There’s been a steep rise in popularity of the 6-inch-ish soft plastic swimbait over the last decade. Several companies have introduced pre-rigged baits in this size range with wire harnesses and treble hooks, like the Megabass Magdraft. And then there are unrigged versions as well, like the Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper and Gambler Big EZ. One of the most recent inventions in the harnessed swimbait market is the Berkley PowerBait CullShad — the best bait of its kind, in my personal opinion, for fishing around and over shallow, isolated cover. Its unrigged counterpart came along last year, the Berkley PowerBait Unrigged CullShad, and a pre-rigged saltwater version was released this year, but it’s the unrigged CullShad we’ll be getting into.
Berkley PowerBait Unrigged CullShad: First Impressions
The Berkley PowerBait Unrigged CullShad comes in two sizes: 5-inch (three per pack for $7.99) and 6-inch (two per pack for $9.99). Both sizes are offered in 12 colors ranging from bright whites and chartreuses to natural shad colors to darker brown and perch options. They’re sold in a clamshell package, which helps them keep their shape all the way from the moment they come off the production line until they’re pulled from the pack and tossed in the water.
HoneyComb Technology
Berkley used their “patent-pending PowerBait HoneyComb Technology” to create a highly flexible tail section for the CullShad, which can also be found in the PowerStinger, another 2024 ICAST release. It allows some material to be removed from the back half of the bait while simultaneously increasing the durability of the tail. A more flexible, more durable bait means it will catch more fish in its lifespan.
PowerBait Scent
Berkley infused the CullShad with their PowerBait Scent; I’m not typically a big believer in scent when it comes to reaction baits that are on the move, like spinnerbaits and crankbaits. I just think bass that bite those baits are reacting to the action more than the scent, and once they do bite, there’s no letting go because the hook is already in them. However, with a bait like this, the scent couldn’t hurt, and it may very well mean the difference between a bass holding onto a bait long enough to get a good hookset and the bait being spit out.
When fishing a swimbait like this over and around weedy cover, you’ll want to drop your rod for one second before reeling down to really drive the hook home on the hookset. In this brief moment after the bite, bass either take the bait in further or spit it out. The scent on these things is pungent, and I do believe it will cause the bass to hold on longer and get the bait better, as Berkley’s research has proven.
Berkley Unrigged CullShad On the Water
During my time testing the Unrigged CullShad I primarily fished this swimbait on a buzzbait, jighead, and EWG hook rigged weedless. I don’t recall rigging it any other way, but I do believe the 5-inch one would be fun to slide up on a swim jig or a big underspin, too.
I threw the 6-inch CullShad on a buzzbait a lot, but the water just never quite got warm enough in time for me to catch anything on it. Still, the buzzbait skipped really well with this bait, and the combo makes for a heckuva large profile if you’re in search of a big bite. The slow kick of the swimbait tail trailing behind the churning prop looked pretty nasty, too — more realistic than most of the soft plastics I put on buzzbaits.
On the jighead, the 5-inch CullShad looks really good in the water. It has a slow but distinct action with a lot of flexibility throughout the back half of the bait, instead of just in the paddle of the tail like some baits. This is obviously due to the HoneyComb tech.The one good bass I caught with the bait rigged this way absolutely choked the whole swimbait.
I threw this bait, rigged weedless, on an EWG hook a lot on Lake Seminole a couple weeks back, especially around and over vegetation. It has a good action and it’s a durable bait, but I don’t think this one will replace my favorite for this style of fishing: the Zoom Uni-Toad. Still, if you want one bait that will do a lot, the CullShad can be fished this way, as well as on a jighead down deeper in the water, while the Uni-Toad is more of a one or maybe two trick pony up on top and on a buzzbait.
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In a market slap full of knock offs, I commend Berkley for doing something different with the CullShad and Unrigged CullShad. Yes, there were already other baits on the scene with similar profiles, but Berkley’s HoneyComb Technology really does set these two baits apart from the others. Add to that the PowerBait scent incorporated into these two baits and there’s nothing on the market quite like them.
