Strike King KVD Silent Square Bill Crank Bait Review

The silent square bill crank baits from Strike King are exceptionally effective in every season. The unique feature of being rattle-less gives you a slightly more subtle presentation and that may be all the advantage you need to get the bites.

Kevin Vandam says that he used to use crank baits with rattles in them and it was difficult to fish them slowly or subtly. It’s very difficult to open these up and get the rattles out. So he work with Strike King to develop square bill crank baits that had no rattles in them.

We love these crank baits. They have excellent motion. They displace a ton of water. They bounce off rocks and timber. They dart side to side. They have a nice wobble. They do everything that a square billed crank bait should do.

The fact that crank baits floats makes them quite versatile. You can use it as a top water. Because they have the bill on the front you can make them pop and chug too. You can walk them. You can jerk them. They serve a number of different functions as top waters. Of course, you can start reeling them in, which will cause them to dive and serve their traditional function and a crank bait.

They come in a number of sizes. There is a 1.0 size, a slightly bigger 1.5 size, and the 2.5 size. It’s obvious from looking at them which one is the smallest and which one is the biggest. The 1.0 size are rather small. We have a few of the 1.5 sized ones, but mostly have 2.5s. We have nearly every color in teh 2.5 size and have fished them all effectively. The one we like the most is the one pictured above. The chartreuse with the black back just catches more fish.

Of all the colors available, the ones we’ve caught the most fish on were the first one pictured above in chartreuse with a black back. But we’ve also caught them on nearly every color. Below is a color chart.

The Sexy Shad, Chartreuse Sexy Shad, and Chartreuse Perch have also been productive for us. Anything with chartreuse in it seems to work very well for bass. They see that color extremely well underwater due to it’s UV light reflectivity characteristics.

We’ve fished these in every season. Even when it was just 35-38 degrees outside in mid March and early April. They still catch fish. We fished them up in the midwest all the way into late November. Bass just love these.

When retrieving them, you should definitely pause for a few seconds. That slight pause allows it to start floating up in a very wobbly fashion and illicits strikes. Then start your retrieve again. It’s very effective.

They are well made and the lips are very sturdy. We haven’t had any issues with any parts breaking off or needing replacement. They come with great sharp hooks and we’ve never had to replace the hooks or split rings. Right out of the box, they are ready to fish. We like the dark colored hooks, they are harder to see.

We fished these on our usual setup which is a 7 foot medium heavy rod with 20 pound braid. We were able to cast these about 40 yards depending on wind conditions. They aren’t very heavy and not very aerodynamic, so it’s not easy to cast these a mile. But under ideal conditions, you could probably get them to go 50 yards or slightly more.