A little while back, Derek Yamamoto decided to start his own bait company. And contrary to a few "family feud" rumors, he had the blessing of his legendary lure-designing father, Gary.

So why the new company? "Our goal was to get more Yamamoto-style product available to more anglers via the large chain stores, like Bass Pro Shops and Wal-Mart," the younger Yamamoto says. "Dad didn't want to do it, but I felt we were missing a huge market. So I said, 'How about I start a new company?' He said okay."

A key fact was that Yamamoto baits were and are so hot that the major retailers badly wanted them. That's why Kinami baits are already in Wal-Mart, Bass Pro, Galyan's and other stores.

The Flash

If you think the Flash looks just like the world-famous Senko, that's because it does. It works as well too. Kinami calls it a "sister bait" (which is the reason we only rated it a 2 in "innovation" below). The bottom line is that the fish can't tell the difference.

"It's just an extremely simple design that has a subtle action in the water, one that we can hardly see," Derek says. "If you look at it in the water, you can see it has a little quiver."

The bottom line is that the Flash (and Senko) work, and are now used by tournament and non-competitive anglers all over the world with good results.

Fishing the Flash

Anyone can catch fish with a Flash. As Derek says, "If you can get your dog to hold onto a fishing rod, he can catch a fish with it. All you have to do is stick a hook in it and throw it in the water."

That's the most popular way to fish the bait, to deadstick it. That means just put it on a hook, cast it out without a weight and let it flutter to the bottom on slightly-slack line. You can Texas-rig it, wacky rig it, Jersey rig it or rig it any other way you want, including with a weight: Texas-rigged with a weight, Carolina rigs, splitshot and dropshot rigs all work.

If you're fishing it weightless, Yamamoto recommends a sweep hookset: "When a fish picks up the Flash let him pull your line tight, then give a little sweep set. There's no need for a gorilla hookset -- and if you set too soon, you could pull the Flash out of the fish's mouth."

Also: "If your line is too slack or you feed the fish line, he could swallow the bait," he says. "The salt in our baits make fish hold onto them longer, giving you more time to set up."

Notable

> The name Kinami comes from the Japanese words "ki" meaning "spirit" or "heart" and "nami" meaning "wave." So Kinami is the "spirit or heart of the wave."

> For you history buffs, the Flash (and Senko) were not created by using a Bic pen for the mold. It was a Pentel pen.

> The Flash is a great non-boater or co-angler bait.