branded on my chest — for my last name.
I haven’t had one since then. I did a podcast with Dave Mercer, and we discussed my personal logo that uses my initials with a hook at the end of the J. I told Dave that if I ever win the Classic, he’ll brand me with that logo.
As far as celebrities, I know we had several famous people from the fishing industry in attendance, but when I found out actor Lucas Black was there I wanted to go introduce myself. I finally saw him, but he was eating lunch and I didn’t want to disturb him.
It was still nice to see him there. He’s a good Christian guy and kind of a Hollywood outlier.
It was also good to see social media star Rasheen Bailey of Hood Fishing. He’s a good guy, and he does a lot of positive stuff in this industry.
That’s what we need. We need to incorporate a lot of these celebrities who like fishing. I think it’ll be good for the sport.
I always love going to ICAST. I love seeing all the new products and developments and the creativity from everyone in the fishing industry. It’s a fun time, but it’s also an opportunity to interact with other fishermen.
Most of us guys go to these tournaments, and it’s all so serious. The ICAST week is nice because it allows us to go out to dinner and spend some time with other anglers in a more relaxed setting. I think that’s a nice balance.
