Best Ice-Fishing Sonar: Ice 55 (photo by manufacturer)
Best Combos
Avantis Precision Rods and Reels
Kudos to Rapala for keeping Canadian anglers in mind with its new two-piece Avantis spinning and baitcasting combos. While long, one-piece rods are standard in the U.S., where most folks store them in their boats, Canadian anglers tend to be more mobile, travelling far by land, air and water. That makes two-piece rods and reels that take up minimal space ideal. The Avantis reels feature instant anti-reverse, nine sealed ball bearings and a machined handle with a comfortable grip, while the rods boast lightweight, sensitive, strong HM-40 graphite blanks. Best of all, the precisely balanced combos retail for only $120. Normark Canada, (905) 571-3001; www.rapala.ca

Best Bass System
Gary's Swim Jig and Pro Senko
Gary's Swim Jig from Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits combines the best qualities of using a flippin' jig, swimming jig and shaky head hook-three of the hottest techniques in bass fishing. Featuring a new, incredibly strong Gamakatsu hook with an extra-long shaft and unique weedless line tie, Gary's Swim Jigs are available in five sizes and with 2/0, 3/0, 4/0 and 5/0 hooks. And there's no finer shaky head worm you can use with Gary's Swim Jig than Yamamoto's new slender, buoyant Pro Senko. The Pro Senko is destined to do for the shaky head what the original Senko did for the stickbait-further revolutionize bass fishing. Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, (928) 645-3812; www.baits.com

Best Ice-Fishing Sonar
ICE 55 (shown above)
Starting with a six-colour LCD screen for easily identifying fish, Humminbird's ICE 55 flasher is engineered for peak performance in temperatures as cold as –32°C. The display allows you to automatically adjust the depth scale from 20 to 200 feet, and unlike on many other units, the depth reading is large and easy to read. What I find most remarkable, though, is the dual-beam transducer that lets you double the view of a specific depth range anywhere in the water column, whereas other flashers can only zoom in on the bottom. With a host of other great features, the ICE 55-which won the Best Electronics award at ICAST-is sure to be the hottest thing on the hardwater this winter. Johnson Outdoors Canada, (905) 634-0023; www.humminbird.com


Best Tournament Tool
SmartCull
Tournament anglers are going to love this new professional culling system from Ardent. The SmartCull consists of six buoyant plastic balls, each sporting a weight counter you can set with the precise weight of the fish in your livewell. This ends the need for grease pencils, culling boards and computerized scales, not to mention scraps of paper getting soaked or blown out of your boat. With the ingenious SmartCull system, you simply weigh your fish, set the numbers on one of the balls and attach it to the fish via a wire leader. You'll never again forget what each fish weighs-or which one is next to be culled. Ardent, (660) 395-9200; www.ardentreels.com

Best Reel
Curado E
The Best of Show award at ICAST was bestowed on Shimano's new Curado E baitcaster series. The low-profile, lightweight (less than 7.6 ounces) reels are even more powerful than their heavyweight predecessors of just a few years ago. Shimano accomplished this by adding brass gears, a ball bearing to the drive shaft and a shielded anti-rust bearing on the pinion gear. The CU200E7 model, in particular, boasts a lightning-fast 7:1 gear ratio that gobbles up an amazing 30 inches of line with each turn of the handle. The Curado E series is available in both right- and left-hand models and-are you ready for this-retails for less than $200. Shimano Canada, 1-800-361-6215; www.shimano.com