Jul 15, 2026 · 20 min · 9 segments
What does it actually take to succeed at ICAST as a fishing brand? In this episode of our Best On Tour ICAST series, we sit down with Missile Baits owner and Elite Series pro John Crews to break…
Jon CrewsGuestJordanHostGive us a rundown of how you have been preparing for ICAST and, uh, what you are looking to accomplish this year.
But yeah, I tell you, ICAST is, is very hectic for, for me because there's, there's so much planning that goes into it because we, we plan almost all year and then, like, the, the couple weeks leading up to it immediately preceding ICAST are, are really kind of stressful because I...
There, like, one of the new products we're just trying to get enough of them to actually be able to show.
Uh, one of the other new products we finally got in the color sample, so it was, like, a huge relief.
Uh, we just got today, we just got more new color samples in of, of a different product because we have a, we have a number of releases, uh, coming this year at Missile Baits.
That thing has just been, been kinda wild, been awesome to see how, how well it's been received by anglers and, and, you know, like, some tackle shops have kinda slow played it and then now they're realizing that they're missing it and they're jumping onto it.
But hopefully we have a couple of these other products that are gonna do the same thing.
It's this, this thing I found online to be able to have a, a private meeting room, and it works out great and it's-- and it really turned into a kind of a conversation piece because it's like a actual stable room, but then you just break it all down and put it on two pallets and, and carry it, carry it back home.
So yeah, there's a lot of different, uh, aspects to it and, you know, and then there's getting everything lined up for the new product showcase, making sure that you utilize your, your ICAST properly because, you know, for the first six or seven years that Missile Baits went to ICAST, I was more in the angler media relations role, and we had minimal sales as a result of ICAST.
That first, that first year we had a dedicated salesperson at ICAST, we sold more than we did in all seven years combined because all they were doing is sitting at-- sitting dealers down and saying, "Hey, what would you like? How many of these you want? How many of those you want? Uh, what do you want?" Just had a dedicated person to just do that nonstop and, uh, and that's kinda been the, the MO for, for at least one or two people at ICAST, and I still wear, you know, kinda all of the hats and help line up the meetings and now with the, the, uh, technology, with the Google, uh, Calendar, you can, you can just set up your, your days to where they're, they're jammed up.
But man, it's, uh, yeah, there's a lot of, lot of stuff going on there and, uh, I just tell people that, that have anything to say about ICAST, good, bad, or indifferent, ICAST is all about what you make it as far as from a company perspective.
If you go in there and you stand around with your hands in your pockets and you're like, "Oh my God, this is-- I hate being here," that's exactly what you're gonna get out of ICAST.
But if you go in there with the intention of any dealer that walks by the booth, we're gonna calf rope them, set them in a seat, tie them down for a minute, ask them, show them all the new stuff, say, "How many you want of these? How many you want of these? How many you want?" Like, we try to execute the sale portion of it and, and, and explain what the products do.
You do that at ICAST, uh, you drive home, you know, very happy and satisfied because you know that you have, you know, a whole laundry list of, of orders to, uh, to input into the computer when you get back to the office.
Give us a rundown of how you have been preparing for ICAST and, uh, what you are looking to accomplish this year.
But yeah, I tell you, ICAST is, is very hectic for, for me because there's, there's so much planning that goes into it because we, we plan almost all year and then, like, the, the couple weeks leading up to it immediately preceding ICAST are, are really kind of stressful because I...
There, like, one of the new products we're just trying to get enough of them to actually be able to show.
Uh, one of the other new products we finally got in the color sample, so it was, like, a huge relief.
Uh, we just got today, we just got more new color samples in of, of a different product because we have a, we have a number of releases, uh, coming this year at Missile Baits.
That thing has just been, been kinda wild, been awesome to see how, how well it's been received by anglers and, and, you know, like, some tackle shops have kinda slow played it and then now they're realizing that they're missing it and they're jumping onto it.
But hopefully we have a couple of these other products that are gonna do the same thing.
It's this, this thing I found online to be able to have a, a private meeting room, and it works out great and it's-- and it really turned into a kind of a conversation piece because it's like a actual stable room, but then you just break it all down and put it on two pallets and, and carry it, carry it back home.
So yeah, there's a lot of different, uh, aspects to it and, you know, and then there's getting everything lined up for the new product showcase, making sure that you utilize your, your ICAST properly because, you know, for the first six or seven years that Missile Baits went to ICAST, I was more in the angler media relations role, and we had minimal sales as a result of ICAST.
That first, that first year we had a dedicated salesperson at ICAST, we sold more than we did in all seven years combined because all they were doing is sitting at-- sitting dealers down and saying, "Hey, what would you like? How many of these you want? How many of those you want? Uh, what do you want?" Just had a dedicated person to just do that nonstop and, uh, and that's kinda been the, the MO for, for at least one or two people at ICAST, and I still wear, you know, kinda all of the hats and help line up the meetings and now with the, the, uh, technology, with the Google, uh, Calendar, you can, you can just set up your, your days to where they're, they're jammed up.
But man, it's, uh, yeah, there's a lot of, lot of stuff going on there and, uh, I just tell people that, that have anything to say about ICAST, good, bad, or indifferent, ICAST is all about what you make it as far as from a company perspective.
If you go in there and you stand around with your hands in your pockets and you're like, "Oh my God, this is-- I hate being here," that's exactly what you're gonna get out of ICAST.
But if you go in there with the intention of any dealer that walks by the booth, we're gonna calf rope them, set them in a seat, tie them down for a minute, ask them, show them all the new stuff, say, "How many you want of these? How many you want of these? How many you want?" Like, we try to execute the sale portion of it and, and, and explain what the products do.
You do that at ICAST, uh, you drive home, you know, very happy and satisfied because you know that you have, you know, a whole laundry list of, of orders to, uh, to input into the computer when you get back to the office.
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