MOBRIDGE, S.D.– Taku Ito has plenty of smallmouth tricks up his sleeve. And while he hasn’t been able to use the majority of them through two days at the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Oahe due to the heavy winds that blew through the area, he is doing just fine without them so far.
Ito enters Semi-Final Saturday in seventh-place with 34 pounds, 1 ounce with just a 3-pound difference between him and leader Chris Johnston. After landing in 13th with 17-4 on the first day, the Japanese pro caught 16-13 on Day 2 to jump up the leaderboard.
With his impressive performance so far, Ito has moved his way to 10th in the Progressive Insurance Angler of the Year standings, well inside the cut range for the 2023 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic in Knoxville next March.
By making the cut for Day 3 at Lake Oahe, he extends an impressive streak.
Since joining the Elite Series in 2020, Ito has qualified for Semi-Final Saturday in every “true smallmouth” event he has ever fished. Bolstered by a victory on the St. Lawrence River in 2021, Ito’s average finish in smallmouth country is 12th, not including this tournament.
Essentially, Ito is capable of turning any smallmouth fishery into “Smallmouth Disneyland”.
Ito was one of many Elite Series pros who pre-fished Lake Oahe last year. He said the fishing was generally much better this time last year, as he was catching smallmouth essentially at will. During the tournament, it hasn’t been nearly as easy.
“I found some schools and I know a smallmouth trick, so I am constantly catching them today and yesterday,” Ito said. “I want to win, but every day the fishing is changing. Yesterday I was fishing deep, today I was fishing shallow. The big fish are always moving. So difficult. I am always searching for a big fish school.”
Ito got off to a quick start Day 1 by landing his limit around 8:30 a.m., but it took a couple more hours to secure his fifth fish yesterday. He has been using a “secret juice bait” and said it is easy to catch a limit as long as he can find the schools.
Calmer conditions are expected tomorrow, which will be a welcoming site for Ito, who is ready to break out his full arsenal and potentially win his second blue trophy.
“Hopefully it will be very good,” he said. “I have many, many Japanese tricks that are usually easy to catch big smallmouth. Finesse techniques. In strong wind, I cannot finesse. So hopefully tomorrow there is no wind, so I can use many tricks and the bite is easy.”
