Over 20 years ago I visited the Berkley research and development facility in Spirit Lake, Iowa. More than just R&D, it’s actually a scientific laboratory guided by the foremost authorities on gamefish behavior and biology; true visionaries in lure development. With a lab that consists of a huge array of test tanks containing live fish, the scientists at Berkley have a sole mission to understand what attracts fish, makes them strike and ultimately makes them hold onto the bait. These unique insights provide them with clear direction for developing fishing lures, testing them, and confirming with scientific confidence that they actually work.
Now, more than 20 years later, Berkley has achieved a new level of fish-catching results with the unveiling of their new Lab Series. These are the first baits developed out of a decades-long project to combine the best of the company’s scientifically-proven technologies into one soft bait. It’s the first to capitalize fully on a fish’s senses by delivering color, action, scent and taste at level anglers have never seen. Lab Series baits are engineered to trigger bites from fish under high fishing pressure, where the fish have seen it all. Through a small-batch layered pouring process, Berkley combines a MaxScent layer, a proven PowerBait taste layer, and a MaxScent Rapid-Release Slime that provides an explosion of fish-attracting scent the moment it hits the water.
At Berkley’s press conference and demonstration in Bardstown, Kentucky, I was able to experience – firsthand – the immediate dispersion of attractant the moment the lure hit the water. This initial chum slick, of sorts, is the first release of the bait’s multi-stage scent delivery system; as that initial burst of attractant wears off through continued use, the poured MaxScent layer takes over, providing sustained scent dispersion over time. When a fish strikes, the PowerBait layers deliver the taste that convinces fish to hold on. This is a big deal to think about; we typically cast our offering to the one spot we deem mostly likely to hold fish, and that’s the precise time that we want the scent to disperse.
These premium baits were developed to win largemouth bass tournaments, and the proof of concept was just achieved even before the press embargo was lifted. A handful of Berkley Lab Series baits were provided to anglers fishing the famed Bassmaster Classic where Dylan Nutt actually won using an unreleased 6.5-inch Berkley Lab Series Minnow in their shad color.
Though the Lab Series is currently focused on largemouth bass, featuring shad, flat worm, and finesse worm models, my mind drifted to the possibility of these baits effectively crossing over to fluke, weakfish and stripers (I especially liked the shad model for fluke). I asked if the baits could cross over to inshore saltwater species during the Q&A session, and the reality is that fish of all kinds react for many of the same reasons. So while these new Lab Series baits from Berkley have not been tested on saltwater species, they should be effective.
I can’t wait to try these on largemouth this season, and you can bet I’ll have a pack with me on my next fluke outing as well.
To learn more about Berkley Lab Series, visit www.berkley-fishing.com/pages/berkley-lab-series.
