Interesting......

He even calls it "sexy shad"???  

Is this war?

Sorry but the 'ol Sexy was never anything new. These and many others were out before sexy was.

But that is not to say that Norman isn't bitting off the sucess of Sexy.

It's going to suck for the custom painters that were making a mint selling normans in this color on ebay.

A.K.A. chartreuse shad.

Ill probably pick up a few of those normans.

Chart. shad is similar to the sexy shad pattern, but not identical.

There's the sexy shad pattern on a SK Redeye Shad.  Notice the orange dot on the front hook hanger.  This is replicated by Norman in the first photo I posted.

There's Bandit's chart. shad pattern.  It has no orange dot.

That's what I'm saying! They even have the orange dot...and the shape of the bait is almost identical to my eyes!

The SK baits are a little more slender than the Norman baits.  If I had my cranks in the truck I would take a photo or two.

Yeah looks like chartuese racing stripes are in.LC was the first I noticed that basic color.

To dot or not to dot

dot is the question  8-)

I might be wrong, but isn't KVD the guy who turned the chart. shad into the sex icon it is today?

I might be wrong, but isn't KVD the guy who turned the chart. shad into the sex icon it is today?

His success at Guntersville using that pattern made the "sexy shad" the must have color last year.

I might be wrong, but isn't KVD the guy who turned the chart. shad into the sex icon it is today?

His success at Guntersville using that pattern made the "sexy shad" the must have color last year.

Guntersville and Grand Lake in OK.

Here's the Norman sexy shad pattern vs. the Strike King pattern.  DD22 vs. SK Series 6

As you can see, the SK series 6 is quite a bit different than the classicly patterned DD22.

Thanx for the comparison shots... that's what I was looking for.  

I always have to wonder, when I think about the Sexy Shad phenomenon - - - David Fritts is arguably the most successful deep crankbait fisherman who has ever lived, and has probably caught more fish deep cranking in a year than KVD has caught in his whole life fishing them, yet look at the influence KVD's color selection has had in the selling of THOUSANDS and thousands of crankbaits.  

Perhaps it's because Fritts focuses mostly on the technique (art) of deep cranking, which places more emphasis on the experience and skills of the fisherman, rather than just on one little piece of the puzzle.  Not that Fritts isn't a good lure salesman - that should be expected of anyone who is paid or compensated to promote a product......for some reason his success doesn't seem to earn him the same level of influence as a "KVD."    

Of course, were that the case, the talk might go something like:

"Man - - Fritts was just tearing them up on deep cranks this week!"

"Yeah?  What was color was he using?"

"Um....just pearl with a black back - half the paint was knocked off the bait though.....some old beat up Poes or something..."  

It would be real nice to see a comparison of KVD's lure up next to the baits being sold.  I bet there is a big difference between the color on the two baits.  

Fritts was known to intentionally scuff his baits to give them a worn look and let the sun fade the paint before he fish with them.  If he could have only fished a Big M Digger during his prime, no telling what the man could have won ;D

Sexy shad is a nice shad pattern, but so is Lavender Shad, TN Shad, Gizzard Shad, Chart Shad, etc.

I don't think the Sexy is a magic bullet color.

I've caught more fish on the SK TN Shad color (Green back) down at Guntersville than on Sexy ayway.

I own some of each, but this is largely a marketing scheme to capitalize on KVD's two wins last year using the bait.

Color is overrated IMHO, as long as you are in the basic hue of the forage (i.e. shad, bluegill, craw). Only exception to this I feel is in gin clear water, and a Crankbait is seldom a fisrt choice in real clear water anyway.

Kudos to KVD and SK for marketing the color so well. BPS has hundreds of the Sexy S color in stock here, and they keep flying off the shelves. I'd say whatever SK is paying KVD is not enough. He is the Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods of the Bass game as far as moving product.

SC