New & Noteworthy Fishing Gear: The Ebb and Flow of Gamechangers

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EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a special edition of New & Noteworthy that appeared in our April 2025 50th Anniversary Edition of In-Fisherman magazine.

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Gamechanger: An event, idea, procedure or product that affects a significant shift in a current manner of thinking.

In the fishing industry, the term “gamechanger” gets tossed around too much. In fact, over my 20-year career, I’d suggest there’s only been half a dozen or so products that indeed truly changed the game. It would be easy to look back over the last 50 to 60 years and find fishing products—or inventions—that could be considered gamechangers of their time. As you’d probably expect, the farther down the timeline we go, the rarer such an occurrence becomes. There have been a few recently, though, that have indeed changed the game.

Once a product has cleared most of the engineer’s testing processes, professional anglers and guides associated within a brand’s pro staff are outfitted with the product for intense real-world testing, especially on the top tournament trails. Nobody is harder on equipment than pros, and for any piece of equipment to survive a full season in an ultra-rigorous environment is considered a successful product ready for the mainstream consumer.

Each year at ICAST, the industry’s annual tradeshow, manufacturers, pro anglers, media folks, and anyone that has some sort of professional stake in the fishing business come together to preview and experience those same new products that are headed to retailers in coming months. After months and even years, it’s become quite a production that includes press conferences, unveilings, live social-media feeds, photographers, videographers, writers, and even a late-afternoon keg of beer to attract even more attention.

Unfortunately, there are gimmicks. To further the problem, many of the gimmickiest lures or products often garner the most attention and even win the coveted Best of Show awards, which only challenges existing and future relevancy of more worthy products. More applicable or better products should have received more exposure, but ultimately were cheated out of the spotlight because something cute caught a writer’s eye.

Continued Relevancy

Certain elements within the fishing space generally stay the same year to year, while others must advance at least once annually to remain relevant. For example, you may see slight variations to lures like spinnerbait head shape, the number of blades, style of blades or combination, or plastic profiles with added appendages, improved HD realism, and durability, but for the most part they perform the same. Whereas all forms of electronics must make sizable developments regularly to maintain consumer interest.

The competition doesn’t allow for complacency—if fishing electronics brands don’t maintain continued relevancy, they simply are left behind. This presents tremendous pressure on engineers, brand managers, and pro staff to make quality advancements in short order. Fishfinders, trolling motors, and related firmware and accessories carry the highest expectations each year, and they’re the most expensive products to own. Not to mention they require the most attention and effort to maintain.

Rods and reels, however, offer a unique perspective on relevancy and industry direction—not to mention an encouraging bright spot. There was a day when there were a couple of very expensive brands, and then everybody else. Now, most brands are up to snuff,  complete with various lines at different price points offering technique-specific actions that help anglers present baits accurately.

As far as price is concerned, rods and reels seem to ebb and flow every 4 to 5 years. Manufacturers have a tendency to kick out a high-end rod in the $400 to $600 range, it won’t sell very well, then the next year they reinvest in rods ranging in the $75 to $180 range, and they sell like crazy, especially if there’s a popular pro attached to the R&D team/pro staff.

Prices

Speaking of prices, competition and market demand call the shots. Some products are certainly very expensive, but market saturation to meet demand often forces prices down. Take lithium batteries as an example. The first brands that jumped into the lithium game were selling batteries at very expensive prices, and boat owners were not hesitating. A few years into the craze and there are now fully functional batteries at much more reasonable prices, however, you do see brands getting out of the battery game after only a couple years.

Inflation and demand drive prices up, but there also comes a point where consumers refuse to overpay. As a result, manufactures compete for business and eventually meet consumers’ demand, even when it comes to prices. Sometimes it pays to wait.

Innovation

Bottom line is, necessity drives innovation. Most anglers want to become the best they can be—after all, good products only enhance performance. We are inundated with so much new stuff every year, it’s hard to follow. Understanding what you need next or how to recognize and keep up with trends begins with knowing where things came from to begin with.

Knowing the difference between a gamechanger and an innovation helps you make a sound decision the next time you spend your hard-earned money on a new toy. Below is my list of what I consider important inventions, innovations, and gamechangers that are indeed noteworthy. Other anglers would likely identify some other noteworthy products introduced over the years. What would your list look like?

Born-On Dates (GC = Gamechanger; IN = Innovation)

• 1934: O. G. Schmidt invented the electric trolling motor in North Dakota. (GC)
• 1936: Lauri Rapala introduced the legendary Original Floating Rapala. (GC)
• 1959: Lowrance “Little Green Box” introduced; aka FISH-LO-K-TOR. (GC)

• 1947: MotorGuide started operations; ceased production in 2024. (IN)
• 1960: Vexilar introduced the legendary “flasher.” (IN)
• 1969: W. L. Gore and Associates introduced the waterproof, breathable fabric membrane GORE-TEX. (GC)
• 1971: Humminbird is founded by Tom Mann in Eufaula, Alabama. (GC)
• 1971: Japanese company Kureha Corp. invented fluorocarbon fishing line. (GC)
• 1975: Fenwick introduced the Flippin’ Stick with legendary bass angler Dee Thomas. (IN)
• 1975: Ron and Al Lindner introduced In-Fisherman magazine. (GC)
• 1975: Humminbird introduced Super Sixty as the first waterproof depth sounder. (IN)
• 1982: G. Loomis Rods introduced and remains a standard-setting rod still today. (IN)
• 1988: Berkley scientists invented scent-infused soft plastics known as PowerBait. (GC)
• 1991: Shimano Calcutta round baitcasting reel features one-piece aluminum frame. (IN)
• 1992: LakeMaster founded by Mike Wood, later acquired by Johnson Outdoors in 2011. (GC)
• 1997: Aqua-Vu Underwater Viewing System invented by Jeff Zernov. (IN)
• 1998: John Oliverio designed Power-Pole shallow-water anchors. (GC)
• 2004: Ronny Davis introduced the ChatterBait. (GC)

• 2006: Roy and Ryan Seiders introduced Yeti Coolers (GC).
• 2008: Dakota Lithium is founded in Grand Forks, North Dakota. (IN)
• 2010: Midwestern angler Ned Kehde first writes about finesse-fishing breakthroughs for dead-of-winter bass in In-Fisherman. In a subsequent issue, Field Editor Steve Quinn coins his techniques “Ned rigging.” (IN)
• 2010: Minn Kota introduced Spot-Lock GPS trolling-motor technology (GC).
• 2011: Daiwa introduced T-Wing Level Wind system (IN).
• 2012: Humminbird released 360 Imaging. (GC)
• 2014: Abu Garcia introduced the Rocket, with the fastest gear-ratio on the market at 9.0:1. (IN)
• 2015: Garmin Panoptix released, giving anglers a real-time forward-looking sonar perspective. (GC)
• 2016: Humminbird introduced Mega technology, greatly increasing clarity and detail. (IN)

• 2018: Garmin releases Panoptix LiveScope. (IN)
• 2019: Lowrance introduced ActiveTarget forward-facing sonar. (IN)
• 2021: Humminbird’s Mega Live Imaging released. (IN)
• 2023: Fenwick introduced completely redesigned lineup, including World Class, Elite, HMG, and Eagle series. (IN)
• 2023: Old Town Kayaks introduced the ePDL Drive system at ICAST. (IN)
• 2024: Humminbird introduced Mega Live 2. (IN)

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