I think the tip is soft enough. It's not at all like a flipping stick. It has a heavy butt section that has very little flex in the bottom 4 feet of the rod. The tip is fast, meaning it moves quickly and dampens quickly. It's kind of like a cross between a worm rod and a flipping rod. I think that is what Gary Yamamoto had in mind when he made it because he was using big 8" grubs in heavy trees but he didn't want a tip like a flipping stick but needed a really strong butt section to move the fish out once they were hooked.
But I would say that fishing 5 inch senkos on it doesn't feel quite right. The rod is just a littl heavy for that. 6 and 7 inch feel perfect on it.