About Kinami Baits: You may not have heard the name Kinami...yet, but odds are you are familiar with the name "Yamamoto." Kinami Baits was established by Derek Yamamoto, son of the famed Gary Yamamoto. Today Derek is a pro in his own right, and with Kinami he seeks to introduce some of his favorite tournament proven designs. In Japanese, "Ki" refers to the spirit or heart, and "Nami" means wave, combine the two together and hence the appellation "Kinami."

Kinami Baits are making a name in the market for high quality plastics

Impressions: Bass are attracted to some of the strangest things. There are a lot of creature baits on the market that work well, but don't actually resemble prey in nature. Many anglers in the past turned away from these lures and continued to use realistic plastics like traditional tubes and lizards, but eventually could not deny the effectiveness of these alien-like lures. The answer lies in attracting bass that have grown weary of traditional lures, these are designs that fish have not seen before.

For years manufacturers have come out with brush hog and grub variants, but none are quite as radical as the eight appendage Kinami Nories Bug. This lure looks like a lab experiment gone awfully wrong, but in the Bass's underwater realm sometimes weird translates into more strikes. The original creator of the Nories Bug was Japanese Pro Angler Norio Tanabe. In researching product design and development Derek came across Norio's exciting creation, and together with Norio implemented Kinami's special formula of salt impregnated plastic to further enhance the lure's action.
 

The Nories Bug is a outlandish creature bait that looks like a jig, tube, worm, and crawdad all wrapped in one alien looking package

  
Today the Nories Bug only comes in one size, but is available in five color/size variations, and each re-sealable package comes with a total of six baits.
 

  
Field Tests: Testing the Nories Bug was easy, we went out in teams of two and fished three bass lakes to see how effective the Nories Bug was by itself, and whether or not it was more effective than conventional shaped lures.

Casting: Casting the Nories Bug effectively all depends on how you choose to rig the lure. This is among the most flexible plastics when it comes to rigging options. The Nories Bug can be rigged Carolina, Texas, Brass and Glass, weightless, run as a jig trailer, or suspended via a drop shot. The Nories Bug by itself is not all that heavy, and while it can be fished weightless it is certainly easier to do with 8 or 10lb line, and a spinning outfit. Our Kistler Helium rod is 7' and has an extra fast action so we could get some distance out of the lure weightless, but rigged this way it is best flipped and pitched. If you want to fish deeper and cross more water the best thing to do is fish the Nories Bug Carolina or Texas style.
 

This four arms at the front of the bait offer up tremendous movement when dragged or just falling in the water

Retrieving: Everyone has their own style to fishing creature baits, but the Nories Bug is absolutely perfect when fishing is tough. This bait not only looks very unique, but seems to look like a different type of prey from every angle. The bait is perfectly weighted for a slow hovering drop, absolutely ideal for pitching into heavily structured areas. During our field tests bass would often explode on the lure seconds after hitting the water, and still within view of the surface. The four front arms seem to exhibit the most movement, mostly due to their thin limbs and paddle like trimmings.

Rigged Texas and Carolina the Nories Bug can be effectively fished like a crawdad. We got fish to commit to the lure in between retrieves, as the lure settled. Combine a brass or tungsten sinker and a glass bead and the Nories Bug becomes an effective shaking lure, great when water conditions are not at their finest.

The Nories Bug garnered a lot of hits, about 30% more than our traditional lizards of the same color. But many of those fish were small in size. The only explanation we have is that the 4inch size of the Nories appeals to both large and small fish, making it a prime target for a wider range of bass. It would be nice to have an option for a 5 and 6 inch size Nories Bug, as the heavier lures would also be useful when anglers require a faster sink on their weightless rigs. A larger size would also make it easier to flip and pitch the Nories Bug with baitcasting gear and heavier line.

Rig the Nories Bug weedless and it makes an excellent pitching and flipping option

 
Durability: Kinami's unique salt impregnated blend is unlike many of the competitor offerings. You don't see large grains of salt and the plastic looks and feels especially soft and rubbery. This undoubtedly helps the lure wiggle enthusiastically in the water, but how well does the plastic hold up to repeated strikes and contact with structure? Quite well actually. In our Field tests the only part of the Nories Bug that became damaged after hours of fishing were the areas where the hook was inserted. After many strikes these holes would open wider, and we would simply make minute adjustments where the hook was embedded. We were surprised the four small arms held together so well. Overall the lure is quite resilient and can be re-used many times over.

Most bass will engulf the entire small four inch lure when they commit to the strike

Applications: The Nories Bug is effective for Bass, and can be fished a great many ways. The lure can be modified should you choose, but we don't recommend it, as the lure was quite effective right out of the bag. The Nories Bug was fantastic rigged weedless in and around structure, and slow dragged over weed beds. This lure should be lethal leading up to the spawn, and is small enough to be fished in pretty tight cover. If your lure does become heavily damaged, we have found one way to salvage the lure for another application. Using a x-acto knife cut off the four small arms and slice the arm section into thin tentacles and it makes a pretty darn good makeshift Crappie tube.

Pluses and Minuses:

Conclusion: The Nories Bug is like a breath of fresh air. The unique design and clever implementation of salt impregnated plastic is done perfectly. This bait falls slowly, and oozes action all the way down, thanks to a marvelous elastic construction. This creature bait isn't quite like anything we, or the bass have seen yet. Perhaps what is best about this bait is the ability to fish it so many different ways. Whether you are akin to towing Carolina rigs, jerking Texas style, or pitching weightless rigs, the Nories Bug will get fish to commit. We praise Derek Yamamoto for bringing the Nories Bug to market, and while the lures design is anything but typical, it has exactly what it takes to catch fish that may have been disinclined to assail just another classic plastic.

Until next time....Tight Lines.