The Sumrall family looks at the December issue of B.A.S.S. Times on Friday. The cover photo is of Caleb Sumrall, right, hoisting the Bryan Kerchal trophy over his head in an emotional moment after winning the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship in October at Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. His cheering squad includes his wife, Jacie Chauvin Sumrall, left, holding 2-month old Axel Sumrall, and Clelie Sumrall, 6.

The beginning, the critical startup, of Caleb Sumrall’s pro bass fishing career is important, the New Iberian realizes all too well as he gets ready to compete in his first-ever Bassmaster Elite series tournament at Lake Martin in Alabama.

It’s the end result for the upcoming tournament, each tournament, the whole season, that he doesn’t want to lose sight of, Sumrall confided Thursday afternoon.

“While I’m trying to get started I want to concentrate on getting a good finish,” he said.

Sumrall, 30, earned the opportunity to fish bass tournaments at the highest level in mid-October when he won the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. He was rewarded for the hard-earned victory with a Skeeter ZX200 bass boat, Yamaha Sho 200 and trailer, $16,000 for entry into Elite events and paid entry for any Bassmaster Opens, plus free use of a fully rigged Phoenix bass boat on the Elite circuit.

And Sumrall qualified the Bassmaster Classic, the Holy Grail of pro bass fishing, in March at Lake Hartwell.

It has been a whirlwind three months since that highly emotional moment on the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship weigh-in stage in Anderson, South Carolina. Sumrall and his wife, Jacie Chauvin Sumrall, celebrated the birth of their second child on Nov. 27, and helped him start planning to travel an estimated 60,000 miles this year for 15 events across the country, from Alabama to Orange, Texas, to South Dakota to New York.

While the opportunity to get a foot in the door is a dream-come-true, particularly with all tournament fees paid, the expenses of gas, food and lodging loom large. Sumrall is seeking sponsors, especially a title sponsor, to help defray expenses.

Supporting his family is uppermost in his mind. As the Sumralls noted after he won in October, one door opened after another one closed when he was laid off by Schlumberger, an oil field company, in August.

He has worked part-time at Deepwater Rental Supply and started working as a fishing guide at Toledo Bend and Lake Sam Rayburn for Darold Gleason, who owns South Toledo Bend Guide Service. He recently took his first few clients out.

Sumrall, an accomplished bass angler at Toledo Bend, plans to guide between tournaments and is adding trips for the rest of the year.

“I’m trying to build my schedule, trying to pay bills and (at the same time) spend a little more time on the water, which never hurts,” he said.

‘Yeah, we’re trying for us to be able to do it financially. I’m trying to get everything in line and prepare for this year. We’re super excited, super nervous. It’s something new and we want to do it for a long time,” he said.

He sold the fully rigged Skeeter ZX200 to a boat dealership in Kentucky and has a pending sale on his old Bass Cat, the one he was riding in when he won the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship.

Jacie was in her eighth month of pregnancy and unable to accompany her husband to his date with destiny but followed every minute of the weigh-in streamed live on bassmaster.com.

His family grew by one in November when Axel Sumrall, weighing in at 8 pounds, 13 ounces, was born. It’s been a wonderful two months for their daughter, Clelie (pronounced clay-ly), 6, a kindergartener at Dodson Elementary School who has welcomed her baby brother with open arms, Sumrall said.

“She’s the best big sister ever. She really is. Oh, she loves it,” he said.

Sumrall said his wife will travel with him when possible. She said she is hopeful of getting a babysitter now and then.

However, they don’t want Clelie to miss too much school time, he said.

At the Bassmaster Elite series opener Feb. 8-11, Sumrall will stay at a cabin on the shores of Lake Martin thanks to the generosity of Marty Giddens of nearby Electic, Alabama. Giddens finished third in the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship, which is where the two anglers met and became fast friends.