Berkley Krej Earns ICAST 2024 New Product Showcase Award For Best Freshwater Hard Bait

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Columbia, SC – Entering a challenging market, the Berkley Krej shines brightest amongst stiff competition to win the Best of Category award for Freshwater Hard Bait at ICAST 2024. Breaking the narrative of freshwater hard baits, the Berkley Krej defied the odds with its innovative, upturned bill. The Berkley Krej is one of the most unique baits anglers will see on the market this year. Built to be used in conjunction with forward-facing sonar, the Berkley Krej gives fish a unique look they’ve never seen before.

This innovative hard bait was designed to mimic the natural, upwards fleeing reaction of a baitfish. Contrary to conventional methods of fishing a jerkbait, the upturned bill of the Berkley Krej (that’s “jerk” spelled backwards) allows it to work its way upwards in the water column, only to fall backwards towards the fish chasing the bait. Purposefully designed in Berkley Labs to excel with forward-facing sonar, this new style of fishing, or “krejing”, allows the angler to take advantage of being able to see how the fish reacts and work the bait up and away from the fish to better imitate a natural fleeing motion, or back towards the fish to trigger reaction strikes.

“The Krej is a bait that performs like no other hard bait, especially when paired with forward-facing  sonar,” said Berkley’s Senior Project Engineer of Bait and Terminal Tackle, Dan Spengler. “It’s a bait  that took over two years to develop, integrating key bait fish movements and predator-induced prey  reactions like darting, erratic motion behavior, and changes in motion. Whether it’s on the rise or fall, the  Krej is always in action. We implemented an upturned bill which allows this bait to conquer the water  column in a way a standard jerkbait cannot, but yet it can do so much more than that. There are several  ways to manipulate this bait to interact with fish and it gives anglers a solution to the current gaps when  using forward-facing sonar. Our team here at Berkley Labs is ecstatic to see the Berkley Krej receive the recognition it deserves.”

Berkley Krej – Key Features
• Upturned bill delivers unique ascending & darting action when worked.
• Backwards fall on pause (backslide) allows the angler to maintain presence in the strike zone longer and provides a triggering mechanism for reaction bites.
• Combination of ascending action and backslide on the fall maximizes angler control & time in the strike zone.
• Bait can be fished sub-surface or topwater to best imitate the natural progression of predator & prey.
• Optimized for use with forward-facing sonar
• Sinking (1ft / sec)

Sizes: 100mm
Colors: Blue Vapor • Stealth Shad • Stealth Minnow • Wakasagi • Chrome • OG Blue • Table Rock • Hankie Pankie • Nebu • Stunna Shad
MSRP: $14.99