Bassmaster Elite angler Caleb Sumrall of New Iberia holds son Axel, 6 months, with daughter Clélié, 7, and wife Jacie as Sumrall prepares to leave New Iberia in his newly-wrapped boat from Lipari Specialties for the Bassmaster Elite season-opening tournament in Florida that starts Thursday.

With every drop of the trolling motor, every cast, every retrieve and every hookset, New Iberian Caleb Sumrall will begin writing the second chapter of his Bassmaster Elite career starting Thursday with the opener on the St. Johns River near Palatka, Florida.

His rookie season, which was noteworthy at times, is behind him. It was a learning experience and he soaked up the knowledge like a sponge in 16 tournaments (including the Bassmaster Classic and Bassmaster Opens), inspired all the while by his family and the support of a whole community in the heart of Acadiana.

The 31-year-old bass angler who started fishing bass tournaments on the local level only six years ago is ready to take his game to an even higher level, he said as he towed his new boat, a freshly wrapped boat at that, early Saturday to the Sunshine State. The fact he has never, ever, wet a line in that state doesn’t faze him a bit.

“I’m excited. I’ve been sitting home for a while doing what I can. But I’m ready to start fishing again,” he said, emphasizing the last seven words.

“I’m excited,” he said, again. “There’s a lot of changes in this sport. It’s a great opportunity this year for me to do well and I’m going to try to capitalize on that.

“The Top 40, that’s my main goal (in every tournament), no doubt. I’d like to qualify for the (Bassmaster) Classic and I really want to win one.”

Sumrall left New Iberia at 5 a.m. Saturday for Florida and the first Bassmaster Elite tournament of 2019. It was an exciting buildup to that departure, his wife, Jacie Sumrall, 30, said, noting the nerves haven’t been jangling as much as before the start of the 2018 season.

“I guess you’d say we’re rolling with it. I guess you’d say we’re more excited. We know how the tournaments unfold. We just hope for a win this year – that would be huge – and, of course, for him to qualify for the Classic in 2020,” Jacie said.

“He’s excited to get this year started. He knows what to do now. He knows what to expect, now that he’s got his first year down.”

And, she said, “I think he has more confidence.”

It was a hectic two weeks since Jan. 21, the day he drove to and from Mountain Home, Arkansas, home of Bass Cat Boats. He returned home with a new Bass Cat Cougar powered by a new Mercury Marine Pro Fourstroke 250-h.p. outboard motor ready to carry him across tournament waters in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Alabama, Texas and New York. He ordered the boat in September 2018.

Sumrall took the boat out on Lake Fausse Pointe soon after he got back to break in the Merc and then towed it to be wrapped with sponsor logos, including his first-ever title sponsor, Covington-based KYSEK Ice Chests, at Lipari Specialties on Tuesday. He picked it up Friday morning and spent the rest of the day getting four Lowance marine electronics 12-inch units installed in the Bass Cat Cougar.

“He has a lot on his plate today,” his wife said Friday morning.

Sumrall finished getting ready for the trip at 10:50 p.m. Friday, he said Saturday morning as he drove to Florida.

The Bassmaster Elite angler planned to fish the practice period Sunday, today and Tuesday before the off-day Wednesday. The tournament begins Thursday with daily takeoffs on the St. Johns River at 6:30 a.m. from Palatka City Dock and Boat Ramp and weigh-ins at 3:10 p.m. each day at Palatka Riverfront Park.

“I’m ready to get back to fishing,” Sumrall said a few weeks ago.

Because he was boatless, he was unable to prefish before the practice cutoff period, he said. His approach in practice is to burn a lot of gas and look at as many areas as possible.

“I’ve seen TV shows (about fishing waterbodies in Florida). I would assume it looks like the marsh” near his home in Iberia Parish, he said, “and it may be a little tidal.”

He’ll be keeping an eye on the water temperature. Warming water could trigger more and more bass to go shallow for the spawn, he said.

Sumrall realizes others in the 75-angler field may have an advantage with previous experience there.

“I expect Drew Benton to do well. He doesn’t live too far from this place (St. Johns River). He’s a good sight fisherman if it turns into that type of tournament,” he said about Benton, of Panama City, Florida, who has fished 50 Bassmaster Elite and Bassmaster Open tournaments with a $100,000 win last May in the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest Benefitting Texas Parks and Wildlife Tournament at Lake Travis near Jonestown, Texas.

About his own sight fishing prowess, Sumrall said, “It’s not my preferred method to catch them but I’ll do it if I have to.”

He has 35 fishing rod and reel combinations in his new boat. For this tournament, nary a one is a spinning rig. They’ll be in his pickup truck but the order of the day most likely will be power fishing, he said. His baitcasting combos loaded with either 15- to 20-pound fluorocarbon or 50- to 60-pound braided line.

Sumrall is prepared to do battle with the “hawgs” that swim in the St. Johns River system.

“Oh, yeah, I’m not taking any spinning rods with me. I’m not going to do that,” he said.

Sumrall is concentrating solely on the nine regular-season Bassmaster Elites this year after fishing 16 events in 2018.

Jacie said preliminary plans call for her, Clélié, 7, and Axel, 1, to attend the Bassmaster Elite Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest the first week of May at Lake Fork near Emory, Texas.

“There’s a lot to do with the kids, and it’s a place I’ve never been,” she said.

Last year, Sumrall won $52,428 while finishing in the money nine times — four times on the Elite Series, four times in the Bassmaster Opens and in his debut in the Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina, where the professional bass fishing road started for the outdoorsman who loves to hunt and fish. That’s where he won the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship in October 2017.

That B.A.S.S. Nation victory paved the way for Sumrall to realize his lifelong dream as a bass pro as it netted $16,000 for Elite entry fees, paid entry fees in the Bass Pro Shops Central Opens and gave him the use of a fully rigged Phoenix bass boat for all of 2018. He also earned an automatic berth in the 2018 Bassmaster Classic.

Thursday’s season opener in Florida lifts the curtain on an Elite Series that features a field of 75 anglers, compared to more than 110 in previous years, and a new payout scale that assures every angler in the field leaves with a check. The Elite Series lineup includes 40 Elite anglers returning from the 2018 tour, including Sumrall, who will be joined by a mix of top-ranked Bassmaster Open anglers, former Elite anglers and several accomplished pros from other circuits, as well as five new international anglers from three continents.

Also, the nine regular-season tournaments are scheduled to be held on the best fisheries in the country, starting with the St. Johns River near Palatka.

Veteran Elite angler Bill Lowen of Brookville, Indiana, recently said, “I’ve been in the Elite Series for 12 years, and today I feel just like I did right before my very first season. I can only imagine how exciting this has to be for the new guys over what I feel is fixing to take place.”