nless you spent the summer of 2020 under a rock , you ’ re probably already aware that the Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm is one of the most effective smallmouth-catching baits ever produced .

Over the course of 45 days in July and August , Alabama pro Justin Lucas – one of the key advocates of the innocuous-looking Flat Worm throughout its design phase at Berkley – claimed both the Major League Fishing Stage Five trophy in Sturgeon Bay , Wisconsin , and the trophy in the final Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super Tournament on Lake Erie .

Lucas weighed in 129 smallmouth totaling 294 pounds , 13 ounces in seven days of competition – 100 percent of those fish were caught on various colors of Berkley Flat Worms .

For those counting , that equated to $ 225,000 in Lucas ’ bank account . It also contributed to the bait being

quickly cleaned out of tackle stores around the Great Lakes , and online tackle retailers ’ sales carts ( not to worry , production runs of the Flat Worm are ongoing even as you read this ).

“ I ’ ve been saying since we first started producing the Flat Worm that it was the best smallmouth bait ever , but we hadn ’ t had the opportunity to really show it off ( before Sturgeon Bay ),” Lucas says frankly . “ A couple of us ( Berkley pros ) have had that bait for awhile , and we ’ d just been waiting for the chance to really put it in front of people . Look at the results ; I don ’ t know what else I can say about it .” Well , actually , a lot . Although he deflects credit for the Flat Worm ’ s efficacy as a smallmouth bait , Lucas was the one who sketched the basic original design on a restaurant napkin during a conversation with Mark Sexton , Berkley ’ s Manager of New Product Design and Evaluation . And Lucas – along with Arizona

pro Josh Bertrand – fished the Flat Worm through stages of development and adjustment in 2017-18 , helping Sexton and the Berkley product-design team hone the shape and structure of the bait .

Here ’ s what makes the Flat Worm the most precious commodity today among smallmouth anglers .

The Punch of PowerBait MaxScent

Both Lucas and Bertrand are pragmatic about the characteristic that makes the Flat Worm such a killer smallmouth bait : Berkley ’ s PowerBait MaxScent , which builds on the foundation of the original PowerBait scent and provides a supplement to GULP !, which is already a proven smallmouth scent but creates a stiffer , drier bait .

“ Each species of fish prefers different things , whether it ’ s bass , walleye or

saltwater , and smallmouth bass in particular seem to be more scent-oriented than largemouth ,” says John Prochnow , Berkley ’ s R & D Director and the creator of the original PowerBait scent . “ The active ingredients ( in MaxScent ) are right in their wheelhouse .”

Berkley ’ s packaging states that MaxScent catches “ 45 percent more fish ” – that ’ s not just a sexy number cooked up for marketing purposes , but an assessment of the scent ’ s fish-attracting power made through thorough , controlled testing . It ’ s a claim that Lucas has witnessed throughout his hands-on experience with the scent , and wholeheartedly supports .

“ I knew that MaxScent was as good as gold ,” he says . “ It doesn ’ t dry out , and you can make baits in better shapes and colors . I knew how important GULP ! was for smallmouth , but we needed a good drop-shot bait in the MaxScent lineup . The scent is the real deal .”