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
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This should get interesting......
Originally Posted by Avanti
