One of my favorite crankbaits as of late has been the Berkley Dredger 14.5, so I figured I’d take a few minutes and write up a review about the Dredger series. Here’s a few that I’ve got in my tackle box at the moment:
If you aren’t familiar with them Berkley markets these as a smaller profile crankbait that is able to dive deeper than most crankbaits in its class. If you look closely at the bottom one in the picture, you can see there’s a weight in the bill which they say helps it get down quicker, and they also claim that the profile and shape help reduce drag.
I can attest to the drag reduction and it’s actually one of my favorite things about these lures. I typically use the 15-20 foot models, and have noticed a lot of drag with other lures that get down to this depth. It might not seem like a big deal right away, but if you spend a couple of hours throwing a crankbait, there’s a good chance you will notice it too.
Another thing I really like about these is the price. A lot of my favorite crankbaits are pretty expensive, so with a price tag of $12.99 each this one is actually pretty affordable. The quality is really good too and they come in a lot of different colors (my favorites are the hd threadfin and chameleon pearl which are both pictured).
These also cast really well. I’m not sure if that weight in the bill or something else, but regardless of what’s doing it I can confirm I can cast these a long way on the casting setups that I use with them. In terms of the claim about the diving depth I’ve found they perform as advertised. I can’t really say that I know if they perform better than others in the same class as I’ve not done a thorough comparison and don’t have the book of data that I’d want to be able to make such a claim, but I will say that they seem to get down to the depth that they are supposed to get to.
In terms of drawbacks I don’t really have any. I guess I could say that they don’t seem to make one in a chrome type of color, but that’s not much of an issue for me with deeper diving crankbaits anyway. And aside from that, I have to say these things are solid and I’ve been impressed with them. On another note Berkley also makes the Swamp Lord series of frogs which are widely regarded as best in class for frogs right now, and their Bullet Pop Popper is pretty good too so at this point a few of their lures have made it into my tackle box.
Tackle Summary
Product: Berkley Dredger 14.5
Category: Deep Diving Crankbait
Length: 2.5″
Weight: 5/8 oz
Suggested Colors: Chameleon Pearl, HD Threadfin Shad