Kevin VanDam

KVD and the Red Eye Shad

April 22, 2008
(bassmaster.com, April 22, 2008)

Developed by Strike King and Elite Series pro Kevin VanDam, the Red Eye Shad has taken the fishing community by storm. Anglers from New England to Florida, and as far west as California, are filling their livewells with bass that have fallen for its alluring action and unusual colors.

But don’t think for a minute this bait was developed by accident, or that it was a lucky stroke of genius. It wasn’t. It’s the product of many months of testing and development across four states, both on and off the water.

“Once we started with the design process, it took us about 30 months before we got it right,” says Phil Marks, New Products Manager for Strike King. “It wasn’t an easy bait to develop. There’s a lot of engineering and testing behind this lure.”

The process started with Kevin VanDam. He wanted a lipless crankbait that was different than any other on the market, a new and improved model. His list of suggested improvements was long.

First on that list was the fall. VanDam was looking for something that held its attitude in the water and then shimmied a bit as it fell after being stopped. He wanted to avoid the “potato chip” look that other lipless crankbaits acquire as they fall.

Basically, Marks and VanDam used three rattles to achieve that result. They employed high weight to create wobble and flash as the lure is being cranked through the water. Belly weight keeps the center of gravity below the midpoint of the lure. This allows it to fall properly.

And finally, the nose weight stabilizes the bait. This forces it to track straight during the retrieve, regardless of speed.

“They all work together to make the Red Eye Shad what it is,” explains Marks. “It took us forever to get everything right. When you change one weight it changes the effect of the others. It was like playing three dimensional checkers. Nothing was simple about it.

“Everything has to work together to give it that unique shimmy as it falls. If anything is wrong, it doesn’t look right. And, if it doesn’t look right to us it won’t look right to the fish.”

Add to those issues the fact that plastic density, air chamber size and the physical shape of the lure body play an important part in this, too. If any of those things change, the effect of the weights change.

“Basically it was a six part deal — three weight locations, plastic density, the size of the air chambers and the physical shape of the body,” Marks summarizes. “This was one of — if not the — toughest and most complex fishing lure projects I’ve ever worked on.”

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/fishingtips/news/story?page=b_KVD_redeyeshad

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