EVERY SCENT COUNTS
By Ryan Tully
If one thing is for sure, it’s that Berkley understand how important scent is to fish when they’re feeding. Large barramundi in both freshwater and saltwater environments are known to be quite temperamental, making it hard to get a bite from them on lures at times. Since their release in 2020, the Berkley Gulp! Paddleshad soft plastics have been the undoing of many fish and are a lure that I find myself using more and more. Not only do you gain a huge advantage from the fact these lures disperse the tournament winning Berkley Gulp! scent formula, they also have an irresistible tail action and an extremely realistic baitfish profile.
When targeting wary fish like barramundi these three factors are crucial to success, with the tight action of the bait’s paddle tail attracting their attention and the famous Berkley Gulp! scent giving you a higher chance of getting them to commit. The realistic profile of this soft plastic will also help you attract more bites in cleaner water when the fish can see the lure more clearly. These baits are ideal for a variety of different rigging options. When fishing deeper water I use the Berkley Nitro Saltwater Pro jigheads and when fishing snags or weed beds I use weedless hooks. Another thing to note is that Berkley have obviously listened to concerns of anglers about the packaging of baits, and have included moulded plastic packaging to keep these soft baits straight.
The Berkley Gulp! Paddleshad includes sizes ranging from 3” to 6” so there is something to suit every occasion. At times barramundi will shy away from the larger lures so it’s good to know there is always an option to downsize, specifically in winter when they often feed on smaller bait sources. At other times of the year when the barramundi are eating bait such as big mullet off the surface, the 5” and 6” sizes are perfect.
On a recent trip to a freshwater impoundment with a friend, we were casting 4” and 5” soft plastics without any success. We soon noticed several wind-blown currents flowing directly onto a point full of thick weed, so we followed it until we found small baitfish schooling along the edge. We saw the odd school of fish on the sounder, but had no bites.
We both decided to start casting 4” Berkley Gulp! Paddleshads rigged on 4/0 weedless hooks and the results were instant. We both hooked up within seconds, and this action continued as we hooked plenty of solid fish over the next two hours! It was amazing to see how quickly the Berkley Gulp! Paddleshad turned our session around and helped us get the bites.
Like many times before, the Berkley Gulp! Paddleshad soft plastics are out-fishing other lures and producing fish in ‘shut down’ conditions. These lures are greatly exceeding the expectations of anglers and constantly proving their effectiveness by catching fish when other lures simply can’t. Make sure you have a few in your tackle box next time you’re out chasing barramundi or whatever your desired species is. Good luck and I hope you catch bigger and better fish with the new Berkley Gulp! Paddleshad.
