What’s New for 2024? by Brad Wiegmann

You never know who you will run into at ICAST. It could be a famous crappie pro like John Godwin or the inventor of the Crappie Magnet Eye Hole jig Blake Phillips. Maybe with some luck Crappie.Com owner Ed Moes!


I did get a chance to visit with Moes about all the cool new products and visit about crappie fishing. Did I say Moes always has a crowd around him? Yep, it’s true, but the following is just a few of the new products we saw at ICAST 2024 in Orlando, Florida.

Leland’s Lures aka Trout Magnet and Crappie Magnet had several new products this year at ICAST 2024. New products for this year include Crappie Magnet ROO, Crappie Magnet Hammer, Eye Hole Hair Jig scent Holder Jigs, Eye Hole Bream Boss Scent Holder Jigs, Trout Magnet D2 Jigs new size 1/32-ounce, Trout Magnet Tungsten, Eye Hole Scent Holder Jigs new round head sizes 1/64- and 1/4-ounce, Crappie Magnet Slab Bites new colors orange and black along with Trout Magnet Trinity Rods.


“The Crappie Magnet Roo is a new bait,” Jeff Smith owner of Leland’s Lures continued, “We take the pouch like a kangaroo where you can insert your Slab Bite into it where it will slowly disperse as you fish it.” Another interesting new product is the Crappie Magnet Eye Hole Hammer Head Jig that was designed by Brandon Smith. Unlike other jig heads it has the famous eye hole, but it has a wider, flat surface allowing it to hold more scent; in addition to having a bigger echo image for anglers fishing with forward facing sonar. These jigs feature Double Cross side barbs, Mustad hooks with UltraPoint technology.


Bobby Garland Crappie Baits has two new jigheads the Head Turn’R and BrushOff. The Head Turn’R isn’t your normal underspin lure. It’s a free rotating dual willow bladed jighead with blades that have 360 degrees of rotation. It will come in 1/8- and 1/16-ounce sizes in Mo’ Glo Chartreuse, Mo’ Glo Ghost and Mo’ Glo Pink. Although it was designed to be fished behind the boat pulled while trolling, Head Turn’r can also be casted and used with forward facing sonar. Other new products are new color patterns in Slab Hunter and Baby Shad, but the Itty Bit Swim’R Mayfly will be by far the most popular especially during a mayfly hatch.


Many of the new products were designed for using with forward facing sonar including brackets, mounts, and lures. For mounts and brackets Transducer Shield and Save released the new FFS Elite multi-mode trolling motor shaft mount for forward facing sonar transducers. It’s made from 6061 aluminum alloy, CNC machined which includes stainless steel hardware for installing, precise interlocking teeth designed to allow rotating the transducer in 5-degree increments to get the perfect transducer angle and featuring black cerekoted to protect the FFS Elite from the elements. Plus BeatDown Outdoor Products released its new rear forward facing fully automated transducer mount.


Livescanner had the new unit that allows the angler to sync the direction of the transducer to the direction the anglers fishing pole it pointed or casted. While it was amazing technology you know it’s not going to be welcomed by opponents of forward facing sonar.


Connect-Ease won Best in Show for non-motorized product for its Yak-Ease Power Pak Pro. It’s a simple plug and play for power to your boat, kayak or boat dock. While power supply is not the most exciting thing with the new Lowrance price point it’s going to be perfect for that boat needing a power source.


On the subject of sonar/GPS units Lowrance released the new Eagle Eye. This is the first under $1,000 price point sonar/GPS with forward, down and live sonar, CHIRP and DownScan imaging with FishReveal in one transducer. That’s right! Get live and down forward facing sonar for $999 with no black box required to use it. Pricing on sonar/GPS units has always been an issue, but it’s not anymore. I’m guessing this will be Lowrance’s best selling sonar/GPS unit this year. In addition to that Lowrance released the RECON trolling motor similar to other trolling motors commonly used when trolling where the remote is used more than the foot control.



B’n’M Poles revealed the new John Godwin Crappie Casting Rod. Of course designed by John Godwin it’s designed to cast smaller jigheads with a softer tip, but still have the longer rod blank allowing it to cast farther than stiffer rods. Road Runner released the new Slab Spanker to the line of Road Runner lures.