Posted By: texasbassdude
Experience as a TBTF Judge - Class Act Paul Elias - 05/22/18 04:11 PM
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!"
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!"