T
he 2026
Bassmaster
Classic didn’t take long to turn
heads, and by the time
it was over, the Berkley
Lab Series Minnow
winning bait was the
bait everybody in the
fishing world was
talking about. Dylan
Nutt, a Berkley pro
staff angler, stepped
onto the biggest stage
in bass fishing and
flat out separated
himself from the field
on the Tennessee River
system.
Following the Day One weigh-in, Nutt sat at the bottom of the top-five with 19-5, trailing the leader by more than two pounds. He stayed locked in and didn’t divert from his path, and in the next 24 hours, everything changed.
By Day Two’s end, Nutt had not only taken the lead, he put nearly a four-pound gap between himself and second place.
“I had confidence in what I was doing all week,” Nutt said during the Bassmaster press conference. “Everything just kind of came together.”
His performance showed out at the scales on Day Three, where he was crowned champion with a tournament total of 66 pounds, 13 ounces that stretched more than nine pounds over his nearest competitor.
The feat earned him the Classic title, $300,000 in cash, and all the perks and prestige that come with it. “This is what you dream about as a kid,” Nutt said during the press conference.
NOTE: We are referencing the plastic lure as the Berkley Lab Series Minnow; however, that may or may not be the official name upon release.
NO CLASSIC EXPERIENCE, NO PROVEN BAIT, NO PROBLEM - BERKLEY LAB SERIES MINNOW
Nutt earned his way into the Super Bowl of bass fishing as a B.A.S.S. Nation qualifier, making his first Bassmaster Classic appearance at just 22 years old. That alone turns heads, but what really stands out is how he did it. Nutt won the event fishing a prototype Berkley bait, leaning on something that had never been proven on this stage before.
Photo: B.A.S.S.
Photo: B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. reported it as the first Nation qualifier win in 32 years and only the second in history. Nutt’s weigh fish were attributed to the Berkley Lab Series prototype in conjunction with forward-facing sonar.
“I was fishing
a lot of pre-spawn
staging areas,” he
shared. The pattern
carried through
the three-day Classic. When it all came together, it produced one of the most dominant performances on this year’s Classic stage and introduced the Berkley Lab Series Minnow as a bait anglers now have firmly on their radar.
BERKLEY
LAB SERIES
MINNOW SETUP AND HOW IT WAS FISHED
The gear setup Nutt reveals how the Berkley Lab Series Minnow is meant to shine. He paired the bait with a 6’10” medium-light Abu Garcia Fantasia X spinning rod, paired with an Abu Garcia Zenon X spinning reel, spooled with 8-pound Berkley X5 braid, and a 15-pound Berkley GinClear fluorocarbon leader. He rigged the Berkley Minnow on a 3/16-ounce jighead.
Nutt fished in eight-feet or less and talked about his pattern, revealing that it progressed over the three days of fishing, and mentioning pea gravel banks and flat creeks.
“Largemouth and smallmouth, just kind of moving in and out,” he said of his areas.
WHAT IS THE BERKLEY LAB SERIES MINNOW
What Berkley has shown so far is limited, and that’s what stands out. We know just enough to understand what happened, but not enough to have all the deets. From what can be confirmed through Berkley and official coverage, this is a prototype soft plastic minnow coming out of their Lab Series program, and it already has a Bassmaster Classic win tied to it.
A Classic win prototype hits hard. Baits don’t usually show up and win a Classic before anyone even knows what they are. That points to serious R&D, tested, refined, and trusted enough for a pro to rely on it when everything is on the line.
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Spring/Early Summer 2026
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