IFTD Day One
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Jay Malyon and I drove down from Atlanta yesterday morning. It was about 7 hours straight down to Orlando and then it felt like another 7 once we got here.
This has been a pretty good show. It’s well attended thanks partly to its integration with ICAST, the conventional tackle convention. The fly section is in a bit of a ghetto but it seems to have the most activity–and certainly the most free beer–at this show.
We’ve seen some great new product which I’ll be discussing in the Gear Blog over the next few days and weeks. Some highlights have been the very attractive new sealed drag reel from Abel, the Sage SALT, the Scott Tidal (a midmarket saltwater rod that is a really great caster), Patagonia’s awesome women’s line, a lot of sweet new bags from Umpqua of all people, and the Yeti Hopper.
There’s a lot more to see than that, but overall this has been one of the better accessory/bag years that I can recall, even if there’s not as much on the rod front to discuss. It looks like Ross’s partnership with Abel is going to really work well. Abel’s president Don Swanson was super friendly and explained that the Gunnison will in fact mate with the old spools/frames. The goal is for the San Miguel to do the same when it is rereleased in October.
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Thanks Zach & Jay.
Any new personal watercraft around ?
Float tubes ect ?www.dsaphoto.com
A picture is thousand words that takes less than a second while a thousand words is a picture that takes a month.
I am a big Abel fan and surprised there was not more press about the release of a non-cork reel. Also that they did not win any awards which makes me wonder about the design.
Hey man –
The reels had a new porting design which was quite attractive. The center arbor drag knob is painted Abel style in cool fish skin prints while the reels are various solid colors. The drag was strong, a sealed stacked washer style similar to Nautilus and Hatch’s cores. No word on price yet but I suspect it will be quite steep: $800-900 would be no surprise.
I am very excited about the Ross/Abel partnership. It looks like they are going to really do nice things together.
Zach
Zack,
That price range sounds crazy, not sure there is a market for that. I was wondering how they would price versus theSuper Series to maintain the integrity of that line. Seems odd they were they not disclosing price, of course make sense if it will be as outrageous as you have stated.
I think a $500 disc drag Abel would dominate the market!
ChrisZ
Zach,
Good to finally meet you. You looked hard at work from casting rods to chatting up at booths. Looking forward to seeing what you post of the 2015 gear. The IFTD section had so much more of a sense of community, camaraderie, and friendship as compared to the ICAST section. I’m going to rent a rascal for next year. Too much walking.
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