Berkley Labs Science Symposium – Forward-Facing Science Optimized
Eugene L. 02.15.24
Back in the middle of January, I was fortunate enough to be invited out to Houston to participate in the first-ever Berkley Labs Science Symposium. A 3-Day event that was held at NASA’s, Space Center Houston. Showcasing of all the work and research that Berkley Labs puts in to be at the cutting edge of fishing lure science. We got to sit in and hear from some of the best lure scientists, professional anglers, and fisheries biologists in the nation. Along with all the panels we got to see and use three lures that were the first of their kind, the Finisher, Krej, and Power Switch. All three of designed with forward-facing sonar in mind to be the optimal baits for picking out exact fish to target and work.
Berkley Fishing Coverage on AllOutdoor
- The Berkley Power Switch – Forward-Facing Sonar Optimization
- The Berkley Krej – Forward-Facing Sonar Optimization
- Bass Fishing Hall of Famer Mike “Ike” Iaconelli Joins Berkley Team
- The NEW Berkley Fishing Swamp Lord Topwater Frog
- Deep Water, Walleye Candy! NEW Berkley Fishing Deep Hit Stick
The first day, Wednesday, of the Berkley Labs Science Symposium was mostly a travel day for everyone to get over to Houston and then shuttle down to the NASA Space Center. Once most people made it into town, weather allowing, that first evening kicked off the Symposium with a welcome reception in the Space Center Houston. Starting off in one of the center’s auditoriums we started off with a brief announcement of welcome and what we were there to do. After which they let us go to explore the Space Center as we mingled amongst each other and the speakers for the next day.
The second day of the Science Symposium is really where it got started. Starting the morning off with a mission statement of what this was all for, and then getting into the history of Berkley. Started in 1937 by a then 16-year-old Berkley Bedell in his Spirit Lake, Iowa Bedroom, he started the company off with $50 to start hand-tying flies using his dog’s hair and feathers from his backyard chickens. From there the company only grew through the years starting off with silkworm gut and cable wire leaders, it soon expanded into coated steel leaders and nylon monofilament lines. The Research and Development section of Berkley was then started in 1969, the start of the constant strive toward innovative fishing products. Then in the 1980s, Berkley got into soft plastic lures, and then from the 90s on to now they rapidly advanced the field of scented soft plastics, with Powerbait, Gulp, and Powerbait Maxscent.
All of this research took place in the Berkley Lab in Spirit Lake, where all the hard work is put in to discover what works when it comes to lures. The facility is full of multiple large pools to test the action of lures so they can be fine-tuned to exactly what the fish want. There are also tons of bass, panfish, and trout in the facility to research which exact scents and attractants work to attract the fish and keep them holding onto a lure for longer. We got to hear from Mark Sexton, Manager of Fish Science and Product Testing, about what really makes bass tick. We got a crash course on how fish use their senses in their watery world, and how Berkley utilizes all this research to make lures that work both in the lab and out on the water. After talking about the biology of fish we got into the newest technological advancement that has come around in the past few years for fishing, Forward Facing Sonar. This new technology lets anglers see a slice of the water column in front of them in real-time. This turns hours of blind casting searching for fish into a couple of targeted casts. Seeing this is the future Berkley Labs designed three new lures, the Krej, Finisher, and Power Switch, made just for this fishing technique. All three are made to easily target suspending fish and to be forward-facing optimized.
After the morning session, we broke up into three groups to cover three different presentations for the afternoon. The first I went to was covering fishing electronics, talking about Forward-Facing Sonar technologies. Which was honestly super helpful for me, I had only heard about FFS sonar tech before so I was not too familiar with it. I learned this is just another tool to help anglers be more efficient on the water, especially by allowing anglers to pick and choose the fish they want to pursue. After this, my group went on to a very interesting presentation from Nathaniel Hitt, a fish biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, on the use of AI for the conservation of fisheries. Where by using AI to find markers on fish caught by anglers or photographed in their habitats, biologists can get accurate counts of the species’ population and distribution in an area. A fun fact about this is the AI used for fish ID has its basis in technology from NASA for finding distinct patterns in space. Finally, our group went out to the Bass Tank to see the three new lures in motion. It’s one thing to look at a lure in hand it is another to see how it actually swims and reacts. We were given a thorough showing about how these lures work with all of them capable of great verticle movement up and down the water column to reach your targeted fish. But even still capable of almost holding in place to spend the most time possible in a strike zone as they are worked.
The third day of the symposium was the on-the-water day, where we got split into two groups with one group fishing on Lake Houston and one group touring the NASA facilities. My group was on the water first, so we got on a shuttle and headed up north to Lake Houston. While the original plan had us on the main lake in some deeper areas, the weather had been forecasted to switch overnight and only get worse as the day went on. And the forecast was spot on, looking out the window I could see Clear Lake completely churned up and even white capping in the distance. So instead of the main lake, we went further up north into some of the protected backwaters.
After the interesting bus ride up north, we split up onto our separate bass boats. I was fishing with fellow media guy Lenny Rudow, James Caldemeyer as the boat driver, and Shane Lehew as the Pro angler showing us the ropes. Honestly, the water was not looking promising, it was probably 4″ of visibility at best. On top of the weather, I normally wouldn’t even bother coming out on a day like this. But this wasn’t about trying to catch fish but more about having an on-the-water experience with the new lures and experiencing some of Garmin’s forward-facing sonar.
So I was honestly not super sold on these baits when I was first shown them the day before but after getting to fish them my opinion on the lures was changed a good bit. Starting with the Power Switch, I assumed it was just going to be another swim-shad style bait, but it has surprisingly good action with tons of side-to-side action when you pop it on the rod. You can also fish it more subtly with a slow retrieve and lightly shaking the rod tip, letting the Power Switch sort of hover and have its tail twitch and wiggle as it swims back. The Finisher looks pretty simple with no lip but has a wide range of action depending on how you work it. It is capable of easily working the water column in erratic or subtle actions. The third and most unique of the Forward-Facing optimized lures is the Krej, a reverse-billed “jerk” bait. It is capable of an incredible amount of vertical movement, quickly sinking down but also easily coming right back up. Then when you pause it, the weighting of the lure lets it slide back while shimmying, almost taunting a fish as it goes back towards any followers.
Me and Lenny both got to fish using Forward-Facing Sonar as well, which was a first for me. After using it for just a little bit, I honestly get it and understand why Berkley Labs is focusing on this technique. It’s not a magic bullet that is unfair to the fish or will always load your boat. Instead, it just makes your time on the water more efficient. We found schools of fish suspending which I would have just skipped over normally. And watching the screen as I could see my Power Switch and how the fish reacted to it was really cool. Of course, though the fish didn’t want anything to do with it, but seeing it in real time is amazing. The conditions were tough, but our Pro Angler Shane still managed to land a nice 4lb fish, showing us all why he’s the pro. I definitely want to look into grabbing a forward-facing unit to throw onto a fishing kayak later this year after this experience.
While I wouldn’t have minded spending all day on the water to mess with the lures and the sonar some more, we did eventually have to head back in and head back to the Space Center to switch with the other group. Once we got back, we got to have the whole Space Center Houston experience with a tour of the Space Center. Getting to see the Historic Mission Control Center, the Astronaut Training Facility, and one of the three remaining Saturn V rockets up close. I have to say if you’re ever in the Houston/Galveston area definitely tour the Space Center. Great choice by Berkley Labs to hold the Science Symposium at one of the shining symbols of scientific innovation in the nation. I am excited to see what else they have in store for the future and even without Forward-Facing Sonar as of now, have been enjoying fishing these new lures as of writing this.
