With only 12 days to go until IFTD / ICAST, the release of new fly fishing and kayak fishing products is gaining momentum. The latest release comes from St. Croix Rods. Available in September of 2018, the new Mojo Trout series will consist of 11 new beautiful and dutiful 2-piece and 4-piece models from 6-feet to 9-feet in length, covering 2-weight to 7-weight. The blank will be built on SCR's high-modulus SCIII graphite, and will be targeted at a price point "not to break the bank".
Another new product getting much buzz in advance of the trade show is Flymen Fishing Company's new soft-body Surface Seducer Double Barrel Popper. The original SSDD Bug came out last summer and won Best of Show (Flies category) at IFTD. Incidently, it caught the most bass on the pond at the IFTD Demo Day of any flies used. Well, Flymen has improved the bug by switching from a hard-epoxy coating to a flexible coating. The company even has a video out where the body is tested with a hammer (ouch!) and still holds up!
EFTTEX, the European Fishing Tackle Trade Exposition, is this week and several fly companies have introduced new products. However EFTTEX is far more secretive than IFTD / ICAST and only a few scraps of information can be found. What we have learned is that TFO, Winston and Hardy all have new rod series. We did know of the TFO Finesse being upgraded to a more powerful blank, but retaining the classic action.