This will be an incendiary statement for some, but I can assuredly say that the Berkley PowerBait Chop Block is the best glidebait on the market.
After testing it for a couple of months now, and when you consider the quality of this bait, its capabilities, and the price, it’s hard to imagine anyone sufficiently arguing enough to convince me otherwise.
Here’s why I’m so fired up about this bait.
Initial impressions
When I first pulled the Chop Block from the pack, I did not have high hopes. I had tried the very popular Berkley Nessie a while back and wasn’t impressed. While that bait is a best seller and has a big following, I just didn’t like the profile or action. I could see the Chop Block had the more traditional glide bait body, but could a soft plastic glide bait really be any good?
As soon as I put it in the water, it changed my mind. This bait has a fantastic gliding action that is both consistent and easy to achieve. You can twitch the rod and walk it nearly in place, or give little reel bursts to keep it moving. When the bait stalls, it all but suspends. Most hard baits sink more quickly, but I really like this better.
But I will say that if you count this bait down with FFS, the slow-sinking characteristic might rule it out. I primarily fished the bait shallow and around cover, so being able to keep it high in the water column without having to burn it back was actually beneficial.
Key features
Two real differences separate the Chop Block from the majority of glide baits, which are hard: the hook harness and being able to skip it. There is no way to skip a hard glide bait any significant distance reliably, but I could consistently skip this bait under bushes and 10 to 15 feet back under docks. Presenting a glidebait to those fish is a true game-changer.
Then there’s the hook harness, and Berkley incorporated an innovative one into this bait that does several things. For starters, the forward treble and rear double hook do a great job of providing coverage of the whole bait. The rear hook is attached by a cord and held in place by a magnet, while the front hook is clipped in, keeping the hooks tight to the bait when fishing around cover. But the best part is that it works almost like a line-through swimbait: When you hook a fish, the hooks detach from the bait, taking a lot of leverage from the fish.
Personal experiences
The first trip I took with this bait was an extremely frustrating one. I caught a couple fish on the Chop Block, which was great, but it was one of those days when the fish would show but not commit to the bait—I had 15 pounds or so of fish swat at the bait throughout the day. Not to be denied, I returned to that lake a few days later and my first bite of the day was a dang grown one.
A bass sloshed up near some water willow grass, so I lobbed the Chop Block over to the general area, to no avail. I mechanically returned a second cast to the area with little to no hope of any luck, and a stud torpedoed my bait just after it hit the water. When I fought the fish toward the boat, I couldn’t see any of my bait since it was completely in the fish’s mouth—a good sign that it’s a big fish when you’re throwing a glide. My heart raced as I got her to the boat and grabbed hold. And then, there she was, my big, beautiful six-pound picture fish.
Final thoughts
The Chop Block is phenomenal. I was concerned about the durability to begin with, but having fished it heavily for a half dozen trips, I can attest to its ability to hold up. This bait skips where most other glides don’t. It’s easy to work and easy to keep high in the water column. And the price is phenomenal.
The eight-inch version I tested comes in at $25—a steal compared to most glides. There’s also a six-inch version ($16) and a 10-inch version ($30). Pick your size, and then you can choose from 14 color options. If the bait outlasts the hooks, Berkley even sells a replacement hook harness as well. I don’t know what else the typical angler could ask for from a glide bait.
