SCOTTSBORO, Alabama — In one big way, it was a triumphant return to Lake Guntersville for Caleb Sumrall of New Iberia.

Sumrall, struggling early to get quality bites on Day 1 of the Berkley Bassmaster Elite tournament at Lake Guntersville, felt the biggest bite of the day just before noon while punching green mats with his fav soft plastic creature bait Thursday. He set the hook hard and eventually boated a 7-pound, 6-ounce bass, easily the biggest among the 97 other Elites trying their luck on the Big G.

Call it a fishy birthday present. Sumrall celebrated his 34th birthday Thursday.

Before the big bass bit, the all-around outdoorsman who has made pro bass fishing a career had one 2-pound class bass in the livewell after catching it at 7:53 a.m.

Sumrall added two 2-pound class or a little heavier bass to his total but was unable to fill out his five-fish limit. His bag of four bass, anchored by the first-day’s “hawg,” weighed 14 pounds, 4 ounces, which left him in 41st place going into Day 2 today out of Goose Pond Landing.

There is plenty of room to improve his standing to make the Top 48 cut to fish Semifinal Saturday but there’s also very little wiggle room to falter because Ray Hanselman Jr. of Del Rio, Texas, occupies the 48th spot after one day with 13 pounds, 14 ounces.

Lake Guntersville foiled many of the Elites on Thursday. Below the cut line are accomplished bass pros 2020 Bassmaster Classic winner Hank Cherry Jr., Gerald Swindle, Chad Pipkens, Scott Martin, Chris Zaldain and Bernie Schultz.

However, Sumrall is on a streak of making five straight cuts, including a seventh-place finish April 11 at the Sabine River in Orange, Texas.

He had best showing as an Elite at Lake Guntersville. That was a fourth-place finish in June 2019.

Sumrall rallied to finish 26th here at the 2020 Bassmaster Classic but was 63rd seven months later when the Elites went to the Big G.

Going into Day 2, the Elite field is chasing another Caleb — Caleb Kuphall, the Mukwonago, Wisconsin, bass pro who checked in with a whopping 27 pounds, 10 ounces, on Thursday. He has a 6-plus pound lead over his nearest challenger, Todd Auten of Lake Wylie, South Carolina, who put 21 pounds, 3 ounces, on the digital scale.

Kuphall told bassmaster.com his primary spot is a classic postspawn staging area in a large cove.

“It was a point with a big mat of milfoil going out to the main lake. I got back-to-back bites — in the morning, I caught a 6 and a 5 ½-pounder on the very next cast,” Kuphall said. “I kind of had two things going today, and the first one was a supershallow deal. I caught two of my weigh-in fish in about 3 feet of water, and the rest of them came in about 6 feet.

Brett Preuett, who hails from Monroe, was the highest-finishing Louisianian on Thursday. The former UL-Monroe bass angler was seventh with 18 pounds, 6 ounces.