September 27, 2013
By Ned Kehde
Two years ago, we wrote a blog about the creation of Strike King Lure Company's KVD Dream Shot.
The first one was fabricated with an X-ACTO knife by Mark Zona of Sturgis, Michigan, while he was smallmouth bass fishing on Lake Ontario. Zona used his X-ACTO knife to whittle it from Strike King's Caffeine Shad. He accomplished this feat by removing the split portion of Caffeine Shad's belly, creating what Zona described as a flat-bellied drop-shot worm. And it possessed the Caffeine Shad's tail configuration, consisting of a thin segment that was about three-quarters of an inch long and topped with a triangular-shaped bubble that was about 1 ¼ inches long. And straightaway, it bewitched scores of Lake Ontario's smallmouth bass.
After that maiden endeavor, Kevin Van Dam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, helped Zona refine some of the Dream Shot's features. Van Dam says the tail section moves as if it was endowed with a hinge, which allows the entire tail to quiver and undulate bewitchingly even when anglers are executing a deadstick presentation with their drop-shot rigs.
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Though it was originally designed to be employed on a drop-shot rig, Van Dam and Zona eventually discovered that it worked well on a shaky head jig. What's more, several Midwest finesse anglers have found to be an effective bait when they attach it to 1/32-, 1/16- and 3/32-ounce Gopher Tackle's Mushroom Head Jigs.
Van Dam calls it a very titillating and versatile bait, and to his delight, Strike King has recently beefed up the original four-inch Dream Shot, and they are manufacturing a five-inch model that is called the KVD Magnum Dream Shot. It was introduced to the angling world at the 2013 International Convention of Allied Sportfishing Trades on July 8-11 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
It is available in 13 colors: Brown Purple, Candy Craw, Chartreuse Blue Glimmer Back, Dirt, Ghost Shad, Green Pump Purple Gold, Honey Candy, KVD Magic, Morning Dawn, Watermelon, and Watermelon Red Flake.
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A package of eight purchased for $4.59 from some online retailers.
Endnotes:
Anglers who want to read about the creation of the Dream Shot, can read about it using this link: http://www.in-fisherman.com/2011/10/13/van-dam-and-zonas-dreamshot/