I was a judge at TBTF on Travis this past week and thought I'd pass along something great that I saw on Friday when I was with Shin Fukae.

Shin was boat #39 out on the second day, and as we're approaching his first spot, Paul Elias is sitting on it and Shin says something to the effect of, "It's Ok, I worked this out with him" and then drives right up in front of Paul. I mean like 40 feet in front of him. At this point I'm thinking, "Man, I hope I just heard what I thought I heard." I'm wondering if treble hooks are coming our way...

After the first day, Shin was in 29th place and Paul was in 100th. They wanted to start on the same spot, but when Paul had an earlier boat number, Shin approached him about starting there and Paul gave him the go-ahead, since Shin was doing well... total class act. They fished that spot for a couple of hours, with Shin just half a cast's length in front of Paul. Shin even caught a 4-14 there and Paul hollered and gave him a thumbs up when Shin landed it.

Paul didn't do much better on the second day, ended in 103rd, and Shin made the cut in 36th place. I was very impressed with the professionalism of them.

I had a great time watching Shin fish; his English was clear, and he was laser focused all day and had it together, temperament wise. He had the same demeanor when he landed that 4-14 as he did when he went a few hours without a keeper bite.

He even had a good sense of humor. He was telling me about how he met his wife in Japan... "she own tackle shop, and she catch me!"

Good stuff there! Thanks for sharing.

Really cool story! And to think 40' meant the difference in almost 70 spots! Fav part is how his wife "caught him" lol!!!!

Communication, completely different outcome than the other story on here, they represent their Tour and sponsors well!

Agreed

I rode with Shin on the second day of one of the TTBC's on Lake Fork. He had a low day one weight. I thought oh great we are going to sit out deep for the same lower weight limit. Plus he won't talk much. I had heard his English wasn't much.

Well he tried deep on one spot then we ran way up the lake and he fished the top water frog. He smacked 32# and lost one that would have driven his weight higher. His day one strategy sank him. It was fun to watch. Plus he speaks pretty good English. Doesn't talk a ton but enough to keep it interesting. Nice guy. His wife was waiting for him back at the ramp. She seemed to be super nice and super supportive. She is a important part of the team. They travel together the whole tournament season. I think he lists Palestine as his home but said he is hardly ever there.

Paul Elias used to be one of my favorites with Larry Nixon way back in the day. He used to have a trolling motor commercial where the waves were crashing over the head of the tm coming on the front deck.

Yeah, he was saying that after Travis, he was going to South Dakota for pre-practice for the event at the end of June all to come back for the Sabine in two weeks.

I figured he landed in East Texas just because guys like Takahiro and Yamamoto were there.

Kneelin and reelin