Home » Fishing-Tips-Techniques » Product-News-and-Views » 2022 AFTA Trade Show Wrap

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HUGE SUCCESS AT AFTA 2022

The recent AFTA Trade Show was an overwhelming success for us at Wilson Fishing with a massive number of new products released and a swag of Best in Show awards that the team was incredibly proud to receive.

Our stand won Best Stand Overall, an award we have never won before and one that is a whole team award, which is why we were so excited to win this.

For starters the stand had to look first class and to our marketing team who dreamed it up and then executed it, a massive congratulations. Of course the stand also had to be built and this is where the muscle and sheer brawn of our fit and athletic sales team comes to the fore, with the crew doing a fantastic job making the dream a reality.

But the award is also just as much about how visitors to the stand were treated and engaged. And this is perhaps the part we are most proud of with our entire team, from our owner Willy and GM Kord down, engaging all visitors (yep, even visitors from rival wholesalers) and helping them navigate the ridiculous number of new products we displayed.

The first award for the Awards night ceremony set the scene for an epic night.

Best in Show Category Awards

It is always hotly contested with so many amazing products being show to the trade and public at the AFTA Show and a category win always brings with it a celebration the like that only Wilson Fishing does. We may get a little excited and pumped up - may!

The first award for Wilson for the night turned out to be a Quinella with the Best Rod Award.

We entered the very impressive Bone Combat Drago 610M and the Aussie-built Venom Target rods into the race and we were incredibly proud to discover the Bone Drago won Overall Best Rod in Show and the Venom Target rod came runner up. If you keep scrolling down we will have a full review of the winning products.

Next up was Best Line and this was a category we were excited to show off the soon to arrive Venom V-Line.

V-Line drew for the Best Line in Show, and for a product that we've spent almost 10 years perfecting, it was a great reward. V-Line has a list of features that make it a high-end 8 carrier braid that performs exceptionally. PE rated to ensure anglers know how much line is on their spools, V-Line was widely accepted by visitors and duly rewarded. An unexpected and well deserved reward for the development team.

Our third Best In Show award came in the Best Game Fishing Lure category and was again an example of the expansion of the Venom product range.

With three years of Covid-ravaged development, the Venom V-Minnow was voted as Best Game Fishing Lure. This diving minnow is built tough, really tough and excels when anglers are chasing game fish such as mackerel, wahoo and tuna. Designed to be fished straight from the box, the V-Minnow exhibits all the traits the Venom brand has become renowned for over the years.

The last category win was in the Clothing and Accessory category with the Bone Fisherman's Hat taking the gong for Best in Show.

The Fisherman's Hat is a broad brimmed hat that beads off water and fits comfortably. For a hat, it's packed with features that the tackle retailers thought were good enough to vote as the Best in Show and another award headed to the Bone stable.

Lastly we had a couple of runner up awards as well with the amazing Toit Fishing Tools Haywire Twist Tool coming in second for Best Gamefishing Accessory and the Aussie-built Venom Target rods, a rod range built for modern anglers, coming runner up in the Best Rod category.

Wrapping it up we had a fantastic show with over 700 new items added to our product list - yep 700!

We introduced new brands such as Toit Fishing Tools, Live Target Lures, Black Panther Snips, Toughia Lures by Bone, Duo Lures and Fish Candy all while expanding the range of Venom products to include V-Line and V-Lures as well as new Venom models. We expanded the range of Zerek Lures, introduced three new Mustad jigs, showed off the new Mustad Rodworks program, displayed some in development lures for the public and added a new member to our sales team in the NT with Rocky Edwards joining the team.

It was a truly massive show that saw so many staff put in hours and hours of extra work that culminated in a great show. Stay tuned to our socials for all the gear news as it arrives and gets rolled out.