PRODUCT
REVIEW
BERKLEY POWERBAIT GILLY
By Matt Williams
PHOTOS BY BRANDON ROWAN
If swimbaits were thought of as works of art , the Berkley PowerBait Gilly might be regarded as a Picasso . Designed with heavy input from bass pro Mike Iaconelli , the Gilly closely resembles the Japanese-made Gill Flat introduced a few years back . It has a wealth of innovation in its corner that lends to high performance and versatility .
Plenty of other folks think so , too . The tricked-out swimbait won Best of Show and Best Freshwater Soft Lure at ICAST 2021 .
First Impressions
The longer I fooled around with the Gilly , the more I discovered small details to appreciate about the design . Plenty of thought went into this one . It has the profile of a small panfish and brims with functional features .
› The soft plastic head is molded with eyes , gill plates and pectoral fins that serve as rudders to help promote a fluid swimming action .
› There are two distinctive lines on each gill plate – one straight and one angled downward . The lines represent guides to follow for rigging . Follow the downward angle when side-rigging using a weightless hook or weighted swimbait hook . The center line is for Texas rigging or weightless “ flat ” rigging over pads and other shallow cover .
› The upper half of the head is hollow , except for a solid section around the lips . The cavity makes the bait lighter on top and helps promotes a vertical stance , even when the Gilly is falling or sitting idle on bottom .
› The hollow chamber is slitted so you can add material to enhance buoyancy or speed up the fall rate without hampering the action .
› The bait ’ s midsection is die cut with mushy scales that create a lifelike feel and fluid swimming action .
› Small side rudders compliment the authentic tail section and help give it an enticing swagger .
› You ’ ll notice a small indention below the bottom lip . This is for inserting nail weights or line-thru tubes for use with a stinger hook in openwater situations .
In Action
With all the ICAST hype over the Gilly , I was excited to tie one on to see what all the hoopla was about . I learned pretty quickly that it ’ s a bona fide hot rod designed to go places and do things most other sunfish imitators can ’ t , mainly because it can be rigged and modified a variety of ways for optimum performance using multiple techniques in skinny water or deep , clear or slightly stained , and around dense cover .
Interestingly , most rigging methods require hooking the bait though the side . You wouldn ’ t think a swimbait would operate properly with an EWG jabbed through its rib cage , but this one will so long as the hook is at the proper angle .
Side-rigged weightless or with a weighted swimbait hook , the Gilly has the upright swagger of real forage when retrieved slow , fast or crawled / hopped across bottom . It ’ ll even turn on itself when you kill it . Use the angled line guide on the gill plate for these hooking methods .
60 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2022