I picked a couple of these up after Christmas and finally got around to throwing it. Being honest my expectations were very low based on my lack of success with the standard Strike King square bills.

I managed to pull in 7 smallies on it in 30 minutes on the river this afternoon. It came through snags well and really seemed to call in the smallies big and small. Now I just need to see if it stands the test of time and can continue to catch fish, but man this was one heck of a start. A bonus was the trebles out of the box were super sticky.

The KVD square bills are, for what you pay, possibly the best bargain in squarebill cranks.

I fish a large river for smallmouth and there are times when square bills are the best bait to throw and the regular KVD 1.5 are pretty good. That said, bill angles play a big part in how the bait deflects and comes through cover, I haven't fished the shallow version yet but judging from your post it would seem the lip angle really helps it come through cover better than the regular 1.5.

Had it out again and hauled in 3 more fish. It seems to deflect well off of rocks, which may have more to do with the action of the bait instead of the bill. I only really hung it once pretty good on a rock, but it floated loose. I think the fact that it runs shallower than a Bandit 100 will hopefully keep lost baits to a minimum. It seems to have an easy side to side roll action, it is not a hard thumping bait. So far the best retrieve has been slow with some pauses. It floats up slowly, which may be why it is so effective fished this way.

Now I need to get it out on a lake at some point to see how it does there, but that would just be a bonus, this will be in my river box for a long time.