Wilks: Spending some time with Tak

(Editor's note: "Catching Bass with Dustin Wilks" airs four times per week on the Sportsman Channel – 6 a.m. Tuesday, 11 a.m. Wednesday, 10 a.m. Sunday and 4:30 a.m. Wednesday (all times EST). The six-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier provides BassFans with additional insight about each episode in these submissions.)

This week on Catching Bass with Dustin Wilks, I have Yamaha pro Takahiro Omori as a guest. “Tak," as we call him, is a household name for BassFans with the most remarkable story in bass fishing.

In short, he came to the U.S. from Japan with almost nothing, barely speaking English, to accomplish his dream of being a professional angler. He is truly an inspiration to all that if you dream it, you can do it in the USA!

There are some interesting things you probably didn’t know about Tak and some notable things I picked up from fishing with him.

Tak and I go way back, from my tournament days fishing the Bassmaster Elite series, Elite 50, and Top 100. We both had campers and often stayed at the same campgrounds for events. Tak was always one of the friendliest people and often we rode together to pre-tournament meetings. I always enjoy talking with him and he is surely a fan favorite – a 100-percent genuine guy.

Now Takahiro is committed to fishing MLF and has excelled there in the fast-paced every-fish-counts format.

To be able to actually fish with him was probably a once in a lifetime chance. As professional fishermen, we rarely get to fish with other pros and see what makes them great.

Takahiro is the most simple fisherman I’ve ever fished with. He fishes his way and that’s it with a very limited set of confidence baits. He fishes a squarebill and a bladed jig, and flips a creature, lizard or jig. He can adapt, but I’d say 90 percent of his effort is dedicated to those and who can argue with his success?

One of the most interesting things I noticed is his casting. He doesn’t make long casts at all. He is very skilled at short, accurate casts. In fact, my very first cast the day we filmed he said, “you cast so far." I was thinking the opposite – "you cast so short."

I got a chance to cast one of his specially tuned Daiwa reels. I was shocked, they were set extremely tight. You couldn’t make a long cast if you wanted to, but there was virtually no chance of backlash. I too use Daiwa reels mostly and I keep mine really loose because I like to keep my baits farther from the boat.

Tak was on a break between tournaments and stayed in his home away from home in his camper at my house. We enjoyed chatting and I learned he is really into racing, especially Formula One, and he travels all over the world to watch the races.

At home he races go-karts. Now before you think that is child's play it is not. It is very competitive and drivers spend crazy money on their carts to be competitive. It’s the closest thing to Formula One without spending $50 million.

If anybody out there lives in Wilson, N.C., you will know the Beefmaster Steakhouse. Tak and I went there after fishing and while he normally prefers Japanese food, he was blown away by the steaks there. Pretty cool that the Bassmaster champ was at the Beefmaster!

That was all behind the scenes from the show.

I hope you get a chance to watch this Sunday morning at 10 a.m. Eastern on Sportsman to see Tak and myself on Catching Bass TV.

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