Is Kvd Fooling Us?

[Bassn Blvd]

This IS NOT a bash thread.

How does he catch fish on the Strike King cranks. I've watched 3 or 4 of his shows and in everyone he was throwing the Sexy Shad crank. I've only bought 3 three Strike King cranks, EVER. 2 different size Sexy Shad and some other colored one. I have yet to catch a fish on them, ZERO confidence.

Neither of my Sexy Shads seem to run as true as my Lucky Crafts.

I was fishing cranks in my tourny the other day and decided to give the SK a shot. I started with a discontinued color LC and boated one on the first cast. Caught a few more over the next 10 minutes. I switched to the SK sexy shad and not even a hit. I went back to the LC crank and Pointer and caught a few more.

I realize the two different colors of cranks I was using could have been the deciding factor or perhaps because the LC crank was a bit smaller thant the SK.

Who fishes cranks as one of their primary baits (like every outing)? Do you throw the Sk and have good results with them.

I'm beginning to think KVD is using a different brand crank painted like the SK Sexy Shad, Hahaha. I know he's not but how does he do it. And I don't want to hear it's because he's KVD.

[clayton86]

well technically your reading not hearing soooooooo...............because hes KVD

[NoBassPro]

I fish cranks quite a bit and do well with SK baits. I don't believe their QC is quite as good as the other mid range priced baits, but they work. I just end up throwing away a few more of them than the others.

I can't compare them to LC baits as I don't fish them. I went to pick up some this spring and the guy at the tackle store kind of talked me out of it, but its been my observation that if a more subdued action seems to be working they (SK baits) probably aren't going to do well.

[MCS]

Doesn't he modify the **** out of them so they run all kinds of different from the "out of the box versions"?

Maybe yours are just not "tweaked" properly lol

[logan9209]

From what I've seen KVD is one of those guys who isn't satisfied with "outta the box". Even the lures that he's helped design he will still find a different way to fish them or modify them. Sometimes I swear it's almost as if there's a diver in the water that just puts the bass on the hook for him.

I haven't had any success on the SK cranks either. I have the sexy shad and the gizzard shad color. Keep in mind that until very recently I have been big on soft plastics. So I'm not really qualified to answer your question. I will say that I have this Bomber Model A Square Bill foxy shad 0'-3' that really stays at 0' more times than not. I hung a bass with it. Can't tell you why? It was acting more like a wake bait rather than a crankbait.

The thing to remember about KVD is that most of his video's are done over a few days or a couple of weeks. Still fun to watch him trying to give a lesson and he'll catch bass in mid sentence and sometimes every other mid sentence.

[KevO]

LC run right straight out of the box, SK usually don't at least the ones I've bought don't anyway. They are also 1/3 of the price of LC. I tune the cranks so they run straight, and change the hooks. They are good to go after that and catch a bunch of fish.

[South FLA]

Not much of a lipped crank-bait fisherman other than in the summer time and I can tell you the KVD cranks catch them, but my favorites are the old Rick Clunn series LC lures, they produce. I think it really depends on what the fish want at the time, for example I fish lip-less cranks pretty much year around, and sometimes a certain brand produces more than others used from the same boat. For lip-less cranks I bounce between SK Red Eye Shad, Spro Aruku Shad, Xcaliber, and Yo Zuri. Depending on fish mood sometimes one brand outmatches the other and vice-verse, although the lure I have most confidence in is the One Knocker.

KVD does modify the lures and uses different trebles and most likely does things he hasn't shared with the public, but KVD is on the active fish more often than the competitors and that is why he successful. He just happens to use Strike King, fish from a NItro, etc. So to an large extent it is the fisherman, but without some objective way to measure one lures success ratio over the other in a variety of situations we can only speculate and have fun doing so.

[Avalonjohn44]

I only have a few SK cranks other than the KVD1.5 and 2.5 of which I own many. The normal SK cranks are generally sub par, craftmanship is poor and inconsistant, the hooks stink, the paint jobs are sometimes brittle and flake off. I am not a fan.

However, the KVD 1.5s, for me, catch fish almost as well as my Lucky Craft RC1.5s. They are fairly durable and all of mine have run true so far. The hooks aren't great, and a lot of people change them out. I haven't yet because I am lazy. So far it hasn't come back to bite me... They are fairly inexpensive and are becoming my go to crank.

[MrSwimJig]

I have a friend who loves to fish cranks and he loves the KVD crank baits but he does not fish them the way they come out of the box. He changes the treble hooks and makes other changes to them, no clue what they are. I just give him mine and he tweaks them and they work.

[Packard]

No, they are good cranks and many will stand behind them. They don't reach the quality of lucky crafts but they work better in a lot of situations. I catch more fish on my SK cranks than my LC cranks.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

About the only SK cranks I have regular success on are the 1.5's and the Red Eye Shad's. I've had isolated success on most of the others, but I haven't really developed much confidence with them. As far as lipless go, it's usually an Aruku, Xcalibur, Red Eye, or the Yo-Zuri. I've really become a fan of the Aruku Shad lately. Those things just catch fish. Shallow cranks are normally the SK 1.5, RC 1.5, orXcalibur. For 99% of the crankbait fishing I do down here, those cover pretty much everything.

[A-Rob]

Work ok for me.

I catch lots of smallies on them up north to

[smalljaw67]

The SK cranks work well, when you catch fish using a different bait it is because the size or color or perhaps a little different action was the key to getting the fish to bite. I had the same thing happen when I couldn't get bit on a 1.5 but a Rapala DT Flat 3 was working and I had a trip that the 1.5 was killing but I couldn't buy a strike on a Manns 1 minus and that is the reason we all have a few different brands, colors, and sizes of cranks. As for KVD moding his baits, he does the same thing we do, he changes the hooks and it is my only complaint about SK crankbaits, but for the price you really can't complain.

[Jim_M]

They do work.

But these....

http://www.rapala.co...id=rapala-lures

work better for me. A lot better.

Your mileage will vary

[Crankenstein Crony]

I primarily use SK cranks. They have produced very well for me! I change hooks on every crank I throw whether its a Strike King crank or a Lucky Craft crank. So crappy hooks really isn't an issue to me. I've won tournaments on 1.5's, 4S, Series 5's, 5xd's and 6xd's. I stand behind Strike King cranks 100%.

[Dave P]

We caught the hell out of fish today on 6XDs.

[ripinthem]

Us, fish, it don't matter. Kevin is fooling everyone.

[BIG M]

I'm sure that KVD weeds thru 1000's of cranks in the off season to find his winning baits. He's not running down to Wal-mart and fishing off shelf baits.

Now every pro has a stash of secret baits for those special situations.

[grimlin]

I'm convince KVD can throw a hardened dog poop turd and still catch fish. The man is just amazing in the way he fishes and he fishes stuff so fast that's it's nothing but reaction strikes.

My buddy SWEARS by the lipless cranks(red eye shad).... And I have caught a bass or two on them as well.

[Traveler2586]

Doesn't he modify the **** out of them so they run all kinds of different from the "out of the box versions"?

Maybe yours are just not "tweaked" properly lol

X2 I like KVD and for some reason trust him even though I've never met him. But we've all heard him and other pros talk about "learning to work" their baits, and tweaking them to run this way or that, or changing out hook sizes. There are tricks to everything.

[ChiCityBasser]

I fish SK cranks and others and always switch out the hooks to triple grips on almost every crank I fish. I have a couple of LC cranks and have had some success but it's been limited and it may be my color selection. I fish the 1XS mainly during the spring in he Gizzard Shad,Tennessee Shad and Sexy Shad with the GS and TS working very well during those times and any time I can swim them over submerged grass I've done very well. The colors all have their time and place but SK cranks work very well and the hookup ratio is better to me once the hooks are changed out and I prefer the mustad triple grips.

[BamaBassChaser]

The only ones I use are the 1.5 and 2.5 and I have pretty good luck with them.

[buzzfrog]

dont mean to hijack, but beside change hooks, how else do you fix them.. or could somebody point me to a site or somtihng

[Wayne P.]

You have to test them to see how they run, and make adjustments to the line tie as needed. Each lure is not individually tank tested like Rapala baits are. Some are not tuneable due to mfg flaws.--those you exhange at the purchase source.

That process goes for any crankbait.

I've exhanged Bandit and Bomber cranks a lot to get rid of deffective ones.

KVD did a tuning demo on the NBCsports channel today with one of the medium divers.

[MCS]

dont mean to hijack, but beside change hooks, how else do you fix them.. or could somebody point me to a site or somtihng

Size of the rings the trebles go on, you can also change how it runs by using or not using rings where you tie a bait on, pinching or changing angle of the tie on point will also change it. Some of the videos on in fisherman or nbc sports channel, it might be that strike king product vid I am thinking of, go into detail on some of the tweaks. I recall seeing on bait would run at angle out of the box the they changed some things and it ran perfect. I don't even attempt the stuff but it is cool to watch them, like an art form or something