KinamiPalmTree

Description: The Kinami Palm Tree lures, recently introduced to the market, are short, fat, and solid
tube-of-sorts, in all the popular colors. Salt encapsulated, these lures are a change from the
every-day hollow tubes the majority of fishermen are using on your home lake.
Review: Hollow body tubes or "gizits" and grubs work very well on the vast majority of most
southern lake impoundments due to the similarity of the bait's shape and size to the baitfish and
crawfish the bass feed on. The manufacture of this new grub-like-solid-tube, Kinami Baits, is also a
well renowned and popular division of the successful Yamamoto Enterprises venture, by Gary
Yamamoto.

Review:
This particular review strives to differentiate between existing hollow body tubes, or "gizits" and
grubs, with the new Palm Tree solid body grub with tube tail, how the bass responded during the
testing phase, the action and attraction of the Palm Tree Lure during testing, rigged by various
methods.
During testing of this new lure, four colors were selected, which had previously been proven with
other similar soft plastics well in our home lake, Millwood Lake, in southwest Arkansas. The four
colors selected for the purpose of this review were:
1. Baby Bass
2. Natural Shad (smokey-gray)
3. Black/Blue Tail
4. Christmas Pumpkin (a green pumpkin-type color w/ red & various glitters)

The Kinami Palm Tree is approximately 4" of solid, slightly "ribbed" body, with a tube-like, frayed,
multi-split tail. Salt is impregnated into the plastic for "taste" (or cover scent) of human or other
malodors which have been proven to reject bass, such as oil, gasoline, tobacco, or sunscreens.
The action of these new lures appeared similar in movements as most other grubs and tubes. The
Palm Tree soft plastic baits do appear as realistic swimming baitfish, or hopping and jigging as
crawfish. Fish did eat them on numerous occasions. All four colors tested here, were fished with
17-20 pound Excalibur monofilament fishing line, on a Lamiglas Certified Pro, 6'6" MH graphite rod,
utilizing an Owner 3/0 Rig-N-Hook with bullet weight ranging from no weight (weightless) to 1/8 oz
and � oz, and depending on wind conditions. Each produced equally well. The black/blue tail color
caught the most fish. The Natural Shad color, we dipped only the last 3-4mm of the tail in chartreuse
dip-n-dye for color, due to stained water clarity. This effort succeeded in catching the largest
Largemouth Bass, which weighed in, on our digital scales at 4 pounds, 11.5 ounces. This test was
conducted over a non-consecutive, 17-day period. Conditions ranged from high barometric
pressure days with bluebird skies, to pre- and post-frontal passages, overcast to rain showers.
Water temperatures were recorded in the mid 70�s to lower 80�s.

The Breakdown:
Fishing Styles utilized: We fished these lures under a variety of conditions and riggings. We began by
doing what we love the most first, pitching to cypress tree bases, knees, standing timber, and stumps
in depth ranges of 2 feet to 10 feet. This proved to work equally as well as other grubs and tubes we
had used previously under similar conditions. The second most-used technique we fine-tuned as we
experimented, was discovered quite by accident. As we were pitching the lure around cypress
trees and grass, lily pads covered most of the immediate area. During more than one occasion, as we
were pitching, occasionally, the lure/line would drape over a lily pad. As we would attempt to bring
the lure over the pad to the base of a cypress tree, several bass would leap up and out of the water
to crash this lure on top of the lily pad. We further refined this method, to rigging weightless around
hydrilla and lily pads - like baitfish scurrying or fleeing their predators, yet trapped out of the water
on top of the pads. Surprisingly, our largest fish of the entire 17-day test period was taken in this
manner, a healthy 4-3/4 pound Largemouth! We did several attempts at Carolina rigging this lure
without much success. When rigged weightless, either Texas or Carolina styles, the weight of this
lure and density of the plastic is such that a slow fall is inevitable. We believe that is the reason the
Carolina rigging of this lure was not as successful as perhaps other "floating-density" soft plastic lures
such as lizards or french fries.

Innovation: Although similar to other hollow body tubes, and solid body grubs used across the
country for bass fishing, this match up of grub body and tube tail is very similar to hula-tailed grubs,
but still quite unique, in itself. The slightly ribbed body, and salt impregnated plastic was very evident
when biting the head of the lure off due to ripping of fighting fish. These lures are LOADED with salt.
Strength: Testing and fishing of most soft plastic lures normally require hundred count bags of
samples. However, we only had a few samples of each of the colors. As such, we tended to be
rather conservative when setting the hook at first, to see how they would hold up over repeated
strikes and landings. Some of the bass literally inhaled these lures, almost down their throat, while
others set the hook almost by themselves while swimming away with it, which is to be expected. We
averaged 2-4 fish per lure before it became unusable due to tearing. This plastic is a rather soft
formulation, & loaded with salt, but is a good combination of softness and durability, as to not reject
fish.

Overall: Kinami Baits Palm Tree, Freshwater Series gets good marks. It catches good numbers of
Largemouth Bass, and good mid-sized bass. The one main drawback we noted is, due to the solid
body, placement of a typical loud, brass, steel, or round tube rattle is impossible. The availability and
use of long, thin glass rattles could be utilized, with a coring tool. This lure rates good to high marks
in versatility, i.e., fishing weightless around grass and pads, or weighted for pitching to stumps and
trees. Our understanding is that this lure is (or shortly will be) available in a multitude of various
colors, including most likely your favorite for soft plastics.

Where to Purchase:
Kinami Baits, and Yamamoto soft plastic lures can be found at nearly any sporting goods or tackle
store, including Wal-Mart, Bass Pro Shops and Cabella's. The company also has additional information
and possibly can be ordered at their website, http://www.baits.com/ that has a complete selection of
sizes, colors, and patterns available.

By Mike Siefert

Criteria	Score
# Bass caught	43 Largemouth Bass
Innovation	3.9
Strength	2.9
Overall	3.4