Bass fishermen are bombarded with new baits and techniques every season. The term “game changer” is used so frequently that I don’t even know what the original game is anymore. The big ticket for 2026 has been urchin-style bait, but that wasn’t always the case.
If we go back to March, the talk of the town was some new soft plastic from Berkeley. Although it had not yet been released, a young fisherman, Dylan Nutt, came across it through bass nation series came out of nowhere to win Bassmaster Classic on the Tennessee River. On the final day, he let it be known that he was catching almost every fish on the new Berkley, Lab Series bait. To 99 percent of the world, that was a shocking revelation. But inside I felt that this was the case.
You see, not even a week later, I was flown to Kentucky to join a group of media members and Berkeley staff to preview a new product offering. Just a few minutes into the presentation, I knew I was on the cutting edge of something special.
Fast forward to testing the new bait on the Foster Joseph Sayers Dam, I caught a 20-pound bag at a tournament exclusively using the Lab Series – I confirmed that these were no ordinary soft plastics.
Get it from Tackle Warehouse
Get Mino from Bass Pro
Get the Finesse Worm from Bass Pro
Available in:
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3.6” flatworm
(10 counts)
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6” finesse worm
(10 counts)
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5.25” Minnow
(6 count)
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6.5” minnow
(5 count)
Color Options:
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Flatworm:
Violet Morning Dawn, Amber Jelly Fusion, Oxblood Red Flake, Wakasagi, Tactical, Platinum Shade, Obsidian Black, Highland Shade and Prism Shade
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Tricky Worm:
Amber Jelly Fusion, Morning Dawn Red Flake, Oxblood Red Flake, Payload, Sunset, Bold Bluegill, Spectrum, Violet Morning Dawn, Platinum Shade and Prism Shade
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small fish:
wakasagi, highland shad, gizzard shad, electric shad, platinum shad, phantom herring, acid shad, limestone, silver shiner and threadfin
Berkeley Lab Series: An Analysis of Science
Mark Sexton, director of fish science and product testing at Berkeley, told us right out of the gate that this new soft plastic will be different.
“The Lab Series is going to be successful because it creates the largest scent field known, and the sharpest smell field known, bass are going to bite it even when they can’t see it. It allows the fish to find their food not only with their eyes, but with their nose,” Sexton said.
The Berkeley team was led to achieve such a feat. John ProchnoThe senior director of product development combined PowerBait and MaxScent into one soft plastic. But the science behind that combination was more difficult than you might imagine. Taking a PowerBait formula, which locks in the flavor of the bait but doesn’t allow the water to penetrate the plastic, and mixing it with MaxScent, which is designed to spread scent into the water while allowing the water to penetrate the plastic, required a lot of trial and error.
The final product has two layers of PowerBait for color and flavor, with a MaxScent layer on top. The Powerbat layers have a different expansion tendency than the Maxcent layer, so they had to adjust the connections between the two to make them work together. To accommodate the connection, he and his team realized that the bait would have to be cast by hand. It takes four cycles to produce one batch. Powerbatt and Maxcent layers have different properties, and the layers will separate when injection molded. Instead, they need to be poured in by hand for best results.
“While I can’t provide all the chemistry, I can tell anglers that the Lab Series offers the best in scientific fishing techniques,” Prochnow said. “The MaxScent dispersion attracts them through smell, and once they get a bite, they can taste the PowerBait. It’s really the best of both worlds.”
Read Next: Expert Tips for Making Your Own Soft-Plastic Fishing Bait
The finishing touch is an additional layer of water-soluble Maxscent Rapid Release Slime that activates immediately upon hitting the water. Under ideal conditions, bass can see the bait, smell the bait, and taste the bait. But in dirty water, the Lab Series are going to be even more excellent, as they will rely more on their sense of smell and can smell bait from more than 50 feet away.
The final piece of the puzzle to the success of the Lab Series is the ability to go from matte colors to multiple colors. Maxscent is only available in matte colors due to its chemical makeup, but now, in conjunction with PowerBait, the color options are limitless. The Minnow, Finesse Worm, and Flat Worm currently have nine or ten different color options, but I’ll bet there are more colors to come.
Berkeley Lab series testing on water
In the few months since its release, the Lab Series has won an impressive number of BASS tournaments, from local weekend derbies to major MLF and BASS events. It even won its fair share of volley tournaments. This makes it even more difficult for you to receive packages.
I was lucky enough to get myself a few packages that I have used occasionally, waiting for a time when I needed some quality bites. That time came last Friday night at a tournament on my home reservoir here in central Pennsylvania. Here the story is not of any fisherman, but of my first cast. lab series clever wormI caught a guard. Then, a few casts later, another. This trend continued throughout the tournament and we arrived at the home pond with our largest bag ever. Our limit of five fish included a 6-12, a 5-3, and several fish around three pounds to make a bag of about 21 pounds.
It would be an understatement to say that I was amazed at how well we caught them in the Lab Series. We caught dozens of bass in areas where we normally get one or two bites. It seemed as if every fish in the lake was coming to our area for a taste test. Since then I have ordered as many packages as I could find online, and will order more when they become available.
final thoughts
While the rest of the bass fishing world is turning its attention to urchins and dice-style baits this summer, I’m going to take advantage of the best bite I’ve experienced in years. The Berkley Lab series is no joke, and I can’t wait to see what other bait profiles and colorways they announce. For now, I’ll be fishing with the Lab Series, and if you don’t want to miss the action, you should too.
