You know that old saying that “if it ain’t broken don’t fix it?” Well, I kinda figured that was going to be the case with Luhr Jensen’s new K15x Kwikfish. More to the point…if it’s not broken, don’t break it.
After all, why take the world’s greatest salmon plug and change it? I just don’t get it, but then again, the company was recently purchased by Rapala, who, if you’ll recall, also bought out STORM Lures and took the perfectly good Wiggle Wart lineup and completely re-tooled it to the point that no steelhead angler worth his salt would ever buy one. But I digress…
Features
While the old school K15 and it’s new punk brother the K15x may be approximately the same size, that’s about where the similarities end. The new ones feature holographic finishes, VMC SureSet hooks and supposedly never need to be tuned.
The Test
I have to admit I’ve not been impressed with the K15x’s big brother, the K16x after putting it through some extensive testing in Alaska and it was hard to shake that bias. But, I got over myself and gave the new K15x an honest look. 
The K15x comes in some fancy new holographic paint schemes with catchy names like Vitamin C, Mardi Gras, Rainbow Sherbert, Limetreuse, Lemon-Lime and Sour Apple. Unbelievably, however, there’s not a single chartreuse bill/silver body model among them. That’s a serious problem!! Maybe the company has plans to add one later but I couldn’t find it.
So, I opted for a “Vitamin C,” which looks kinda cool from a catching fishermen standpoint, but sorta lackluster when you’ve got kings on the the brain. However, in the water the lure looked surprisingly good.
A major drawback to the lure is the fact that you can’t open the hook attachment eyes. This is a major issue if you like to run single siwash hooks or trebles with barrel swivels between the lure and hook. This was obviously designed by someone who’s not spent a whole lot of time fishing plugs for salmon!
The packaging of the new Kwikfish proudly proclaims “No Tuning Required,” which is probably the single biggest mistake Luhr Jensen made from a marketing standpoint. There’s not an experienced salmon angler out there who didn’t go “yea, right” when they initially saw that. Never needs tuning if you don’t mind a lure that doesn’t run properly…
After wrapping my Vitamin C up with a fresh sardine, I dropped it over the side on the Trinity River and it started pulling hard right instantly. And therein lies another big problem…I can live with a plug that needs tuning (they all do), but with the fixed heavy wire line attachment eye instead of the old screw eye, it takes a serious set of pliers to get the thing to move at all. No quick, easy tuning here!
Once I did get her running straight, however, the K15x tracked true and actually had a pretty nice wiggle to it. It also dove down extremely well. To be perfectly honest, the fishing has been horrible this year and the lure didn’t get as long a test as I would have liked. However, in the first hole I fished it, one of the client rods got a takedown…
…on a year when 0-3 bites per day were the norm, that’s fairly significant. Once we had a fish hooked up, I was curious to see how the VMC SurSet hooks held.
They’re kinda odd-looking contraptions, with one tine quite a bit larger than the other two. The fish, a 25 pounder, was hooked extremely solidly, so I can’t complain there…
Conclusion
Well, again it was a test limited to the last day of the season for me on the Trinity and the K15x ended up getting one of our two fish — and I only dropped it into the final hole of the drift. So, it obviously works. I’m not totally sold on a few aspects like the fixed line eye and hook attachment points and lack of a chartreuse bill/chrome body model (tell me again why you wouldn’t make a salmon lure in the most popular salmon color of all time??).
I guess the bottom line is the K15x is a plug you shouldn’t ignore and is worthy of more testing. I’m just not sure what the advantage of it is over the original. It may dive a bit deeper in a flatline situation, but not much. I’m still a bit confused..seems like a nice lure, but what’s the point? I mean, the original K15 is still the best salmon lure ever. Unless, don’t tell me, they’re going to discontinue the old school model. Noooooooo!!!
