ICAST 2026 has come and gone. In July, 1,250 independent retail stores converged on the largest trade show in sportfishing, meshing with a crowd of nearly 12,000 total attendees from 74 countries. ICAST week was a whirlwind, as industry members ranging from manufacturers to wholesalers to outdoor media members swarmed around Orlando, Florida.

This year’s show set a post-pandemic record for retailer attendance and saw a slough of new features on the show floor. And while the afterglow of ICAST will reverberate through purchase orders, articles, and videos for months to come, the business side of the sportfishing world is already shifting gears to focus on the policies that will define how those products are used.

For decades, the ASA Sportfishing Summit has served as a companion to ICAST, an October gathering that plays an equally pivotal role in the sportfishing ecosystem. The Summit, also hosted by the American Sportfishing Association, swaps the bright lights of trade show booths for the softer glow of meeting rooms and cocktail receptions. In these rooms, committees, subcommittees, and boards meet to focus on, discuss, and recommend real-world policies that affect the business of sportfishing directly.

Think of the ASA Sportfishing Summit as part TED Talk and part ICAST — a half-week of education that brings together the brightest minds in the recreational fishing industry and business leaders from around the world. Instead of several thousand attendees, the Sportfishing Summit plays host to several hundred. It’s an event designed for both small businesses and industry heavyweights to convene. And over the course of three days, conversations from the Sportfishing Summit forge the future of America’s recreational fishing economy.

At the Summit, attendees can hear from speakers with noteworthy business or political pedigrees and immediately hop into a breakout room with colleagues who can — and often do — implement lessons from those speakers into new policy recommendations that might make their way all the way to Congress. Thanks to on-site experts from ASA’s government affairs team, the conversations stay laser-focused on issues that impact angler access, tackle sales, and fisheries management.

Summit attendees also benefit from education on market trends, marketing, data analysis, and artificial intelligence.

Unlike ICAST, which has firmly planted its flag in Orlando since 2014, the Sportfishing Summit changes locations each year. The venue swap is a key draw for ASA, who recognize the opportunity to bring industry leaders to a wide variety of angling destinations across the United States. Past locations include the Pacific Northwest, Southern California, the South Carolina low country, and the Florida Keys.

This year, the Sportfishing Summit is headed to the Alabama Gulf Coast, where the idyllic bayside town of Point Clear will transform into the focal point of the sportfishing universe from October 20–23.