Sumrall makes Top 10 to reach final day of Elite at Sabine River

Published 8:30 am Sunday, April 11, 2021

ORANGE, Texas — After three days of rising to and meeting the challenge of a tough fishery much like the waters around his hometown, Caleb Sumrall has his eyes on the prize today.

The New Iberia outdoorsman is one of the last anglers standing in the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament on the Sabine River in southeast Texas. The fourth-year pro bass fisherman qualified Saturday for his second-ever Top 10 appearance as an Elite.

“It feels good to make the Top 10, for sure. There’s still a lot of fishing left to do,” Sumrall said around 5 p.m. Saturday after he made the cut with five bass weighing 11 pounds, 6 ounces, to give him a three-day total of 30 pounds, 10 ounces, and propel him to the rarified air of Championship Sunday.

“I’m just trying to get a game plan together trying to figure out how to win this thing,” he said.

The Top 10 anglers took off this morning at 6:45 o’clock and will weigh-in at 3 p.m. Live coverage of the last day can be streamed on bassmaster.com starting at 7 a.m. and also Fox Sports One (FS1), which will broadcast the action live starting at 7.

Sumrall’s clutch performance on Semifinal Saturday left him in fifth place with one day to go. He charged into the third day with a two-day total of 19 pounds, 4 ounces, after checking in with 9 pounds, 11 ounces, on opening day Thursday.

On the big stage Saturday, Sumrall pumped his fist and told weighmaster Dave Mercer in front of the throng at the City of Orange Boat Ramp, “I can’t wait, man! Look at this crowd, man. Orange, y’all showed up!”

The crowd included his wife, Jacie, daughter, Clelie, and son, Axel. The Bassmaster Live camera panned on them several times during the weigh-in for Semifinal Saturday, which featured the Top 49 from the 98-angler field that was cut in half following Thursday and Friday.

“First, before I even start talking about fishing, my family. I love y’all. Look at that. It makes it all worth it. I went out there and left it all on the water,” he said. “I grinded my heart out. I caught a good one today and it made my bag.”

A few minutes later, he told an outdoors writer in New Iberia, “I knew if I had 10 pounds, I was doing good. I knew if I had 10 pounds I was sitting good and going to make the Top 10.”

Today marks Sumrall’s second Top 10 action since the 2019 Bassmaster Elite Series tournament June 24 at Lake Guntersville. He finished fourth with 77 pounds, 10 ounces, for $15,000.

At Sabine River, the 33-year-old bass angler got on the board in a big way Saturday. He set the hook and reeled in a 3-pound, 15-ounce, bass that bit his black/blue Missile Baits D-Bomb on the Sabine River.

“I made an adjustment to stay close. It paid off. I stayed close to the ramp. I really wanted to get a limit, get a decent start and go from there, for sure,” Sumrall said.

That confidence-booster at 7:11 a.m. was the first of seven hard-earned keepers. He wielded a small spinnerbait and a buzz bait to coax more keepers while fishing the remainder of the day in Bayou Neches.

Sumrall had an estimated 9 pounds, 8 ounces, on BassTrakk after he put his fifth keeper-sized bass (12 inches) in the livewell at 9:53 a.m. A 2-0 at 12:24 p.m. was his last keeper and second cull fish of the day, one that replaced a 1-pounder.

Sumrall is chasing Jason Christie of Park Hill, Oklahoma, who enters the fourth and final day with 35 pounds, 11 ounces. After heavy rains overnight Friday, Christie had to rely on a ½-ounce chartreuse/white/blue Booyah spinnerbait with tandem nickel and gold Colorado blades far up the Sabine River, closer to Toledo Bend than Orange.

Brock Mosley of Collinsville, Mississippi, traveled by boat for the third straight day 110 miles west (as the crow flies) to fish Clear Creek near Houston. He came back with just 6 pounds, 14 ounces, on Saturday, but was in second place with a total of 34 pounds, 12 ounces.

Sumrall is going for the gusto today and may even gamble, he said on stage.

Later, he said about his game plan, “I don’t know yet. Honestly, I know I’ve got to catch a big bag. I know I’ve got to catch 17, 15 pounds.”

08To his family, friends and fans, particularly those in and around New Iberia, he said, “I can’t thank everybody enough for all the support. We’re riding this little train as far as we can.”