ORANGE, Texas — Caleb Sumrall stood tall inside his Xpress boat being towed around a record-breaking crowd to the weigh-in stage on Championship Sunday of the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament at the Sabine River.

The New Iberian raised his arms to exhort the fans. After fishing four days on a body of water just like around his hometown, Sumrall said he was closer to home than people realized because so many family members traveled here.

“Ah, man, to make a Top 10 in a place as close to home, I mean two hours down the road, and to have that much family here and that much support, it’s hard to talk through this and not choke up,” Sumrall said into the mic after his five hard-earned bass were weighed.

“Just seeing them at the blastoff then, you know, getting all the calls and texts. There’s not a lot of events my family gets to come to. Yet. We’re working on that. But it’s just to have a good event close and, then, them wanting that for me and I want that for them and it works out we get a good tournament, it’s just, it’s … all the hard work …,” he said as his emotions stopped him momentarily before the crowd cheered loudly to get him back on track.

“I love this sport. I love this. I love to show out and, you know, this bass fishing game is not always that and last year was a little tough. And, you know, we’re just having fun catching bass, dude, that’s what we love to do and that’s what we’re doing but I’m happy to just show out for my family.”

A Bassmaster camera panned the crowd and focused on his wife, Jacie, flanked by their daughter, Clelie, and son, Axel, as she apparently brushed a wet spot away under her right eye. Both eyes glistened.

Sumrall’s lightest limit of the four-day tournament — 7 pounds, 7 ounces — was enough to reward him with a seventh-place finish with 38 pounds, 1 ounce, worth $18,000.

After Day 1 on April 8, Sumrall and Justin Atkins of Florence, Alabama, were tied in 17th-place with 9 pounds, 11 ounces. Emcee Dave Mercer introduced him on the weigh-in stage as the two-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier and 2017 B.A.S.S. — National Champion.

Sumrall cranked up the Xpress and headed back out Friday morning. He returned to the City of Orange Boat Ramp with 9 pounds, 9 ounces, for a two-day total of 19 pounds, 4 ounces, good enough for 12th place to give him a shot Saturday at the Top 10.

“Yeah, like I said yesterday, this place is just like home. I’ve just got to grind,” he told the crowd after weighing his bass Friday.

The 33-year-old outdoorsman made the most of a game-changing bite first thing Saturday morning. He set the hook on a 4-pound class bass at 7:11 a.m., then culled to another limit weighing 11 pounds, 6 ounces, to give him 30 pounds, 10 ounces.

The New Iberian found himself in fifth, easily punching his ticket to fish Championship Sunday.

“We caught us a dang Sabine River bag today! 11-6 to put us in the fifth spot going in into Day 4! I don’t know which way I’m going tomorrow. I’m just going to roll with my gut! We have a shot and that’s all we need! For the support I’ve been getting from friends and family … I will never be able to thank y’all enough!” Sumrall posted on his Facebook page, Caleb Sumrall Fishing, at 6:20 p.m. Saturday.

His top four artificial lures here were a black/blue Missile Baits D Bomb on a 5/0 Gamakatsu Straight Shank Worm Hook under a ¼-ounce worm weight; a ¼-ounce Kajun Boss Spinnerbait and a ¼-ounce Mr. Blitz Spinnerbait, both shad-colored, and a gray/white Spro Bronzeye Frog Jr. with blue/white/brown skirted legs.

It was a bone-colored Whopper Plopper that helped save the day for him on Championship Sunday. What happened?

Down the stretch at crunch time, a 2 ½- to 3-pound bass slurped down a white buzz bait. Sumrall set hook, fought the bass to the boat, then started to “boat flip” it.

The fighting fish got unbuttoned about 1 ½-feet away but its momentum kept it going to the front deck as it fell. Unfortunately, its left shoulder hit the starboard gunnel and it bounced into the water as the bass angler slumped to his knees, then rolled onto his back in obvious anguish at the loss of a significant fish.

The sequence was shown on Bassmaster Live. And it can be seen at www.bassmaster.com/blog/sumrall-suffers-oh-so-near-miss.

Sumrall recovered quickly and continued trolling along the winding, skinny bayou in Bayou Neches. A bass missed the buzz bait. He calmly put the buzz bait down and cast a bone-colored Whopper Plopper as a comeback bait. When it got to the area of the miss, a keeper-sized bass bit and he boated it, safely.

It was a happy ending to one of his best performances as an Elite. When the going got tough, as it was that week in southeast Texas, the tough got going.

Sumrall’s goal is to return to the Bassmaster Classic, which he will miss this year after finishing 60th in the Angler of the Year standings with 465 points in 2020. The Bassmaster Classic is scheduled June 11-13 at Lake Ray Roberts north of Fort Worth, Texas.

Before the Sabine River tournament, Sumrall was 31st in the AOY race with 186 points. His seventh-place finish vaulted him to 15th and tied with Paducah, Kentucky, bass pro Mark Menendez with 280 points, one point ahead of Matt Herren of Ashville, Alabama, and five points behind Rathdrum, Idaho’s Brandon Palaniuck.

After four tournaments, the Elite to beat is Seth Feider of New Market, Minnesota, who leads the 100-angler field with 341 points following his sixth-place showing at the Sabine River.

The cut line for the next Bassmaster Classic, before double qualifiers via Bassmaster Opens, the last Elite and Classic winners, is 39th. There are five tournaments remaining on the schedule with the next stop April 22-25 at Lake Fork in Texas. His experience as a fishing guide on Toledo Bend should help him slam some “hawgs” at Lake Fork.

At least one of the next two tournaments after Lake Fork will be in his wheelhouse because the Elites travel to Neely Henry Lake near Gadsen, Alabama, on May 6, then head to Lake Guntersville in Scottsboro, Alabama, on May 20-23. Sumrall’s highest finish in his 3 ½-year Elite career was fourth at Lake Guntersville in June 2019 when he punched his way to a four-day total of 77-10.

Sumrall should hold his own or better in the last two tournaments on the summer’s “New York swing,” which features great smallmouth bass fishing. The first one is July 8-11 at Lake Champlain out of Burlington, Vermont, then July 15-18 at St. Lawrence River out of Waddington, New York.

If Sumrall qualifies for the 2012 Bassmaster Classic, he’ll go back to where it all started for him. He won the B.A.S.S. Nation title in 2017 at Lake Hartwell near Anderson, S.C., and that win propelled him to the Elites.