Berkley PowerBait MaxScent The General 5″ Review: The Stickbait That Replaces Them All

Testing Conditions

• Location: Southwest and Central Michigan natural lakes
• Target Species: Largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, incidental panfish
• Rod: 7′ Medium Power Spinning Rod
• Line: 8 lb Fluorocarbon
• Conditions: Clear to stained water, late spring to early summer, mixed pressure systems

The General performed across a range of bite windows — post-spawn recovery, cold front lockjaw, high-sun bluebird shutdowns. It worked when faster presentations were ignored. It also drew consistent panfish interference, confirming the scent trail was doing its job even when bigger predators were sluggish.

Performance Overview

• Casting & Accuracy: Great castability, skips tight under docks and overhanging cover effortlessly
• Fall Rate: Horizontal glide with a subtle shimmy; slower than a Senko, faster than a Dinger
• Strike Rate: Extremely high in tough conditions; panfish will confirm it constantly
• Durability: Surprisingly good — 2 to 4 fish per bait in most cases
• Scent Trail: MaxScent tech disperses scent naturally due to its water-based formulation — similar to how real bait bleeds into the water

Technique Versatility: One Bait, Five Jobs

This bait isn’t just for wacky rigging. It’s earned its keep by playing multiple roles on the boat deck. Our five favorite applications:

• Skip it under cover like a fluke — it lands soft, sinks naturally, and gets crushed on the fall
• Twitch it like a soft jerkbait — the shimmy acts like a dying baitfish
• Deadstick it in high-pressure situations — sometimes doing nothing is everything
• Wacky Rig it for open-water smallmouth or finicky largemouth
• Drop Shot it weightless for suspended or deep fish using a finesse line

No matter how you rig it, the scent becomes the closer. Fish bite. Fish hold on. End of story.

Head-to-Head: MaxScent vs. The Classics

We timed all three on 8 lb fluoro. The General lands right in the middle — the goldilocks zone for most of our fishing. It stays in the water column just long enough to let the scent spread but not so long that it bores the fish or slows the pace.

Pros & Cons Summary

• ✅ Pros: Incredibly versatile, amazing scent retention, durable, affordable, catches anything with fins
• ⚠️ Cons: Panfish love it (for better or worse), scent leaves residue, less “wiggle” than a fast-sinking Senko

Who Should Be Throwing This

This is a finesse angler’s dream. If you’re the type who slows down when the bite does, you’re going to want a few bags of these. It shines for:

• Anglers fishing under docks, bridges, and tight cover
• Finesse fishermen who rely on subtle movement and scent to seal the deal
• Anyone frustrated by one-fish-and-done baits like the Senko
• Situations where fish are spooky, suspended, or pressured hard

This isn’t a bait you’ll use for sonar ping-and-pitch work — and it doesn’t need to be. The fish come to it.

Final Verdict

The Berkley MaxScent The General has proven itself time and time again. It’s not flashy. It’s not a new-school trick bait. But it flat-out produces — day in and day out. The scent, the fall rate, the durability, and the variety of ways to rig it make it a powerhouse stickbait that belongs in every finesse-focused boat or bank bag. We don’t leave the dock without it.