Reading through my FLW mag the other day, I came across this article about the R&D facility at Berkeley. I enjoy the FLW Magazine, and feel like they are really up there in terms of covering the western bass fishing scene, so I was interested to read this particular article.

The piece went on to talk about Powerbait Scent, and Berkeley's general methodology for developing new product. I'm a big fan of Berkeley scents. It's one of the few scents that I feel like really works. It's not Joe Lunchbucket grinding up some nightcrawlers, mixing in some garlic and claiming it has genetic response. Powerbait was developed using a scientific method, and no doubt Berkeley spent big money and considerable time developing the product.

But the more I read, the more I just felt let down. I felt let down because here is this multi-million dollar company (Pure Fishing) with great facilities, and the budget to really bring great products to market (like Powerbait scent), and yet when I look at their new lure products, all I see is a bunch of clones of what is already out there.

This got me to thinking about some of the other big players in the industry, and the more I thought about it, the more disappointed I felt.

What if, instead of making the Berkeley Hollow Belly Swimbait (identical in every way to the Basstrix) they spent some time developing something new. Something unique. Something realistic, with great hookup percentage, that really gets bit and lands fish. They have access to some of the best fishermen in the world on their pro-staff. You're telling me those guys can't think of something cool?

I'm picking on Berkley because I look down their product lineup and go:

Gulp Nightcrawler - Roboworm
Chigger Craw - Paca Craw
Powerbait Beast - Sweet Beaver
Jerk Shad - Fin-S-Fish
Hollow Belly - Basstrix

But they are far from the only one. Far from the only big company with the money to make us fishermen some awesome new product. Product that kicks bass like Powerbait Scent, or Brush Hogs, or Senkos, or any of the epic baits that have withstood the test of time.

So my rant here is about who is getting ripped off in all this. And my take is that it's the fishermen who are getting ripped off.

Because I don't need 37 types of senkos. I just need a 10" senko and an 8/0 bronze gammie round bend offset shank hook to match. I don't need a 5" Berkeley Hollow Belly. I need a Basstrix with a hook system that is easy to use and lands fish. I don't need a Chigger Craw, I need a Paca Craw that stays on the hook a little better. I don't need a BBZ-2 Bluegill. I need a Mattlures Gill that's a little softer, and can handle being stuffed in an overfilled Plano 3700 all day in the sun. I don't need 24 varieties of the Chatterbait. I need a Chatterbait that comes stock with an extra strong snap and an eyelet that won't open.

I need a lot of different lures to catch big bass and chase tournament $. But I don't need more of the same, and I'm disappointed that that's what the biggest names in the industry are bringing to the table.

Totally argee rob...

Hey let that Bass go I wanna catch her some day
http://www.calfishing.com/gallery/v/members/tmcustoms/

I am not sure that this is the appropriate place to post my comment, but you are correct in your observations with Pure Fishing, and other large companies in the tackle industry.
Simply put, it is much cheaper to copy product, than to develop it AND test it properly. It has nothing to do with "right and wrong", "ethics" or even patents or laws. The big companies have the big legal budgets,and they will win, every time.

One example I will share is of my Rods. My logs are registered here in Japan, which takes a great deal of money(for a small company like mine). My swimbait series of rods were made before ANY company in the USA or Japan had released their first swimbait rod.
I filed to register "BBS" or "Big Bait Series" for my rods already in production. My BBS label had been featured in hundreds of pages of print, and on National TV.
Daiwa notified me that I could no longer use my labels, as they were going to register (after me) BBS for their reels and rods.
Even though I had filed first by a year, Daiwa's registry was approved.
My lawyer I keep on retainer against their whole team of lawyers and unlimited legal budget--the outcome is a given.

One thing that is odd, it that I have produced and sold several million dollars worth of rods with the BBS label, and have never been sued for using 'their' registered label. Even though they would win in court, my product had been in the media years before theirs, and that might make for bad publicity. I think I got lucky.

So why do large companies copy Basstrix (Hi Bruce!) Roboworm and the like. Because they can.

Finally, let me say that I have no "beef" with Daiwa or Pure Fishing (The latter I have done some behind the scenes business with).

As I said in my Tripple Trout post, "Who looses in this copy game?"
As Rob stated, "The Fisherman, or end user" by not getting product that is never released, or developed, even though the big players have the R&D monies to do so.

Just my $0.02.

"Known as the person who introduced swimbait fishing to Japan"

It really is just disappointing.

When I call my friends after ICAST and ask - is there anything good coming out this year? The answer unfortunately is - not really! I'm still using the same swimbaits from years past and have not added anything of significance to my tackle box in some time.

I don't care who does it, but it would sure be nice to see an amazing new bait like a hudd or triple trout come out sometime. It's been a while now.

Totally agree. It sucks for us. Not only are the knock-offs redundant, they're almost always lower quality than the original. 100 copies later I'm still using the original senko, the original brush hog, the original huddleston, the original chatterbait, the original sweet beaver, etc...

I wonder how much of a large company's sales are made up of their original "flagship" products. E.g. the pointer minnow for Lucky Craft, the power worm for Pure Fitching, the jelly worm for Manns (ok, maybe not the jelly worm).

At any rate, if the only original, quality lures are coming from small companies that's where I'll be spending my money and that's less money for Pure Fishing etc...

http://cgi.ebay.com/Largemouth-Bass-Lure-Musky-Northern-Pike-Muskie-Bait_W0QQitemZ380053521099QQihZ025QQcategoryZ31693QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Yay! Another Huddleston copy