When it comes to fishing tackle, Berkley is a titan. Each year, they release many new products that help anglers catch more fish and science is a big part of their lure development with many proven scents and attractant formulas. This year, they added more soft plastics and focused on new crankbaits and spinnerbaits.
Oh, they also won awards at ICAST 2022 for "Freshwater Hard Lure" with their new vibrating jig and "Freshwater Soft Bait" with their new soft plastic trailer designed to fish behind it.
ICAST Awards: Slobberknocker and Power Stinger
Berkley unveiled the new Slobberknocker, a unique vibrating jig unlike others on the market that won the "Best Freshwater Hard Lure" award. It has a head-to-blade connection that gives the bait a unique sound because there is so much contact between the head and blade. It was built to do better in vegetation, a great place to throw a vibrating jig.
They include hand-tied skirts with PowerBait scent built right into them and the hook is a super sharp Fusion19. The Slobberknocker comes in some great colors and will initially be available in 3/8 and ½-ounce models.
Designed to fit on the back of the Slobberknocker, the new Power Stinger swimbait won the award for "Best Freshwater Soft Lure" at ICAST. It has a realistic look and honeycomb molding technology for more action throughout the entire body. The bait has a dense head for durability and easy rigging and includes Berkley's proven PowerBait formula. The Power Stinger comes in two sizes, 3-1/2 and 4-inches.
Powerbait Shape 108 Craw
New for this year is the Shape 108 craw, a soft plastic bait you can fish several ways. It works great on the back of a jig but can be fished by itself on a Texas-rig. It comes in three sizes: 3, 3-1/2 and 4-inches and 13 colors and uses Berkley's famous PowerBait to get fish to bite and hold on longer.
The bait has ribs for maximum water movement and the claws are thick for maximum action and vibration. Its compact design is said to increase hookup ratios with its "smashed-style" body, as they describe it.
Power Spin
Berkley has made its way into standard jigs, vibrating jigs, and spinnerbaits. The Berkley Power Spin lineup includes several premium designs with a PowerBait infused skirt material. There is also a conical trailer keeper for secure rigging of your soft plastic spinnerbait trailer.
They look great with all of the proven colors you would expect. They come in four options: double willow, willow and Colorado, Colorado and Indiana, and a compact version with a willow and Colorado blade.
New Crankbaits: Clickin' Frittside and Money Badger
The Frittside has quickly become a favorite crankbait for anglers and they are built to run flawlessly and hit various depths. They were designed by crankbait guru David Fritts and this year; they added a new sound. The Clickin' Frittside has a ceramic ball inside to give it a unique clicking noise. It's available in five sizes and they come stock with supersharp Fusion19 treble hooks.
The Money Badger is a crawfish-profiled bait designed to be banged and crawled around rocks. It has a slow rise after making contact with an object to give the fish more time to attack. It can be fished quickly without rolling or blowing out and will be offered in five sizes, from a 1 ½-inch, 1/5-ounce bait to a 2-3/4-inch, 3/5-ounce version. The diving depths range from 4-7 to 11-13 feet.
New Color Options
For some of their popular hardbaits, Berkley added a few new colors. The Warpig is a lipless crankbait and will now be available in proper copper, ghost morning dawn, ghost red craw, and firetail green craw. The Dredger series will also have some new color options for some of the sizes, including ghost morning dawn (6.5, 8.5, and 10.5), green shad (14.5 and 25.5), vanilla chartreuse (8.5 and 20.5), stone cold (17.5), citrus shad (8.5), rootbeer craw (6.5), ghost red craw (8.5), blue shad (6.5), and ghost green craw (8.5).
The 3-inch Gulp! minnow will also come in some new colors. Purple shiner, green shiner, and blue shiner are the three new hues for this great drop-shot bait. The PowerBait Rippletail shad also has two new colors: fool's gold for the 2 and 3-inch sizes and HD bluegill for the 3-inch version only.
Berkley continues to innovate with more and more products every year designed to help bass anglers. This year, they expanded on some of their best baits with new colors and sounds and also fit some gaps by adding a vibrating jig and spinnerbait line. Their work this year earned them two ICAST awards, to go with seven more that sister brands under their parent company Pure Fishing earned
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