Motivated once again by missing a berth in the Bassmaster Classic, New Iberian Caleb Sumrall charges into his sixth year as a Bassmaster Elite Series pro gung-ho about taking his game to the next level.

His goal for the nine-tournament schedule in 2023?

“Win me one, for sure. I’d love to win one,” Sumrall said a few weeks ago.

It may be easier for him to focus on that objective because he’s comfortably settled in as an Elite. He has earned a few years respite before having to think about getting booted, or relegated, from the Elites.

“I don’t have to worry about getting cut … I need to worry about stepping it up,” Sumrall said late last year as he went the extra mile(s) after the regular season in a never-say-die effort to nail down a spot in the 2023 Bassmaster Classic scheduled for March 24-26 on the Tennessee River at Knoxville.

That berth still eluded him after fishing three Bassmaster Opens, so he’ll be a spectator and work the booths for sponsors at this year’s world championship of bass fishing.

His 2023 Bassmaster Elite Series tournament opener will be Feb. 16-19 at Lake Okeechobee in Okeechobee, Florida. It is one of four tournament sites he’ll be fishing this season for the first time ever.

Sumrall recently said he plans to leave New Iberia this coming Saturday, towing his new Xpress with a 250 Yamaha Sho, the day before official practice starts Sunday at Lake Okeechobee. Prefishing continues Monday and Tuesday before an “off” day Wednesday. The Bassmaster Elite Series opener starts on Thursday.

His main priority over the past few weeks was to get his new Xpress boat ready to go and wrapped before Feb. 12.

“That’s the first thing. That’s the plan, for sure,” he said.

The wrap job was finished Thursday and he picked up the boat at Lipari Specialties at midday Friday.

He also planned to get fishing tackle and gear organized just the way he wants it later this week before he heads to Okeechobee, he said.

The 36-year-old former oil industry worker will stay in the Southeast the following week to fish the second stop on the tour Feb. 23-26 at Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia.

After that there’s a break in tournament fishing for the Bassmaster Classic before heading on the road again for the season’s third tournament April 20-23 at Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina. Again he’ll stay in the Southeast another week to fish April 27-30 at Santee Cooper Lakes in Clarendon County, South Carolina.

The fifth tournament of the year, May 11-14, takes him and the Elites to Lay Lake in Shelby County, Alabama.

Sumrall, who finished 46th with 482 points in the AOY race in 2022, barely missing the cut for the Classic, won’t have far to travel to fish the sixth tournament of the year. He’ll drive a few hours west on Interstate 10 to compete June 1-4 on the Sabine River in Orange, Texas. After nearly two months off, the Elites head to Lake St. Clair in Macomb County, Michigan, on July 27-30.

The final two stops are on the road for the Aug. 17-20 tournament at Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, New York, then Aug. 24-27 on the St. Lawrence River at Clayton, New York.

Besides Lake Okeechobee, Sumrall will be fishing for the first time at Lake Seminole, Lake Murray and Lay Lake.

Based on his take as a guest Oct. 12 on a Podcast with Bassmaster tournament weigh-in emcee Dave Mercer, he almost prefers fishing a body of water for the first time. It’s all about confidence.

“My confidence is growing a little bit, especially when we go to new places. I really love going to new places where I don’t feel like there’s a lot of preconceived notions. I can go by the fly and I always seem to do well when I can just go and run around and fish the moment and do good,” Sumrall told Mercer.

This season he doesn’t have to worry about the intense pressure-cooker that is relegation – getting booted out of the Bassmaster Elites, like the well-known Aussie, Carl Jocumsen, was in 2016 (Jocumsen requalified later for the Elites).

During the Podcast in October, after Mercer raised the subject of relegation as the greatest pressure, Sumrall agreed and said, “It scares the death out of me, dude. I don’t want to go back (to the oilfield industry), honestly. I tell this to everybody, I’ll die before I go back to the oilfield, you know. I will. I just enjoy this life. I enjoy the friendships I’ve made and the lessons I’ve learned.”

Sumrall noted last season was his fifth year as a Bassmaster Elite, which means he gets a drop year for his worst finish in the AOY standings. He has “two or three more years at a minimum” before he has to be concerned about that, he said.

There are 104 anglers in the Elites in 2023, a field full of established pro bass fishermen plus promising newcomers from the Bassmaster Open Series, such as Canadian Cooper Gallant of Bowmanville, Ontario. It is an imposing list of anglers, any of which could win in 2023.

While talking to Mercer last October, Sumrall said, “I will say this, though, about our group this year. I feel like this year was the hardest point grab that I’ve ever faced fishing the Elite Series. When I say that, I mean, the guys that caught ‘em caught ‘em the same every event. … This year’s group is stout.”

Mercer chimed in and said, “It’s only going to get better (in 2023) … I mean, dude, you look at Coop now, and he’s just getting started. Where is he five years from now? I mean, he could go down a bad road if he keeps rooming with you.”

Sumrall laughed.

“I don’t, I mean, you just look at our field and the hunger and the amount of … the college thing (is) what blows me away. Cooper’s not, I mean, he fished some collegiate events and stuff like that growing up, but, you know, not a recipient of the college plan. He did it kind of himself,” Mercer said.

Sumrall’s “offseason” began in earnest a few days later and he spent rewarding time with his wife, Jacie, daughter, Clelie, and son, Axel. Both of their children downed a deer, including Axel’s first, as he hunted deer and ducks through late October, November and December.

“It’s very short-lived, my off time. The time I spend hunting with the kids is amazing, you know. I love every minute of it,” he said.

As of early January, he was finished with deer hunting but had a few duck hunts remaining on the schedule, he said.

Then Sumrall was up to his elbows getting ready for the Elites in 2023.