TW's Staff Picks for ICAST 2025

As excitement and anticipation build for this year’s 2025 iCast show, the TW Staff is always curious to see the latest innovations in tackle, gear, and accessories from some of the most notable manufacturers in the bass fishing industry. Year after year, iCast continues to be the premier sportfishing tradeshow and the ultimate gathering of new bass fishing products, industry leaders, and professional anglers. To help wade through the new rods, reels, line, baits, electronics, and more, this article highlights the TW Staff’s ‘best’ iCast products by type and showcases the standouts in each category.

Brimming with the latest technologies from St. Croix, the all-new American-made Legend X2 Rods represent the pinnacle of freshwater performance with extreme sensitivity, excellent balance, and an ergonomic feel. Crafted from a proprietary SCVII blank material, the Legend X2 rods are the lightest ever made by St. Croix, and include titanium guides, a carbon fiber reel, VEIL scrim, and an electrostatically applied finish. Highlighted by a featherlight feel and machined cork TRIGON handle type, the St. Croix Legend X2 Casting and Spinning Rods push the boundaries for anglers who demand the ultimate performance on the water.

A long-standing favorite among TW staff members, the all-new Shimano Curado 150 M Casting Reel features an ultra light and thin construction to maximize casting distance, efficiency, and performance with lightweight lures. Featuring Shimano’s exclusive SVS Infinity braking system for precision casting performance, this reel allows you to make finely tuned changes to the braking system when switching lures or adapting to changing conditions. With a palmable 150-size frame, the Shimano Curado 150 M Casting Reel extends the workhorse legacy of Curado casting reels with a high-quality, performance-driven design that’s optimized for casting lightweight lures.

Leveraging Daiwa's comprehensive system of AIRDRIVE technologies, the Daiwa Ballistic MQ LT Spinning Reel redefines strength, balance, and weight distribution to provide versatility for targeting inshore gamefish or the biggest bass in your lake! Built to withstand the rigors of harsh marine environments, the Ballistic MQ LT Spinning Reel features an MQ body to amplify rigidity and corrosion-resistance with MAGSEAL technology to prevent water intrusion and ensure performance in demanding conditions. Including Daiwa's new Tough DigiGear for ultimate gear precision and rotational smoothness, the Daiwa Ballistic MQ LT Spinning Reel delivers an elite combination of innovative design, premium materials, and advanced technology.

Upgrading the legendary Sneaky Pete Glide Bait with professional-grade specifications, the G-Ratt Steve Kennedy Glide Baits glide smoothly side-to-side with a simple rod twitch or can be reeled aggressively and paused for erratic baitfish action. Designed in collaboration with legendary swimbait angler Steve Kennedy, this premium swimbait suspends naturally with an extremely slow rate of fall, suspending near the surface of the water with the ability to be twitched down to deeper depths like a jerkbait. Available in a variety of lifelike color patterns inspired by Steve Kennedy, the G-Ratt Steve Kennedy Glide Bait enhances a proven fish-catching design with professional-grade specifications to perform when it matters most.

Designed for superior longevity and value in the dice bait category, the Z-Man Fuzzy Series features three skirt impregnated bait profiles that are ready to deliver big results in tough conditions. Built using Z-Man’s renowned 10X Tough Elaztech plastic for extreme durability, anglers will appreciate an affordable dice bait option that requires no special rigging or modifications to withstand abuse, unlike expensive JDM alternatives. The 12-sided dodecahedron shape of the Z-Man Fuzzy Nuggetz allows for versatile rigging options, the Z-Man Fuzzy Bugz features a unique segmented invertebrate profile body, and the Fuzzy TRD endows the classic TRD shape with quivering silicone appendages.

Featuring a patent-pending MagTap magnetic rattle chamber, the Strike King Clickin Chicken emits a low-pitched clicking sound during the retrieve to attract nearby fish and trigger explosive topwater bites. Built with a unique steel-tail construction that churns water with every turn of the reel handle, the Clickin Chicken creates more flash than traditional plopping topwater baits to catch the eye of fish waiting to ambush their prey. Available in a standard 4-inch and a Bitsy 3-inch size, the Strike King Clickin Chicken is an innovative topwater plopper that’s perfect for triggering aggressive strikes from finicky and pressured fish.

An all-new soft bait from Yamamoto that could quickly become your new favorite creature bait, the Yamamoto Yama Bug is an excellent choice whether you’re Texas-rigging open water or flipping and pitching into dense shoreline cover. Crafted using a custom Yamamoto soft plastic formula that provides the ideal combination of softness and durability, the Yama Bug has a thick ribbed body that conceals the hook point for a highly weedless presentation around snag-ridden cover. Built to pique the interest of fish who have seen tons of craw imitations, the Yamamoto Yama Bug includes large arms with grooved edges for heavy flapping action and rear-facing legs that shake and quicker with minimal input.

Built to enhance the action and overall performance of soft plastic jerkbaits, the VMC Redline Series Swivel Fluke Hook includes a stainless-steel swivel to increase freedom of movement and greatly reduce line twists. Leveraging VMC’s exclusive super-slick PTFE coating for rapid hook penetration, the VMC Redline series boasts a powerful vanadium steel construction that provides exceptional strength and won’t flex under heavy hooksets. Finished with an innovative straight-point mono bait keeper, the VMC Redline Fluke Hook extends the life of your soft plastics when fishing through heavy cover or going through numbers of fish.

A convenient storage accessory to keep on your boat for storing spools of fishing line, the Evolution Fishing Linemaster Bulk Spool Bag prevents tangled lines and makes respooling faster than ever while you’re out on the water. Featuring an innovative design that allows anglers to keep each spool contained within the bag, the Evolution Fishing Linemaster Bulk Spool Bag doubles as a spooling assistant while keeping all of your line in one convenient and easy-to-access location.

Expanding your range of presentations with bait finesse tackle, the Z-Man Micro Max Chatterbait is an ultra-compact bladed jig that’s perfect for high-pressure fishing situations that call for light line and a smaller, more subtle presentation. Built with Z-Man’s famous hex-shaped Chatterblade and direct head-to-blade connection, the Micro Mini Max echoes the same vibration, sound, and erratic action as the original, but on a higher frequency scale and ultra-compact profile. A lure the bait finesse community has been requesting for a long time, we expect the Z-Man Micro Max Chatterbait to continue the undeniable fish-catching legacy of the Z-Man Chatterbait and find its way into the arsenal of bait-finesse anglers throughout the country.

Optimized for use with glidebaits, swimbaits, and oversized topwaters, the Sunline Big Bait FC Fluorocarbon offers dynamic shock absorption to prevent breakoffs from casting heavy lures and aggressive strikes from trophy fish. Sunline Big Bait FC features a 100% fluorocarbon construction to completely conceal its presence underwater and offers incredible tensile and abrasion strength for anglers who are dragging bottom or fishing around heavy cover. Treated to ensure high surface slickness for long-distance castability, the Sunline Big Bait FC Fluorocarbon has all the best attributes you need to target the biggest bass in the lake.