Another fishing tackle company destroyed by the Bean Counters

[Jeff Hahn]

I saw this post by Sam Lashlee on Wood Bait Nation on Facebook today.

As many of you know I have decided to leave Strike King Lures after decades of representing them. Charles Spence personally asked me to join them after I won a PBF tournament in 1987 on Lake Barkley . I'm posting this because I'm getting asked by so many why I left Strike King. Here's why....
When I started with Strike King they were determined to be the best Lure Company in the business. Charles and Ray Murski made the perfect hire for making that happen when he hired Doug Minor. Doug, along with Ray Murski, John Barnes, Phil Marks, Crispin Powley and others built SK into the best Lure company on earth by building a strong prostaff and by hiring great people which helped design and produce the best lures on the market; Lures which were tournament ready right out of the package.
These guys listened to their prostaff and worked with them to design Lures that would catch tournament winning size bass and last a long time. I was fortunate enough to help design some of these Lures. I worked with them closely while designing the Series 3, 5 and 6 crankbaits. I also helped design the Sexy Dawg and the Mega Dawg topwaters. My biggest influence came when I won a FLW on a homemade football head jig (SK prototype), that a buddy of mine and I designed. This exact jig became SK's Tour Grade Football Head jig and is one of if not the highest selling FBH jig ever built.
The owners at SK then knew PEOPLE make a great company. They hired many great people who built the company. People like Crispin Powley , Valerie Dixon, Mark Copley ...and many more. People who cared about their customers, their product line and their employees, including the prostaff.
Once SK was sold a few years ago, most if these people started leaving the company. (Including many on prostaff) In fact, only a few remain with SK now. Also, once the company sold, the product quality started declining. The QC now is not good at all. The hardbaits are honestly built very poorly now. The bills break or wear down after fishing with them just a short period of time. Most of these lures don't run right out of the package and have to be tuned. Most weekend fishermen have no idea how to tune lures so it's a waste of their money to buy these lures. And the hooks are so cheap it's really embarrassing. They straighten out or break after catching a few fish and certainly while catching bigger fish. Most of the spinnerbaits, which is the signature brand that SK was built around, have very cheap components and cheap wire so they break after fishing with them a short amount of time. The sunglasses are also "cheap sunglasses" and way over priced for the quality you get. I could go on but you get the picture.
My point is since the company was sold , the company has declined in most every way possible. I've taken up for SK to a fault. I've made so many excuses to my customers and other fishermen defending SK and now I just can't do it anymore with a clear conscience. I finally realize the company is all about the dollar, and not about making good quality products and taking care of their customers and employees. This is why I resigned from SK last week.
God bless

[Z-91]

This should get interesting......

[kailor]

This often, but not always, happens when a good company is sold.

[Avanti]

Nowadays venture firms look for quality companies that they can drastically cut the quality and figure they can reap a lot of profits on inertia. Add on a bunch of debt and suck the company dry and make a killing. Declare bankruptcy or sell the empty husk for whatever they can get. But this is all for the best.

[Dave75]

That's to bad it was a great company. Sucks to hear the quality has gone down. It will definitely be interesting to see what other pro staff leave.

[ssmithboats]

they quit paying you an you dont like the direction of the company thats about right?

[Mcjenson]

It’s not always bad when a big company takes over. Berkely has seemingly improved drastically since pure fishing bought them out.

That said, hard to argue against strike king going downhill in quality for a lot of their products recently.

[Amistad Tackle]

They still have some great affordable baits. I have lots of their crankbaits. The influence of their Pro Staff on bait design is evident. I’ll be watching to see what the quality of their newer stuff is. At one time Strike King baits were absolute junk.

I concur that Berkley has upped their game especially in the hard bait area.

[acesover]

Talk about burning bridges...Hope the guy is retiring because he sure isn't going to get hired by another company after that statement.

[Transom]

I cannot remember when I last bought anything SK. They have made garbage for at least 10 years now.

[bob o]

cliff notes anyone?

[bilgerat]

Most of their stuff (with exceptions) has always struck me as good ideas that were poorly executed … kind of like “Man, that Big Mac looks fantastic” on the menu board but is underwhelming once in hand. The KVD squarebills are one of the exceptions.

[USMC2112]

Seems reading comprehension is still a lost art for some.

[Crestliner16]

Nowadays venture firms look for quality companies that they can drastically cut the quality and figure they can reap a lot of profits on inertia. Add on a bunch of debt and suck the company dry and make a killing. Declare bankruptcy or sell the empty husk for whatever they can get. But this is all for the best.

I've been in that situation, many times. Good luck in your future endeavors.

[Phoenix Jim]

I cannot remember when I last bought anything SK. They have made garbage for at least 10 years now.

the rage bug products are awesome

[TimH]

I've had SK crankbait bills break long before they were acquired by a private equity firm. I'm not saying quality hasn't potentially dropped since then, but lets not pretend they were the best built lures in the market.
Here's the deal. All companies have to make money in order to stay in business. That is a fact. However, PE firms use revenue from their current portfolio to fund acquisitions of others. In many cases, those companies wouldn't of been around much longer if it not for the PE firms taking over. Something caused the original owner to sell. Money problems, wanting to retire, or just looking to cash in on the business they spent a lifetime running...all are legitimate reasons.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not the biggest fan of PE firms, but they do serve a purpose; especially in today's business climate.

[turfy49431]

His assessment is spot on

[jdwo2212]

Still like a sexy dawg....

[RoadrashPaul]

Nowadays venture firms look for quality companies that they can drastically cut the quality and figure they can reap a lot of profits on inertia. Add on a bunch of debt and suck the company dry and make a killing. Declare bankruptcy or sell the empty husk for whatever they can get. But this is all for the best.

As long as the stock market is growing everyone turns a blind eye.

[cwilt]

I am subscribed, just to see how this plays out.