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Spring 2021
page 20
also experimented with it on spotted bass around the company headquarters. After a six-month testing period, it was ready to go.
THE FINISHED PRODUCT
Bertrand said the entire process took nearly a year and there were many steps to the process besides just making a bait and taking it to a tackle store to sell.
“It is not just like a guy making tackle in his garage and driving it to the tackle shop,” he said. “It is such a process with a big company and working with retailers trying to get placement on the shelves.”
The finished product is actually two baits, both 70mm. The Slow Sink weighs 1/3 ounce and the Fast Sink comes in at 1/4 – ounce.
“Some people believe spybaiting is only for suspended fish in clear water, but depending on the sink rate, a spybait can be used to in a wider variety of presentations,” he explained “That’s why we have the two versions with a slow and a fast sink”
Bertrand says the Slow Sink is unique both because of the action and where you can fish it.
“I fish it when I am in shallow areas,” he
said. “I fish it around over shallow grass, brush,
rock, rocky reefs etc. What we came out with
isn’t something you can’t fish in a foot of water,
but that 3-foot or deeper zone it is perfect. It
has a slow fall, softer action and brings a spy
to shallow areas that you could never fish one
before.”
The Fast Sink version is a more traditional
spybait that he fishes when he is looking
deeper than six to eight-feet.
“The sink rate has it falling about one-foot
per second,” he added. “It’s what I use in open
water and casts a super-long way.”
Another thing Bertrand was happy with
was the available colors.
“Berkley worked with a great bait painter
with their hardbaits and we used some existing
colors, but we added two unique ones,” he said.
“Stealth Perch was one and we also came out
with a black color. A black hair jig works so well
and that’s what gave me the idea and the solid
black color SPY works excellent.”
It was interesting to get a look behind the
scenes with Josh Bertrand on how he helped to
develop the SPY. It was a yearlong process, but
the result is Berkley’s spin on the spybait that Bertrand truly stands behind. •