Photo: Seigo Saito - In his first season fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series, Kenta Kimura ran a BassCat Cougar 203 Hybrid powered by a 250 horsepower Mercury ProXS. Photo: Seigo Saito - The bow of Kimura's BassCat is home to a Minn Kota Ultrex trolling motor.
Photo: Seigo Saito - Much like many of his Bassmaster Elite Series competitors, Kimura runs two different brands of electronics on his boat. Photo: Seigo Saito - Two Garmin Ecomap Ultra 10 inch units and a Humminbird Helix 10 are mounted with BoatLogix mounts. Photo: Seigo Saito - An overhead view of the bow.
Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura caries a ton of unique Japanese baits in his boat. Photo: Seigo Saito - His frog box has holes drilled into it to allow ventilation to the box and allow moisture to flow out. Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura has quite the collection of Deps Evoke crankbaits.
Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura shows off a Deps Evoke Zoro. This is a bait he is working to bring to the market with Deps. Photo: Seigo Saito - He's been testing out different props to find the best action possible. Photo: Seigo Saito - A new size of the Deps Evoke – the 1.8 – is soon to be released.
Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura's signature series frogs, the Deps Busterk and Deps SlitherK. Photo: Seigo Saito - More Deps Evoke crankbaits. Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura shows off the Deps Evoke 4.0, which is a larger version of the original Evoke crankbait.
Photo: Seigo Saito - His box of Deps Evoke 4.0 cranks. Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura uses Strut Numeri, which is a scent formula for hard baits.Photo: Seigo Saito - He applies Numeri on his crankbaits.
Photo: Seigo Saito - During tournament days, Kimura tries to lighten the amount of tackle he carries in his boat. Photo: Seigo Saito - Now he opens the rod box. Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura uses rods that are custom built by a friend of his back in Japan.
Photo: Seigo Saito - The Abu Garcia Revo Black 10 designed by Kimura. Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura carries a wide variety of hooks in his BassCat. Photo: Seigo Saito - Ryugi Pierce Quad designed by Kimura.
Photo: Seigo Saito - He usually receives big bulk bags of hooks from Japan.Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura always changes out the hooks of his crankbaits during tournaments. Photo: Seigo Saito - ...
Photo: Seigo Saito - Another hook designed by Kimura, the Ryugi Infini.Photo: Seigo Saito - A look inside Kimura's hook bag. Photo: Seigo Saito - Berkley Powerbait Power Wiggler, Kimura's design for Berkley Japan.
Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura shows off the Berkley Powerbait Power Flutter, another bait he helped design for Berkley Japan. Photo: Seigo Saito - Over the course of Kimura's career, he has helped design numerous baits for companies in Japan. Here is a portion of the baits that he has helped design. Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura keeps the main compartment on the deck of the boat pretty simple.
Photo: Seigo Saito - Two Humminbird Helix 10 units are mounted at the console of the boat. Photo: Seigo Saito - The console units are also mounted with BoatLogix mounts. Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura mounts his GoPro to the console of his boat.
Photo: Seigo Saito - ... Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura mounts his cellphone to the console during practice to use the GPS mapping.Photo: Seigo Saito - ...
Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura says that the Power-Pole Charge is a must for any tournament angler. Photo: Seigo Saito - A Bob's Machine Shop jackplate raises and lowers his Mercury outboard. Photo: Seigo Saito - Thanks for the tour of the boat, Kenta! Now we'll move over to his truck and camper shell.
Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura removed the back seats from his Toyota Tundra for added space to store fishing gear. Photo: Seigo Saito - From this angle, it looks like a tight fit but there's more room than you think. Photo: Seigo Saito - See, it's pretty spacious.
Photo: Seigo Saito - ...Photo: Seigo Saito - The camper shell has a built-in refrigerator as well as a cooking stove. Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura stocks up on Wagyu beef for tournament days and keeps it in the freezer.
Photo: Seigo Saito - A look at Kimura's bed which is elevated above the rest of the shell. Photo: Seigo Saito - ... Photo: Seigo Saito - Here is the kitchen space.
Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura does all of his work from his iPad Pro. Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura hangs clothing in the camper to keep it nice and dry. Photo: Seigo Saito - Kimura's signature logo, KIMKEN.
Photo: Seigo Saito - The next six photos show the evolution of the camper shell going down. Photo: Seigo Saito - ...Photo: Seigo Saito - ...
Photo: Seigo Saito - ...Photo: Seigo Saito - ...Photo: Seigo Saito - Now it's ready to roll.
Photo: Seigo Saito - Thanks for showing us around, Kenta!