The annual New Product Showcase, sponsored by Fishing Tackle Retailer, is a microcosm of the greater ICAST tradeshow, offering manufacturers the opportunity to display their most significant new products while affording media members the chance to view them in one efficient space and cast their votes for the best new products in 24 distinct categories.

“I congratulate all of the winners and everyone who participated in the New Product Showcase,” says ASA President and CEO, Mike Nussman. “The creativity and ingenuity that exists within our member companies adds excitement and discovery to the adventure of fishing."Participation and competition in this year’s New Product Showcase was especially fierce, something which is sure to benefit anglers when these exciting new products become available for purchase in the coming weeks and months.

And at least one of them will undoubtedly save lives.One exciting new product floated above all others, rising to the top in the 2016 New Product Showcase’s crowded Technical Apparel category. Frabill, makers of trusted gear for anglers since 1938, earned top honors in the category with their all-new I-Float Suit, an innovative set of cold-weather outerwear (jacketand bibs) designed for ice-fishing, but highly appealing (and potentially life-saving) in any cold-water fishing scenario.So how does a piece of ice-fishing apparel attract so much attention from the greater global sportfishing community? Well, the new I-Float Suit is an exceptionally engineered, ultra-functional and highly comfortable piece of cold-weather technical apparel, to be certain, but the real kicker is that the I-Float Jacket is certified by the U.S. Coast Guard as an approved Personal Flotation Device (PFD) – an accomplishment that took several years of intensive research, engineering, manufacturing and close communication with the Coast Guard to achieve. The I-Float Bib is not U.S. Coast Guard certified, but compliments the Jacket by providing additional flotation that elevates the legs, reduces fatigue, and greatly assists in self-rescue.