I was fishing a brand new KVD 1.5 last night and proceeded to hook and lose 3 bass in a row. I checked the hooks and they couldn't have been more dull! Is it too much to ask for a company to put a decent hook on a bait? I think it's ridiculous to have to replace the hooks on a brand new bait! Charge me another $.75 for the bait and put some hooks on it that are worth using! A company the size of Strike King should have the integrity to put a decent hook on their baits. SMH!

Strange i run a lot of that bait and have never had that experience.  They may have changed hooks, something cheaper or low on stock, as some makers do that.  The kvd line to include the XD baits have a better hook than the regular series IMO.  Maybe just a bad one of???

 

Not sure if I got one from a bad batch or not but, I'll be checking the rest of them tomorrow.

You should read the FAQs & Rules. Bashing a company or brand is highly frowned upon. But anyway, try the Berkley line of hard baits. They come with razor sharp hooks out of the package. 

It could have been a bad batch, and that's on strike king, but it is also your fault for not checking the sharpness of your hooks before using them. I always carry a pocket sharpener with me, maybe you should do the same

Must have been a bad batch.

 

I was fishing some 1.5's right out of the box a little less than a month ago during our opener and I didn't have any issues with them at all. I fish them on a glass rod running straight 12lbs fluorocarbon as I find the glass rod really gives me an advantage when hooking fish. As I'm now getting into tournament fishing, I went out and upgraded my trebles to the Mustad UltraPoint KVD Elite Triple Grip 1X Treble Hook - 2X Short Shank and they've worked wonders in keeping fish pinned to the lure.

 

It does sound like this is a basic sharpening issue and I would just use a pocket sharpener on them as @bigturtle suggested.

The sharpness of stock hooks on SK hard baits has never been an issue. Long term durability has. I have bent and broken far too many. The get replaced right out of the package now with Mustad KVD elite 2x short, 1x strong triple grips. A 1.5 gets #4's. I know KVD up-sizes to #2's on 1.5's, but I have never had an issue with going with #4's.

 

 

Also I don't think it was sharpness as the culprit if you were hooking fish. Maybe you just had some super jumpy/feisty fish, as they tend to jump more after they spawn in my opinion. 

Call them and complain. They might throw a new lure your way

 

12 hours ago, CroakHunter said:

You should read the FAQs & Rules. Bashing a company or brand is highly frowned upon. But anyway, try the Berkley line of hard baits. They come with razor sharp hooks out of the package. 

 

Just relating my experience and my frustration with that bait.

15 hours ago, jtharris3 said:

 Is it too much to ask for a company to put a decent hook on a bait? I think it's ridiculous to have to replace the hooks on a brand new bait!

 

This is the part that I also have trouble with.  How often do you read here on BR that "xxxx is the best lure, but you have to change out the hooks on them"....I agree with you

I fish SK redeye shads and squarebills quite a bit. My issue with the hooks has always been strength (as mentioned) - they bend way easy.  Never noticed an issue with sharpness. I switch out to some quality Gammies or Owners, usually short shanks.

 

5 hours ago, Choporoz said:

 

This is the part that I also have trouble with.  How often do you read here on BR that "xxxx is the best lure, but you have to change out the hooks on them"....I agree with you

I know where ya'll are coming from. Baby 1- is prob my fav super shallow crank but has the worst hooks. But that thing catches bass so well it's worth the extra effort & cost to change out the trebles. 

Some strike king cranks come with Trokars and some with Gammys. I agree the typical stocked hooks are crap, I swap mine out for Mustads.

 

that being said, if you don't want to invest in new trebles, spend $5 on a file and touch them up yourself. Even if they come out of the pack sharp, they won't stay that way.

I noticed dull hooks on my strike King baits the other day straight from package. Funny enough they were on sale.

 

I bought the same style of bait at another location recently and they actually had different hooks and were much sharper.

 

Wonder if they are putting out baits with inferior hooks to sell at a cheaper cost.

On 7/10/2017 at 11:06 PM, jtharris3 said:

I was fishing a brand new KVD 1.5 last night and proceeded to hook and lose 3 bass in a row. I checked the hooks and they couldn't have been more dull! Is it too much to ask for a company to put a decent hook on a bait? I think it's ridiculous to have to replace the hooks on a brand new bait! Charge me another $.75 for the bait and put some hooks on it that are worth using! A company the size of Strike King should have the integrity to put a decent hook on their baits. SMH!

I'd rather them take $.75 off the price and put them in the package without hooks, I swap them right out of the package anyways. 

The KVD 1.5 is my favorite square bill. I haven't had a problem with the hooks. Like others have said maybe you got a junk batch.

On 7/10/2017 at 10:16 PM, CroakHunter said:

You should read the FAQs & Rules. Bashing a company or brand is highly frowned upon. But anyway, try the Berkley line of hard baits. They come with razor sharp hooks out of the package. 

no bashing just stating the truth from what i can see. anyways if your lure cost less than $10ea. they probably need new hooks. even lucky craft hooks need changing imo. they use lower quality hooks split rings etc so they can sell you the lure at a lower price point and therefore make more sales.

I always remove stock hooks and replace with triple grips or Stingers.

On 7/12/2017 at 1:25 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

I'd rather them take $.75 off the price and put them in the package without hooks, I swap them right out of the package anyways. 

 

Booyah!

Never had a problem with them being sharp, sticky sharp to be exact.  Now durability is another story.  Either something has changed or you've got a bad batch.  In fact I just got a shipment in from TW earlier this week that I haven't opened and have 4 SK 1.5's in it.  I'll check them out and get back with you.

Checked them out today.  The ones I have are still sticky sharp.  Just wish the durability was better.

On 7/12/2017 at 5:58 PM, BuzzHudson19c said:

The KVD 1.5 is my favorite square bill. I haven't had a problem with the hooks. Like others have said maybe you got a junk batch.

 

I'm getting a couple of these (1.5 ounce shad, black back chart, etc.) to try out in my fishing spots. Got a lot of rocks and I read these are great for fishing around rocky areas.