Edison Saltwater Show

[Gerry Zagorski]

Spent the afternoon with Joe Santiago at the Saltwater show on Friday and it was packed. Took me 20 mins to find a parking space.. The big reel manufacturers were there Avet, Daiwa, Penn and Shimano so a good way to get your hands on all the reels. A lot of rod vendors too like Jigging World, JS USA, Kevin Bogan, and many other custom builders.

Great seeing Bob Bogan and Chris Lido from the Gambler, Nick Valentinni and Kris Black from Avet, Nick Cicero from Folsom, Jim Hutchinson from the Fishermen, Chris and Rich Bizzari at the Daiwa both, Cody from Jersey Nutz Charters and Mike from Lady K Charters. Also great to see some fishing friends Bobby Thomas, Davey 2 Poles, Scott Kiss and Sarah Barton.

A lot of buzz about the NLBN (No Live Bait Needed) paddle tail lures so I picked up some 3 inch for freshwater and 5 inch for the salt. If you buy 3 packages from any show vendor, go by the NLBN booth and get the 4th package free.

[John D.]

Just got back myself today (Sat) and it was packed. Got some new toys and got to see the new Stella 10000 at the Shimano booth. I think they are released in May or June.

[Gerry Zagorski]

I checked out the Vanford which replaced the Stradic CI4 Plus annd looks like a nice reel and Twin Power which is $100 more. The Stella’s are way too Rich for my blood.

I was looking at the Daiwa low profiles the Lexa 300h looks nice and at $220 and the new Saltiga with spool lock was nice but a little too heavy for the pole I was going to match it up with and it’s $200 more.

I really liked the smaller sized Avet SX and SXJ raptors and the LX and JX would be great for inshore trolling.

Lots of over seas vendors fearful of the tarrifs but no price increases for now..

[Jigman13]

Re: tariffs, it's coming very soon. Jigging World sent an email out about price increases coming for van staal products. I'm sure others will follow suit.

I was at the show yesterday. Very impressed with the new rods jigging world is rolling out. They have a new, retro conventional spun with a carbon fiber + glass blend. Wildly parabolic, light and strong. Felt like a fluke winner!

Also finally got my hands on the Daiwa lever drag and Okuma Alejos lever drag. While not true Talica contenders, they're right up there for tuna chunking and felt well-machined from a gear standpoint.

NLBN was def buzzing, but the JYG booth had an awesome deal for their paddletails and split tails. They're jighead locking mechanism was quite innovative. I was impressed with their 3" all the way to 9", all with appropriately sized jig heads down to 1/8 oz to 4 oz.

For once, I didn't drop a mortgage payment at the show lol... I left with some soft plastics, jig heads, tog jigs and a substantial stockpile of pickles!

[Gerry Zagorski]

Originally Posted by Jigman13

Re: tariffs, it's coming very soon. Jigging World sent an email out about price increases coming for van staal products. I'm sure others will follow suit.

I was at the show yesterday. Very impressed with the new rods jigging world is rolling out. They have a new, retro conventional spun with a carbon fiber + glass blend. Wildly parabolic, light and strong. Felt like a fluke winner!

Also finally got my hands on the Daiwa lever drag and Okuma Alejos lever drag. While not true Talica contenders, they're right up there for tuna chunking and felt well-machined from a gear standpoint.

NLBN was def buzzing, but the JYG booth had an awesome deal for their paddletails and split tails. They're jighead locking mechanism was quite innovative. I was impressed with their 3" all the way to 9", all with appropriately sized jig heads down to 1/8 oz to 4 oz.

For once, I didn't drop a mortgage payment at the show lol... I left with some soft plastics, jig heads, tog jigs and a substantial stockpile of pickles!

I heard the same about the coming tarrifs from some of the manufacturers as well.. Seems like there will be a 20 to 30% price increase depending on the country of origin...