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Ivan Seurattan stood on the banks of a Florida pond, surrounded by the sportfishing kingdom.
The banks in front of him bustled with the whir of brand-new fishing reels. The waters beyond them rippled from the wakes of brand-new fishing kayaks. And all along the shoreline, a village of manufacturers set up shop to showcase new products and make new connections at ICAST 2025.
Each July, the business world of sportfishing converges at ICAST, a sprawling convention that regularly fills both the inside and outside of the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, while drawing between 12,000 and 15,000 attendees.
Hundreds of manufacturers set up booths ranging from the gargantuan to the diminutive. Inside, they showcase new products ranging from marine electronics and artificial lures to personal watercraft and apparel. Wholesalers and distributors come to ICAST to peruse the seemingly endless gallery of new stock. And savvy retailers like Seurattan (main image, centre) come to build relationships and strike handshake deals with manufacturers that can’t be found anywhere else.
“We are an indoor and outdoor store,” Seurattan says. “We do everything from electrical hardware to hunting and fishing, so we sell everything, and we import a lot of fishing products.”
Without a doubt, ICAST is the largest gathering of sportfishing professionals on the planet. And for tackle dealers like Seurattan, the show is an unmissable opportunity to make more money. Seurattan attended his first ICAST three years ago. Since then, he’s grown his company’s presence and made attending ICAST a yearly goal.
Three thousand kilometres from their tackle store in Trinidad, Seurattan and his three-man team are on-site at ICAST On the Water Demo Day to scout for more sales. “When you come to a trade show, you see new products firsthand,” Seurattan says. “When you see those products, it gives you an advantage because you can learn about new items that you can show to your customers, and you can get a lot of new ideas also.”
Suerattan says the sportfishing scene in Trinidad is experiencing a boom. Interest has never been higher in recreational fishing, from bank fishing to offshore big game expeditions. Back home, he has a hungry customer base yearning for new tackle and new apparel to feed their thirst for life on the water.
Steps away from his team, one of Seurattan’s most critical business partners, Garmin, has set up shop along the shoreline. There, a team of around a dozen Garmin product designers, sales representatives and marketing professionals are giving ICAST attendees the opportunity to test a brand-new kayak trolling motor on the water.
“We get a lot of products from Garmin,” adds Seurattan, watching the scene unfold. “So we come here to look for new products not only from them but from all of the booths.” Seurattan is not alone. While ICAST On the Water Demo Day serves as an unofficial yearly kick-off event for the trade show, the show floor itself beckons. For the better part of a week, the men from Trinidad joined more than 12,000 attendees from 78 nations on their quest to bring new products to store shelves and to put those products into the hands of customers.
While ICAST is well-known as the best place on Earth to see new fishing products in person each year, the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) has spent decades expanding events outside of the show to deliver a full week’s worth of value for attendees. While show hours are filled with handshakes, spreadsheets and business meetings, mornings bring bass fishing and golf tournaments, keynote speakers and C-suite-worthy business breakfasts into the fold.
After hours, ICAST weeks shift into high gear with evenings filled with live music, award presentations and both formal and informal parties that spill out from the show floor into the Orlando night. And the city itself is a trip-worthy destination. Not only is it the home of Disney World and Universal Studios, Orlando is a truly international U.S. city that welcomes more than 70 million tourists each year.
It is situated at the epicenter of some of the best fishing in North America, within a short drive of opportunities to boat legendary largemouth bass, tarpon, snook and redfish.
With direct flights to Orlando from destinations like London, Amsterdam, Madrid, Lima, Sao Paulo and Dubai, and a new high-speed rail connection to Miami, traveling to ICAST has never been easier. Already, early-bird benefits for exhibitors and attendees are now available for registration at ICASTFishing.org. This year, ICAST is scheduled to return to the Orlando Convention Center from July 14th to 17th, 2026.
Main picture: Ivan Seurattan (centre) attended his first ICAST three years ago and says the long-haul trip is worth every dollar.
