Dave Lehman displays an Allegheny River walleye taken on a bucktail jig tipped with a soft-bodied minnow.

It's a shame gamefish don't have an appreciation for old movies. For if they did, when one of Berkley's new Gulp baits came drifting along, they could mimic the Fredrick character from the Mel Brooks classic "Young Frankenstein," exclaiming, "It's alive! It's alive!"

For nearly two decades, Berkley has been a leader in the development of soft-bodied artificial baits that not only look and feel like the real thing, but have taste- and scent-attracting qualities as well. Its latest generation in the Gulp lineup, called Gulp Alive, elevates the bar to the next level.

Gulp Alive comes in a variety of shapes and sizes for both freshwater and saltwater angling. Of most interest to folks from this part of the angling world are the minnow, minnow grub and leech versions.

The leech, which comes only in black, is available in both 3-inch and 5-inch versions. The minnow grub, a twister-tail style bait, is made in both 2-inch and 3-inch sizes. Both chartreuse and white minnow grubs are available. Gulp Alive minnows come in both 3- and 4-inch sizes, and are made in black shad, emerald shiner, pumpkinseed, chartreuse shad and smelt patterns.

Gulp baits differ from most other soft baits in that they are made of a biodegradable material. Initial offerings of Gulp baits had to be handled with more care than typical soft plastic baits. When left out of the water for some time, they will dry out. The same goes for storage. You must remember to keep the zip-lock closed to persevere the freshness of the bait.

Gulp Alive, though, is packaged in small buckets filled with a liquid Berkley calls "gravy." The baits can be recharged with scent by plunging them back into the juice. At the end of the day, simply unhook your bait and put it back in the bucket for use next time out.

During the past two weeks, I've put the 3-inch minnows to the test on trips to the Allegheny River, and I've been very impressed with what I've experienced.

On my first drift through a hole known to hold walleyes during the late fall, fish of 22 and 24 inches inhaled the bucktail jig I had tipped with a 3-inch smelt-pattern minnow.

And they didn't just hit it, they ate the thing. I needed to use long-nose pliers to reach down inside their mouths to unhook the jig. Throughout that day several smallmouth bass also succumbed to the minnow-tipped jig.

A few days later, I was on a different section of the Allegheny in an area known to produce lots of good-sized smallmouth bass during the late fall. It was a day when nearly 40 bass were boated, about half of them on the Gulp Alive minnow-tipped jig. Most of the bass were in the 14- to 17-inch range.

Another aspect of these baits that I really like is their toughness. There are a lot of effective soft baits on the market. I use various shapes and styles from various manufacturers 12 months of the year.

But with certain baits, due to their softness, it's common to catch only a fish or two on one before it needs to be replaced. It can get a little expensive when the fish are really on. With these minnows, I've caught numerous bass and walleyes before the bait was rendered unfit.

In addition to use as a tipping bait, these offerings can be fished alone by way of many standard rigging options.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.