Shin Fukae will be on the sidelines for the Forrest Wood Cup this year, ending his streak of seven straight qualifications. Four finishes of 81st or lower, including a 115th at Grand Lake, his worst FLW Tour showing since a 116th at Kentucky Lake in 2006, had him well down the points standings coming into the Lake Chickamauga season finale.
He's a big fan of fishing TVA lakes – he's posted three Top 10s on them – and the way Chickamauga set up played to his deep-water finesse strengths. He had a strong day 1 with 19 pounds, good enough for a tie for 16th place. He jumped up to 7th after day 2 after catching 17-13, but slipped back to 11th with a 15-13 stringer on Saturday. He missed the Top-10 cut by 4 ounces.
"I wanted to make the Top 10, but I still feel good about 11th," he said. "I felt good about the tournament."
He wound up 68th in points, his lowest finish since 2005, his first full season fishing the Tour.
"I was still learning about American fishing back then," he said. "I'm a little more disappointed now than last time. I'm already looking forward to 2014."
He drew boat 120 on day 1, which limited his options as to where to start. His best spot was covered up, so he had to adjust.
"I wanted to respect the boat that was there so I didn't go in there," he said. "If I could've gotten on there, I would've had a chance to win. Overall, I feel good about the finish. It's been a tough year."
He "junk-fished" most of the week, focusing on 22 to 25 feet of water with crankbaits, spoons, umbrella rigs and dropshotting with the new G-Finesse Swivel Shot rig he designed for Gamakatsu.
The Big Bite Lookback, which focuses on the angler who's first out of the final cut at each tour-level event, is brought to you by the great folks at Big Bite Baits.
