Taku time: “Wow, wow, wow!”

It was just less than a year ago, July 23-26, in fact, that Japanese rookie Elite Series angler Taku Ito burst on the scene. After a long delay in the tournament schedule due to Covid-19, Ito became must-see-TV, both with his fish-catching ability and his irresistible personality. Ito finished 6th at the St. Lawrence River, the first of three straight top 10 finishes on smallmouth bass-dominated fisheries. Ito claimed to have no previous experience catching smallmouth.

It’s Taku time again on the St. Lawrence River. Ito enjoys talking to the fish on the end of this line, trying to verbally encourage them into his hands. After he landed a 5-pound, 8-ounce smallmouth this morning, Ito said, “Wow, wow, wow! It’s a giant!”

He landed a, in his word, “cute” 3-pounder at 10:13 to give him a limit weighing 21-0 and move him to the top of the BassTrakk leaderboard. Ito totaled 23-3 yesterday to move him from 11th place to 7th for today’s top 10 final.