Berkley PowerBait MaxScent D-Worm

January 28, 2018 By Ned Kehde

The Berkley PowerBait MaxScent D-Worm was introduced to the angling world in September, and straightaway it caught the eyes of several Midwest finesse devotees.

It is 5 1/2-inches long and created with drop-shot anglers in mind. But Midwest finesse anglers discovered many years ago that a drop-shot rig is seldom as effective as the traditional Midwest finesse rig, which is a 1/16-ounce mushroom-style jig -- such as a 1/16-ounce Berkley's Half Head jig -- that is affixed to a small soft-plastic worm like the new D-Worm. And before Midwest finesse anglers affix the 5 1/2-inch D-Worm to a 1/16-ounce Berkley's Half Head jig, they will shorten the D-Worm by removing an inch or a touch more from its head.

The folks at Berkley note that the PowerBait MaxScent D-Worm is thinner than traditional soft-plastic worms. The thinness makes it undulate and gyrate more than other soft-plastic worms, which is said to make it more alluring in the eyes of the black bass.

In addition to its undulations and gyrations, it is manufactured with what is described as "a revolutionary material that releases a super-charged scent field" or trail into the water. This trail attracts black bass to the D-Worm. And when a black bass engulfs the D-Worm, there is a flavor element that activates a black bass' sense of taste, and that stimulation prevents a black bass from spitting or rejecting it. According to the staff at Berkley, the PowerBait MaxScent is 45 percent more effective at generating strikes from black bass than their original PowerBait worm.

The folks at Berkley say that it is made from a more durable material than the run-of-the-mill soft-plastic worm, and at the same time, it remains soft and pliable for hours on end and even days on end, which is unlike Berkley's Gulp baits that become dry and stiff in short order. (Gulp, by the way, possesses an attractant or a smell and a flavor or a taste similar to Berkley's new PowerBait MaxScent.)

Except around its clitellum or egg sack, the D-Worm is encircled by a continuous series of minor ribs that commence at the tip of its mouth and continue to the tip of its tail. The clitellum is smooth skinned. Rather than possessing the pencil-pointed prostomium and mouth of a real earthworm, its mouth or the tip of its head is flat. Its tail or anus is somewhat bulbous, which helps to provoke the undulations and gyrations. Around the junction of the torso and bulbous tail, the diameter of the D-Worm is smaller than the diameter of the tail and the rest of its torso.

It possesses what Berkley calls an "ultra-realistic texture and natural forage-inspired matte colors." It is manufactured in 10 colors, which are Baby Bass, Black, Bold Bluegill, Green Pumpkin, Green Pumpkin Candy Red, Green Pumpkin Purple, Mean Green, Natural Shad, Smoke Black Purple, and Watermelon Red.

A package of 10 costs $6.99.

Endnotes

(1) Here is a link to Berkley's website: http://www.berkley-fishing.com/berkley-bait-soft-bait-berkley-powerbait/powerbait-maxscent-the-general/1447436.html#sz=211&start=69.

(2) Here is a link to the Midwest Finesse gear guide about the Berkley's Half Head Jig: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/berkleys-half-head-jig.

(4) A jigworm has played an important role in Midwest finesse tactics since the 1950s. Here are some its roots: The late Harold Ensley of Overland Park, Kansas, used one to win the first World Series of Sport Fishing in 1960. In that tournament, Ensley used the Skworm-N-Jig, which was manufactured by the late Ted Green and his Mar-Lynn Lure Company of Blue Springs, Missouri. This tournament was created by Hy Peskin of Sports Illustrated magazine fame and Ted Williams of baseball fame, and it was staged at Union Lake, Michigan, on Oct. 15-24, 1960. And eleven years later, Drew Reese of Rantoul, Kansas, used a jigworm and two other Midwest finesse rigs at the first Bassmaster Classic at Lake Mead, Nevada, in 1971, and he garnered seventh-place honors. The jig worm, however, is no longer the day-in-and-day-out piscatorial jewel that it once was. Yet, there will be spells throughout the calendar year when a mushroom-style jig affixed to a worm like the Berkley PowerBait MaxScent D-Worm will beguile an impressive array of black bass for Midwest finesse anglers in clear-water scenarios and stain-water situations. Here is a link to a Midwest finesse column about the history of Midwest finesse fishing: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/a-short-history-of-midwest-finesse-fishing-for-black-bass-1955-2013/.