Bass fishermen are bombarded with new baits and techniques every season. The term “game changer” gets thrown around at such a rate that I’m no longer sure what the original game even is. The big ticket for 2026 has been urchin-style baits, but that wasn’t always the case.
If we rewind back to March, the talk of the town was some new soft plastic from Berkley. Although it wasn’t released yet, a young angler, Dylan Nutt, who came up through the BASS Nation Series came out of nowhere to win the Bassmaster Classic on the Tennessee River. On the final day, he let it slip that he was catching almost every fish on a new bait from Berkley, Lab Series. For 99 percent of the world, that was a shocking revelation. But deep down, I had a feeling that was the case.
You see, not even a week earlier, I was flown down to Kentucky to join a group of media members and the Berkley staff to preview a new product offering. Minutes into the presentation, I knew I was on the cutting edge of something special.
Fast forward to testing the new baits on Foster Joseph Sayers Dam, I caught a 20-pound bag in a tournament using the Lab Series exclusively — I confirmed these aren’t just any ordinary soft plastic.
Get It From Tackle Warehouse
Get the Minnow from Bass Pro
Get the Finesse Worm from Bass Pro
Available in:
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3.6” Flat Worm
(10 count) -
6” Finesse Worm
(10 count) -
5.25” Minnow
(6 count) -
6.5” Minnow
(5 count)
Color options:
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Flat Worm:
Violet Morning Dawn, Ember Jelly Fusion, Oxblood Red Flake, Wakasagi, Tactical, Platinum Shad, Obsidian Black, Highland Shad, and Prism Shad -
Finesse Worm:
Ember Jelly Fusion, Morning Dawn Red Flake, Oxblood Red Flake, Payload, Sunset, Bold Bluegill, Spectrum, Violet Morning Dawn, Platinum Shad, and Prism Shad -
Minnow:
Wakasagi, Highland Shad, Gizzard Shad, Electric Shad, Platinum Shad, Phantom Herring, Acid Shad, Limestone, Silver Shiner, and Threadfin
Berkley Lab Series: A Breakdown of the Science
Mark Sexton, the Director of Fish Science and Product Testing at Berkley told us right out of the gate that this new soft plastic was going to be different.
“Lab Series is going to be successful because it creates the largest scent field known, and fastest scent field known, bass are going to bite this even when they can’t see it. It allows the fish to find their food with their nose, not just their eyes,” Sexton said.
To pull off such a feat, Berkeley’s team led by John Prochnow, the Senior Director of Product Development, combined PowerBait and MaxScent, into one soft plastic. But the science behind that combination was a lot more difficult than you might think. Taking the PowerBait formula, which locks in the flavor of the bait but doesn’t allow water to penetrate the plastic, and combining it with MaxScent, which is designed to disperse scent in the water by allowing water to penetrate the plastic, required a lot of trial and error.
The final product has two layers of PowerBait for color and taste, with a MaxScent layer on top. The Powerbait layers have a different expansion tendency than the MaxScent layer, so he had to adjust the connection between the two to make them work together. To adjust the connection, he and his team realized this bait had to be hand poured. It takes four cycles to produce one batch. The Powerbait and MaxScent layers have different properties, and the layers would separate when injection molded. Instead, they have to be hand poured for the best results.
“While I can’t give all of the chemical science away, I can tell anglers that Lab Series offers the best in scientific fish catching technology,” said Prochnow. “The MaxScent dispersion attracts them via scent, and once they bite, they can taste the PowerBait. It really is the best of both worlds.”
Read Next: Expert Tips for Making Your Own Soft-Plastic Fishing Baits
The finishing touch is an added layer of water soluble MaxScent Rapid Release Slime which activates immediately upon hitting the water. In perfect conditions, bass can see the bait, smell the bait, and taste the bait. But in dingy water, Lab Series is going to excel even further, because they’ll rely more on their sense of smell and can smell the bait from more than 50 feet away.
A final piece of the puzzle for Lab Series success is the ability to go from matte colors to a multitude of colorways. MaxScent has only been available in matte colors due to its chemical makeup, but now, with the combination of PowerBait, the color options are limitless. The minnow, finesse worm, and flat worm have nine or ten different color options currently, but I’d be willing to bet more are on the way.
Testing the Berkley Lab Series on the Water
In the few months since its release, Lab Series has won an impressive number of bass tournaments from local weekend derbies up to major MLF and BASS events. It even won its fair share of walleye tournaments. This has only made it harder and harder to get your hands on a package.
I was lucky enough to get a few packages for myself, which I have used ever so sparingly, waiting for a time where I needed a few quality bites. That time came last Friday night in a tournament on my home body of water here in central Pennsylvania. There’s no fisherman’s tale being told here, but on my very first cast with a Lab Series Finesse Worm, I caught a keeper. Then, a few casts later, another. That trend continued throughout the tournament, and we ended up with our biggest bag ever on the home pond. Our five fish limit included a 6-12, a 5-3, and several around three pounds to make up an almost 21 pound bag.
To say I was blown away by how well we caught them on the Lab Series would be an understatement. In areas we normally get a bite or two, we caught dozens of bass. It was as if every fish in the lake was coming to our area for a taste test. I have since ordered as many packages as I could find online, and will be ordering more once they are available.
Final Thoughts
While the rest of the bass fishing world loses their minds over the urchin and dice style baits this summer, I’m going to be capitalizing on the best bite I’ve experienced in years. 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 the heck out of Lab Series, and if you don’t want to miss out on the action, you should be too.
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