Shin’s win

2004 Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year

Reigning Japan Bass Angler of the Year Shinichi Fukae, secured his place in the record books by adding the 2004 Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year title to his impressive resume. His win marks the first time in the sport’s 36-year history that someone earned angler of the year titles in two countries.

Take a minute and imagine traveling to a foreign country to fish a bass tournament. What would it be like to go to a place where you did not know the language, terrain, customs or water bodies, only to compete against a group of native anglers who regularly make a living plying those waters for bass?

Better yet, imagine fishing an entire tournament trail in another country while living out of a conversion van. What would the chances be of winning an Angler of the Year title in a foreign land where the indigenous pros had such an obvious inherent advantage?

The notion seems inconceivable; however, that is exactly what Shinichi Fukae of Osaka, Japan, did during the 2004 season of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour.

Accompanied only by his girlfriend, Miyuki Nonaka, Fukae came to America in January 2004, took up residence in his van and began a foreign fish-catching campaign that ended with a Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year title.

Fukae’s accomplishments this season include three top-10 finishes out of six tournaments; total winnings of nearly $150,000, including $25,000 cash and a new Ranger for finishing the season on top; and the distinctive honor of being the first Japanese angler to win a professional bass fishing Angler of the Year title on American soil – or, more appropriately, water.

Also, consider that before coming to America and winning the 2004 FLW Tour points race by a 73-point margin, he had just won the 2003 Japan Bass (JB) Angler of the Year title and the 2003 BASSER All-Star Classic in Japan.

Indeed, Fukae is for real. His extreme dedication, discipline and work ethic in professional bass fishing makes the attitudes of some American pros seem cavalier by comparison.

But then again, most of Fukae’s 32 years have been consumed by bass fishing. Since he was a teenager, every fiber of his being has burned to become a professional angler in America.

“All he thinks about is fishing,” Nonaka said. “No matter what he is doing, his brain is on fishing. Eat, sleep, fish – that’s all he does.”

Fukae, the youngest of three boys in his family, became infatuated with bass when he was 8 years old.

“I used to go bank-fishing with my older brother,” Fukae said. “He fished for fun, but I was much more serious about it.”

As a kid, Fukae learned his early fishing lessons from fishing books, magazines and videos, but he eventually discovered that personal experience was the greatest teacher.

At age 14, Fukae began fishing bass tournaments as an amateur. By age 18, he was fishing professionally on the JB Tour.

Fukae garnered much of his bass-fishing experience from Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest bass lake, where he started a guide service in 1996.

“Lake Biwa is similar to many American lakes,” he said. “It looks like Okeechobee in the south and Beaver Lake in the north. It has largemouth, spotted bass and a very few smallmouth.”

Fukae’s performance on the FLW Tour is a testament to the versatility he gained from fishing Lake Biwa.

At the season opener on Okeechobee, he demonstrated his mastery of sight-fishing by using the technique to finish fourth in his first FLW Tour event.

On the Atchafalaya Basin, he proved his understanding of shallow cover by casting a 3/8-ounce jig in canals and finished 11th.

Old Hickory threw Fukae a curveball, but he managed to eke out a 71st-place check by surviving the event with a lightweight Texas-rigged worm.

His Lake Biwa knowledge came in handy again at Beaver Lake, where he finished sixth by fishing a finesse jig on short, steep points.

Fukae then showed off his deep-water-structure know-how at Kentucky Lake, finishing fifth with a deep-diving crankbait and a Carolina rig.

And with some of the best power-fishing pros in the business gunning for him at the final event on Lake Champlain, Fukae pulled out a tiny finesse worm on a 1/8-ounce head and furthered his points lead with a 24th-place finish there.

While reviewing his season recently, Fukae admitted that Old Hickory was his most challenging tournament.

“I never got on the fish at Old Hickory – in practice or in the tournament,” he said. “Old Hickory is shallow and flat, and I don’t have much experience of that kind of fishing.”

When asked about his favorite fishery of the year, he promptly said, “Wherever I’m fishing is my favorite place,” though he did say he had a fondness for Atchafalaya’s shallow cover.

Off the water, Fukae has come to enjoy some of the finer things that American life has to offer. When he is ready for a break from steamed rice in the van, he heads for Waffle House or Outback.

“Very good!” he said with a big grin while rubbing his stomach.

But Fukae’s favorite aspect of being in the United States is something that many Americans might take for granted: space.

“In Japan, we have lots of roads and vehicles – Stop. Go. Stop. Go,” he said while demonstrating the concept of traffic with his hands. “But in U.S. there’s lots of space – roads are wide open – no stop and go. It’s very nice.”

For transportation and lodging, Fukae was provided a conversion van and a Ranger boat by his primary sponsor, Popeye, the famous Ranger dealer in Japan.

The van is his home in America, allowing him and Nonaka to stay at campgrounds wherever they go. The van is equipped with a GPS unit, which aids them in traveling from one tournament to another.

Fukae readily admits that the hardest aspect of being in America has been the language barrier. However, not being able to communicate with other anglers has ironically been something of a mixed blessing in terms of his fishing.

“Before the tournaments, I don’t want to talk with anybody about fishing because I think of fishing in my own way, and I don’t want to lose my way of thinking by talking to others,” he said. “But after a tournament I wish I could talk with other anglers and share how we all catch fish.”

If Fukae has had no previous experience on American lakes, no local help on these lakes and no single, magical Japanese lure that enchants American bass, then what is the secret to his success?

The answer: focus, discipline and plain hard work.

Fukae spent a minimum of 14 days of practice on each lake he visited this year. He said it was important to fish each lake under many different conditions.

“In Japan, I need only five days of practice at the most,” he said. “But in America, these lakes are very big, and I had never seen them before, so I needed to fish them for a long time – to explore the lake and study how weather and fishing pressure changed the fish.

“During this time (the FLW Tour’s winter/spring schedule), United States has cold fronts, maybe once a week,” he said. “I wanted to fish each lake during two cold fronts and two weekends to see how the fish behave in different weather and fishing pressures.”

At the heart of Fukae’s intensive lake-study program is a detailed logbook kept by Nonaka, who is just as industrious as Fukae when it comes to making their American angling dreams come true.

Fukae’s fish-finding process may sound simplistic, but it is tedious in detail.

Every fishing day, Nonaka makes detailed fishing notes about each spot they sample. As Fukae fishes, she records the GPS coordinates and all the comments he makes about the area, including number and size of fish caught from the spot; weather conditions, including wind direction and speed; water depth, clarity and temperature; presence of current; and any other details, such as presence of shad or baitfish.

And if there is nothing to record, she grabs a rod and helps Fukae by tirelessly fishing alongside him.

After 14 days of practice, Fukae usually accumulates between 80 and 100 places where he has caught bass. The trick, however, is picking which ones to fish during the tournament.

The night before the tournament begins, he studies the journal and selects 20 GPS locations based on the impending weather and water conditions.

“No matter what happens – wind, muddy water, fishing pressure – I want to have somewhere to fish,” he said.

His plan worked well in 2004, but what does the future hold for Fukae?

“I want to be a professional angler in America,” he said. “I will fish here as long as I can, and maybe someday I can move here and fish all of the time.”

With a Wal-Mart FLW Tour Angler of the Year trophy and an opportunity to win $500,000 at the FLW Tour Championship on Logan Martin Lake, Fukae is off to a pretty good start.