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Product Review: Kinami Palm Tree
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. 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 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 Breakdown:
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 Owner/Operator Millwood Lake Guide Service, Since 1992! P.O. Box 4957 Texarkana, TX 75505-4957 Shop: 870.772.6840 Mobile: 903.277.3401 On the web at: http://www.millwoodguideservice.com/
Images from Kinami
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Description: The Kinami Palm Tree lures, recently introduced to the
market, are short, fat, and solid tube-of-sorts, in all the popular colors
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:
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 ¼ 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 70ºs to lower 80ºs.
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.
