# ICAST 2026 winners: what the list signals

> The full Best of Category list from the US trade show, with a reading of which categories it signals.

Source: https://luressource.com/opportunities/icast-2026-award-winners/

Direct answer. The full Best of Category list from the US trade show, with a reading of which categories it signals. Rapala's CrushCity took both soft-lure awards - The CEO 21 in freshwater and the IMPOSTER in saltwater - and Rapala reached the podium four times. G-Ratt Baits' Urchin Rig won Terminal Tackle, and BUZBE's Basic Deep Urchin Bait Box won Tackle Management: two urchin-category wins in one year. Key facts. 1) Rapala's CrushCity took both soft-lure awards - The CEO 21 in freshwater and the IMPOSTER in saltwater - and Rapala reached the podium four times. 2) G-Ratt Baits' Urchin Rig won Terminal Tackle, and BUZBE's Basic Deep Urchin Bait Box won Tackle Management: two urchin-category wins in one year. 3) Garmin's LiveScope 2 HD won Electronics, the category that sits behind the live-sonar lure trend. 4) Shimano took Freshwater Reel and Saltwater Hard Lure; Daiwa took Saltwater Reel and Braided Line. 5) Z-Man's ChatterBait Elite EVO HD won Wired & Skirted Lure; the heavy-duty version is described as built to be at least 40% stronger than the platform it replaces. Sources (6). 1) Rapala's CrushCity leads ICAST award winners (full Best of Category list), Angling International, 2026-07-16 — https://angling-international.com/2026/07/16/rapalas-crushcity-leads-icast-award-winners/ 2) Z-Man ChatterBait Elite EVO HD Voted Best Wired & Skirted Lure at ICAST 2026, The Fishing Wire, 2026-07-22 — https://thefishingwire.com/z-man-chatterbait-elite-evo-hd-voted-best-wired-skirted-lure-at-icast-2026/ 3) Rapala Expands Crush City line of Soft Plastics at ICAST 2026, On The Water, 2026-07-21 — https://onthewater.com/rapala-expands-crush-city-line-of-soft-plastics-at-icast-2026 4) Best New Bass Fishing Gear from ICAST 2026, Game & Fish — https://www.gameandfishmag.com/editorial/best-new-bass-fishing-gear-from-icast-2026/555894 5) UN Comtrade — China export statistics under HS 9507, 2023-2024 (retrieved from the official API) — https://comtradeplus.un.org/ 6) Harmonized System heading 9507 (rods, hooks, reels, lures) — US HTS lookup — https://hts.usitc.gov/ ICAST 2026 award winners, and what the list tells a buyer Direct answer The full Best of Category list from the US trade show, with a reading of which categories it signals. Rapala's CrushCity took both soft-lure awards - The CEO 21 in freshwater and the IMPOSTER in saltwater - and Rapala reached the podium four times. G-Ratt Baits' Urchin Rig won Terminal Tackle, and BUZBE's Basic Deep Urchin Bait Box won Tackle Management: two urchin-category wins in one year. Key facts Rapala's CrushCity took both soft-lure awards - The CEO 21 in freshwater and the IMPOSTER in saltwater - and Rapala reached the podium four times. G-Ratt Baits' Urchin Rig won Terminal Tackle, and BUZBE's Basic Deep Urchin Bait Box won Tackle Management: two urchin-category wins in one year. Garmin's LiveScope 2 HD won Electronics, the category that sits behind the live-sonar lure trend. Shimano took Freshwater Reel and Saltwater Hard Lure; Daiwa took Saltwater Reel and Braided Line. Z-Man's ChatterBait Elite EVO HD won Wired & Skirted Lure; the heavy-duty version is described as built to be at least 40% stronger than the platform it replaces. An award list is the trade talking to itself, and it is worth reading precisely because it is not a sales report. ICAST 2026 rewarded soft plastics twice over, gave two categories to the urchin form, handed electronics to live sonar, and found room for ice fishing and for a storage box. Read together, those are the places a factory should expect enquiries in the next two seasons. The trap is treating the list as a shopping list. An award-winning lure is also the product most likely to be protected by a registered design, and copying the photograph is the fastest way to hand a buyer a legal problem. The useful question is what job the product does, and which of the processes behind it a factory can hold a tolerance on. Rapala's CrushCity took both soft-lure awards - The CEO 21 in freshwater and the IMPOSTER in saltwater - and Rapala reached the podium four times. G-Ratt Baits' Urchin Rig won Terminal Tackle, and BUZBE's Basic Deep Urchin Bait Box won Tackle Management: two urchin-category wins in one year. Garmin's LiveScope 2 HD won Electronics, the category that sits behind the live-sonar lure trend. Shimano took Freshwater Reel and Saltwater Hard Lure; Daiwa took Saltwater Reel and Braided Line. Z-Man's ChatterBait Elite EVO HD won Wired & Skirted Lure; the heavy-duty version is described as built to be at least 40% stronger than the platform it replaces. Rapala expanded CrushCity at the same show with the Inspector finesse worm, the Knuckle Bug creature bait and the Salted NedRoll. Where the 2026 awards landed Soft lures both freshwater and saltwater went to one brand Urchin two wins: a rig and a storage box Electronics live sonar, the technique behind the lure trends Ice fishing a storage product, not a lure Read together, these are the places a factory should expect enquiries in the next two seasons. What moves the unit price An award list prices nothing. These are the lines that decide whether a comparable product is economic. Cost driver Why it moves the price How to control it in the order How close the copy has to be A form can be copied; a mould, a mechanism and a finish cannot be copied cheaply. Decide what the product has to do, then specify that - not the photograph. Mechanism complexity Anything with a moving part or a magnetic element is a different factory from a moulded lure. Quote the mechanism as its own line item with its own tolerance. Colourway count at launch Awards are given to a range; more colourways means more changeover. Name the launch count and treat later additions as new orders. Retail pack and card Judge-ready presentation costs more than bulk pack. Quote retail-ready and bulk separately; you may need both. IP position Counsel, design-arounds and tooling changes are real costs before any unit is made. Settle it before tooling, not after the first shipment. ICAST 2026 Best of Category, as published Reproduced from Angling International's report of the New Product Showcase results. Categories are the organiser's, not ours. Category Winner Brand Freshwater Soft Lure CrushCity 'The CEO' 21 Rapala Saltwater Soft Lure CrushCity IMPOSTER Rapala Freshwater Hard Lure Synch Fishing Artisan Wake & Crank 130 American Baitworks Saltwater Hard Lure LEDGERUNNER Shimano Wired & Skirted Lure ChatterBait Elite EVO HD Z-Man Fishing Products Terminal Tackle Urchin Rig G-Ratt Baits Freshwater Rod Triumph Freshwater St. Croix of Park Falls Saltwater Rod BANSHEE-BG Bull Bay Tackle Company Freshwater Reel Curado DC Shimano Saltwater Reel 2026 BQ SW Spinning Reels Daiwa Rod and Reel Combo Rhino 30 Two-piece Spinning Combo Rather Outdoors Braided Fishing Line J-Braid Grand X8 Ocean Splash Daiwa Non-Braided Fishing Line BRWLR Monofilament Seaguar Electronics LiveScope 2 HD Garmin USA Ice Fishing Ice Rod Locker Evolution Fishing Tackle Management Basic Deep Urchin Bait Box BUZBE Custom Tackle Components Magnetic Launch Pad BUZBE Kids' Tackle Bottomland Spincast Combo Zebco Reading the list as a sourcing signal An award is a design judgement by retailers and press. It is not a sales figure, and the two are not the same. What the list shows What it is evidence of What it is not evidence of Two soft-lure wins for one brand Range depth in soft plastics is rewarded That soft plastics outsell everything else Two urchin-category wins The urchin form became a category, not a single SKU That the form will still be selling in 2028 Electronics win for live sonar The technique behind live-sonar lure design is mainstream Anything about which lures those anglers buy Terminal tackle and components wins Accessories are judged on their own merit The size of the accessory market Questions buyers ask about icast 2026 award winners, and what the list tells a buyer Each question has its own page, so it can be found and cited on its own. What is ICAST? The largest US sportfishing trade show, run by the American Sportfishing Association, with a New Product Showcase in which retailers and press vote Best of Category awards. Who won the most at ICAST 2026? Rapala reached the podium four times, including both soft-lure categories with CrushCity baits. Which category appeared twice from one trend? Urchin. Does an award mean the product will sell? No. How should a buyer use this list? As a shortlist of categories to examine, not a list of products to copy. Can a Chinese factory make award-comparable products? For moulded lures, terminal tackle and storage, usually yes - those are established processes. What to send for a comparable quote Fields a factory needs before the answer is a quotation rather than a guess. Field Why it changes the price Which award category the product competes in The categories are the organiser's, and they map onto different factory capabilities Whether the design is protected Award-winning products are the ones most likely to carry registered designs and trade dress Time to a comparable product How long the factory needs to reach a similar form from a specification rather than from a sample Material and process Injection, wire forming, electronics or textile - four different supply chains Compliance market A US award implies US retail expectations, not EU ones Pack format Retail presentation is part of what was judged Private label or stock Cost and lead time Volume basis Units, and the basis on which the price holds Colourway count Award products usually ship in a defined range, not an open palette Launch window Award timing sets the retail calendar the product has to hit What to agree in writing, and the tolerance to name The award list changes what a buyer wants. It changes nothing about how a repeat order is controlled. Field What the order has to state Tolerance or standard to name Function, not appearance The behaviour the product must perform State it as a test the factory can run and record Mechanism action How the moving part has to behave Name the force or travel and a band Colour against the approved sample The approved sample and the checking light State the light source Pack presentation The retail format and its card or box Name the artwork version; artwork drift is the most common retail rejection Launch date The date the goods must be ready State a date and a fallback date; award-timed ranges cannot slip What we have not verified Sales volumes for any award-winning product: we publish no figure, and none was published by the award organiser. Price band: this brief is a market list, so we state no band. We have not tested any award-winning product ourselves; the list is reproduced from published reporting. Where this record leads The product catalogue - sampled listings with reference prices and MOQ per listing. Specification builder - turn these fields into a spec sheet you can send. Reference price bands - the band this record sits in, with its unit stated. The sourcing playbook - the process these questions sit inside. US and EU compliance - what has to be true before the shipment clears. Send a specification All briefs Sources 6 cited Rapala's CrushCity leads ICAST award winners (full Best of Category list), Angling International, 2026-07-16 Z-Man ChatterBait Elite EVO HD Voted Best Wired & Skirted Lure at ICAST 2026, The Fishing Wire, 2026-07-22 Rapala Expands Crush City line of Soft Plastics at ICAST 2026, On The Water, 2026-07-21 Best New Bass Fishing Gear from ICAST 2026, Game & Fish UN Comtrade — China export statistics under HS 9507, 2023-2024 (retrieved from the official API) Harmonized System heading 9507 (rods, hooks, reels, lures) — US HTS lookup Every figure on this page traces to one of these. The same list is declared in the page structured data (schema.org citation) and in the Markdown twin. Updated 2026-09-21 Scope Fishing tackle sourcing Sources 6 cited Was this page useful? Yes, useful Not really Opportunities · Market data What the 2026 US participation report means for a tackle order All briefs (31) →