Dan Spangler, Project Manager - Bait Development at Berkley shows us the new PowerBait Jigs

Impressions: Berkley is part of the massive Pure Fishing portfolio of brands which includes well-known brands including Abu Garcia, Shakespeare, Pflueger, Ugly Stik, Van Staal, Stren, and many others spanning both traditional and fly-fishing segments.

Joe Meyer, Director Product Development at Berkley shows us the new Spiderwire Durabraid which pairs well with many of the new jigs. Berkley's roots were in wire leaders and lines and today the company still manufacturers many lines in their Sprit Lake facility

By itself Berkley is a giant brand in its own right and was founded, and is still based, in Sprit Lake Iowa. Since 1945 Berkley has expanded beyond their original product offering of cable and wire leaders to nylon filaments and the creation of the Trilene series of branded lines. Since then, the brand has expanded greatly offering other popular products including FireLine, Lightning Rods, and of course the crown jewel…. PowerBait.

A look at the PowerBait Jig packaging

For many anglers their first experience with PowerBait is the dough bait that is primarily used for trout fishing. The exact formulation of PowerBait is a closely guarded secret and a range of scents are infused together with plastics to give the bait its signature smell and taste. Bass anglers started taking more interest in brand’s scent infused baits when the company started making plastics under the Gulp! Series. The Gulp! Baits are soft and pliable and drenched in scent but they dry out in the air, which didn’t work well for bass anglers that like to keep baits tied up and at the ready.

These jigs were all designed with the help of Berkley's Prostaff, namely Gary Klein and Bobby Lane

While saltwater anglers love Gulp! The company’s MaxScent line has quickly become a go-to series for bass anglers looking for a PowerBait infused plastic without the mess. I personally like the density of the MaxScent material and the unique texture that looks more like organic material than perfectly poured traditional plastics. The engineers at Berkley are constantly exploring how to infuse Powerbait into new materials and applications and this season’s new Jigs are a perfect example of that.

In total there are seven new Berkley jig models including flipping, football, swimming, finesse swimming, skipping, heavy cover, and finesse jigs. Rather than just infuse traditional jigs with PowerBait the company decided to build a complete series, including jigs with new head and hook designs, with the help from their prostaff.

Gary Klein showed us every jig he helped design and explained how the heads were all tweaked specifically for each application

Next Section: Fishing PowerBait Jigs coast to coast...