FISHING
PRODUCT REVIEW
STRIKE KING KVD 1.5 DEEP
p
roduct development
experts at strike king
didn’t reinvent the
wheel with the kVd 1.5
deep crankbait, but they
did add a new dimension to
the company’s square-bill
lineup that takes the hunt-
ing, wandering talents of its
most popular shallow-diver
to a depth range typically
filled by magnum square-
bills, coffin bills and other
medium-diving plugs.
First Impression
the 1.5 deep’s body is
made with an identical
mold as the shallower-div-
ing 1.5 square-bill, resulting
in a familiar body shape.
34
both crankbaits also fea-
ture the same premium
components, including
VMc trebles, stainless o-
rings, 3-d eyes and an oval
line tie.
but there are some dif-
ferences, the most obvious
being the 1.5 deep’s inch-
long squared bill that caus-
es the bait to dig deeper in
the water column and do
an erratic dance as it
deflects off stumps, rocks
and other hard objects 8 to
10 feet beneath the sur-
face. It’s also noticeably
heavier thanks to an inter-
nal weight that bolsters
casting distance but doesn’t
appear to take away from
By Matt Williams
photos by Matt pace
the bait’s action. the finish-
es are above average in 25
attractive color schemes.
In action
the beauty of a good
square-bill crankbait is the
way it triggers reaction
strikes as it hunts and
deflects off hard objects
such as rocks, stumps and
pilings, or traverses sub-
merged grass. for testing, I
took the 1.5 deep to a trio
of east texas lakes, includ-
ing lake Naconiche, a 692-
acre reservoir full of timber,
stumps and brush. while
the bait fooled a few fish
and navigated the jungle
fairly well, it did snag a few
times, but I always got it
back. It also did a good job
of popping free from deeper
grass and bumping around
riprap and dock pilings.
the 1.5 deep lacks the
buoyancy of the standard
1.5 square-bill crankbait, so
it doesn’t float up and out
of cover nearly as quickly
when paused. I compared
the buoyancy of the two
lures in 2 feet of water. It
took three seconds for the
standard model to rise to
the surface; the 1.5 deep
took six seconds.
as castability goes, the
bait cuts the wind and sails
like a rock.
Final thoughts
prior to the 1.5 deep,
the only way to apply a
square-bill presentation
on rock, shell, wood or
grass that’s too deep for
standard models was to
go with a larger-bodied
“magnum” crankbait. Not
anymore.
the 1.5 deep is adver-
tised to dive to 10 feet on
10-pound-test fluorocar-
bon, and you can shallow
it up using monofilament
or a larger-diameter fluoro
line. It should be ideal for
when you need to reach
structure and cover out in
that medium-depth zone
and want to stick with a
square-bill presentation.
FlWFIshInG.com I Fall 2019