About Berkley Fishing
Berkley Fishing is among the largest fishing product manufacturers in the world. Berkley's products include Trilene Line, Havoc Baits and Gulp. Berkley's motto is simple: Catch More Fish!
You have a passion for the sport. And so does Berkley. That's what's made them the world's leading fishing tackle company. Passion. Berkley is the premium brand of fishing tackle that fuels your passion for fishing, offering the broadest array of innovative solutions developed by anglers who share your commitment to the sport. At Berkley, their goal remains surprisingly simple - to make fishing fun and help anglers everywhere to Catch More Fish! Their leading edge technology has resulted in performance advances in fishing lines, soft baits, hard baits, fishing rods and terminal tackle. Berkley's commitment to conservation is reflected in their Berkley Conservation Institute (BCI). The BCI was created to put Berkley science and technology into action to help protect the health and well being of the worldwide fish population. In sharing the angler's passion for fishing, Berkley Conservation Institute's mission is to ensure fishable waters for angler generations to come. That is why the BCI is "Dedicated to the Future of Fishing".
Taken from the Berkley Fishing website:
It all began in Spirit Lake, Iowa, in June of 1937, when 16-year old Berkley Bedell took $50.00 from his paper route earnings to start a business selling his hand-tied flies to fishing tackle shops and vacationing anglers. In his upstairs bedroom, with hair clipped from the family dog, Stubby, and feathers from the backyard chickens, young Berkley crafted flies to entice local bluegill and bass from their underwater cover. The Berkley Fly Co. was founded. By the time Berk graduated from high school in 1939, he was employing several area girls who made flies, silkworm gut, and cable wire leaders in their homes. The business soon outgrew Berk's parent's basement and living room. He expanded to the second floor of the local grocery store, using a tub filled with ice and a fan for air conditioning. After attending the state university and serving in the Army Air Corps, Berk returned to Spirit Lake in 1945 to start Berkley and Company. The business focus was on its cable wire leaders. One evening, while reading Popular Science, Berk learned about a Connecticut company that was producing nylon-covered cable for sailboat rigging. After visiting their plant, he began to work on nylon-coated wire for use in fishing leaders. Soon, the Steelonﾮ leader was introduced and production began in Spirit Lake. Shortly after this, the distinctive Berkley heart logo was designed with the slogan "nylon leader with a heart of stainless steel." Berk next became interested in extruding nylon monofilament fishing line. At that time, all nylon came from DuPont. After receiving a license from DuPont, Berk returned to Spirit Lake to begin work developing equipment to produce nylon. The initial extrusion equipment consisted of reclaimed washing machine wringers, bicycle wheels, and other homespun materials. Soon Berkley was marketing private brand mono as well as Dew Flex monofilament. Ongoing experimentation would soon yield the company's breakthrough innovation - Trilene. In 1959, Berkley introduced Trileneﾮ at about the same time DuPont introduced Stren. To help introduce the new line, Berk sent out thousands of sample spools of line and asked store owners to have their best fisherman try it on a spinning reel. Fishermen loved the line and it began the successful launch of Berkley Trilene. The next four decades were a time of great growth for the company. In the 1960's Berkley entered into the rod business, which lead to international expansion in the 1970's. Soft plastic baits made an appearance in the 1980's. The 1990's through today have seen significant technology improvements in all of the Berkley products. From the beginning, Berkley has committed significant resources to research and development - a continuing strategy that has resulted in countless product innovations, including Berkley Trilene, the Lightning Rod, PowerBait, FireLine, and more recently Gulp!ﾮ and Gulp! Alive
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