Pure Fishing Showcases New Product Offerings for 2025 in New Charleston Showroom

Pure Fishing New Products 2025

As an angler, it’s easy to get jaded whenever companies start hyping the next big thing. It happens yearly as fishing companies drop countless new lures, rods, reels, and other tackle. Many of us have been burned plenty of times by lures that seem to be designed to catch more fishermen than fish. When a brand gets as big as Pure Fishing has, you’d be forgiven for being cautious. The company has countless brands, including Ugly Stik, Berkley, Penn, Pflueger, Savage Gear, Fenwick, Shakespeare, and more under their big corporate umbrella.

Over the last five years, I’ve been fortunate enough to spend time conversing and angling with the men and women behind these brands' operations. If there’s one takeaway I have, these people love to fish as much as the rest of us. Whether you want to believe it or not, these people really do want to help anglers catch more fish.

This winter, I played snowbird, spending most of February escaping the hellscape of Michigan’s winter in the south. During my trip planning, Pure Fishing invited me to the grand opening of their new headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina. I decided to swing by and check it out since it was just a slight detour on the way home. Once there, they showcased everything new in 2025 for all their brands. As you might expect, there’s a bevy of new offerings. There were so many that I don’t have time to highlight them all here. However, these select products caught my eye as the most exciting new offerings on Pure Fishing’s plate.

Plano StowAway Re-Design

Buy at PlanoPure Fishing likes to beta test products to get feedback for redesigns. In the case of the Plano StowAway redesign, the engineers thought they nailed it on the first try—that is, until they sent prototypes to 4,500 anglers. Angler feedback resulted in another round of revisions and the latest release. Plano simplified things by adding a single extended latch to these boxes. The latch has a white label area for easy identification when the box sits on end.

One last interesting feature is that Plano made these storage boxes nest perfectly into one another. This makes for a solid stack on a shelf in the off season. It’s a minor feature, but one that’s very welcome.

PowerBait Drip Swimmer and Minnow

Buy on AmazonBerkley’s reps demonstrated these new soft plastics to us in a water tank. These are finesse plastics for drop shots, jigs, and swim shot techniques. Available in three, four, and five-inch sizes, they have excellent, erratic darting action. The “Drip” part of the name comes from the subtle, thin tail. It has a lot of action that adds to the dying baitfish illusion. PowerBait is marketing this heavily towards forward-facing sonar. However, I think it has applications in various techniques beyond that.

Buy on AmazonOne thing that stands out about these soft plastic baits is their appearance. Most of the color patterns are modeled after real baitfish, such as shad and shiners. The attention to detail is excellent. Gills, fins, and markings are perfect, adding to the illusion. While I think the natural colors will be fantastic, Berkley also offers classic colors like green pumpkin, pink, and lime green.

PowerBait Max Scent Crud Craw

Buy on AmazonOne can never have enough crawfish lures. The PowerBait Max Scent Crud Craw is an excellent new addition for more aggressive fish. Everything about this craw is oversized. The body is four inches long. Berkley made the claws on this bait gigantic, and they have a tantalizing action on the free fall. Expect this thing to get snapped up quickly in warm water scenarios.

As if the action wasn’t enough, this is a Max Scent lure. Berkley’s Max Scent line just seems more potent than regular PowerBait. The more battered the lure gets, the better it seems to leach a scent trail and entice bites.

Berkley Krej

Buy at AmazonThis unusual reverse jerk bait isn’t new, but Berkley expanded the line in 2025 to include two new sizes. It features an upturned lip that makes it dart toward the surface in an erratic action. I’ve been fishing this lure for a couple of years now, and it is a fish-catching machine. This was another lure that was initially designed for forward-facing sonar. However, like the Drip Swimmer and Minnow, it works fine for regular casting. Even when this lure isn’t being reeled or twitched, it has an excellent shimmy on free fall.

After all my success with the lure last year, it was exciting to see Berkley add a larger and smaller size to the lineup. The larger version is about five inches long, which should make it a more enticing prey item for larger species like pike and muskie. This lure is an excellent option on highly pressured waters since it looks and moves like no other lure. Not many fish have seen the Krej yet, making them more likely to attack.

Berkley Gulp! Nemesis Prawn and Turbo Shrimp

Buy at AmazonBerkley is fiercely protective of the Gulp brand. I found that out firsthand when I visited their Spirit Lake, Iowa, factory several years ago. The company uses codewords for all the ingredients in the line to prevent employees from learning the secret sauce. As if that wasn’t enough, the area where Gulp is produced is walled off from prying eyes. Even though the group of writers I was with was prohibited from taking photos, we still weren’t allowed in the Gulp area! Whatever they put into these baits, it seems to work.

For 2025, Berkley has two new Gulp baits that look promising for saltwater anglers. The Nemesis Prawn is a funky-looking curly-tail bait with a cool name. I love the tail action on this one. It can be jigged or swum through the water, and it should be perfect for various inshore scenarios. Berkley is initially offering eight color schemes.

The other new bait is the Turbo Shrimp. (Who names these things? I love it.) It has eleven color schemes and three, four, and five-inch sizes. What sets this bait apart is the tantalizing action of the multiple legs. They twitch and quiver, just like a real shrimp. As if that wasn’t enough, the tail undulates up and down on the fall and retrieves.

Pflueger President Low Profile Baitcasters

Buy at AmazonIn my opinion, the Pflueger brand is vastly underrated among anglers. They continue to produce gorgeous, silky-smooth fishing reels that perform as well as they look. I loved the new President and President XT low-profile baitcasting reels. They feel great in the hands and offer a max drag of 15 pounds and a magnetic braking system. The ergonomics of the XT model are especially pleasant. Pflueger gave the handle cork knobs for that model.

We also appreciate Pflueger’s dedication to ensuring both models have left- and right-handed versions. Both reels are incredibly affordable, at $79 for the standard President and $109 for the XT model. Pflueger might not be the flashiest name in fishing today, but these President models are an excellent mid-tier product for anglers looking to step up from budget-minded options.

Penn Battle IV Spinning Reel

Buy at AmazonTechnically, Penn’s Battle IV was around last year, but this was my first chance to see and handle one. This reel is being offered in sizes 1000 to 10000. It’s a line covering everything a saltwater angler could want, especially with standard and high-speed models. Like all Penn reels, it feels practically bulletproof thanks to a metal body. They beefed up the seals on this model to make it more corrosion resistant.

I still think Penn’s Authority reel is the cream of the crop when it comes to saltwater spinning reels. The Battle IV isn’t quite as smooth as the Authority, but it still reels beautifully despite only having six bearings. It’s likely the CNC gear contributes to that performance.

The Battle IV’s $150 to $200 price point makes it a much more affordable option for the average angler. It might not be as rugged as the Slammer or as smooth as the Authority, but it will perform beautifully. This is a dynamite option for shore, pier, and lighter inshore applications.

Pure Fishing HQ

During this press event, we were initially scheduled to get on the water for some saltwater fishing. Unfortunately, high winds and heavy rains spoiled the party. However, I did get to explore their new Charleston showroom extensively. The showroom represents a shift in marketing for Pure Fishing’s brands. The company is doing the unprecedented, completely pulling out of the annual ICAST sportfishing trade show. Pure Fishing stressed this has nothing to do with the show itself. They still support what the organizers of that show are doing. Instead, they decided that this new permanent showroom will be their showcase to retailers, pro anglers, influencers, and journalists.

It's an interesting new approach to getting the undivided attention of these parties. They won't have to figure out how to make their brand stand out in a sea of competitor booths. However, there is more to it than that. It allowed for more time with the decision-makers and designers of each brand's products. And they were genuinely interested in hearing feedback, both good and bad. It was refreshing since so few big corporations are willing to hear criticism these days.

We’ll be watching the greater Pure Fishing umbrella carefully over the next few years to see how these brands change and evolve. In the meantime, their new products are worthy of a look as you plan your angling adventures this summer.