Caleb Sumrall indicates the 3-pound bass he’s holding by the lip is his first keeper bass on the second day of the Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. Sumrall and 109 other Bassmaster Elite Series pros are turning their attention to the next stop on the Elite circuit, one scheduled for this week on the Sabine River. The tournament’s start has been pushed back by high water from recent rains in east Texas. It may be postponed. A decision will be made Monday.

Caleb Sumrall’s next Bassmaster Elite Series outing will be in east Texas, closer to home.

The 30-year-old bass angler from New Iberia is ready to set the hook on his first Elite paycheck. He qualified for the Elites, Bassmaster Opens and the Bassmaster Classic in October by winning the B.A.S.S. Nation Champion at Lake Hartwell in South Carolina.

It has been a wild first three months of his first professional bass fishing season, he said. He fished his first Bassmaster Elite Series tournament Feb. 8-11 at Lake Martin in Alabama, then cashed in in the Bassmaster Central Open tournament March 1-3 on Ross Barnett Reservoir in Mississippi before heading to the Bassmaster Classic in South Carolina.

“That’s right, man. It’s been crazy busy … just trying to keep everything organized, staying focused and making money in between,” he said Thursday evening   as he drove to Toledo Bend, where he was scheduled to guide on Friday.

The New Iberian is fresh from his first-ever Bassmaster Classic appearance March 16-18, one that ended way too soon for him and his large following in Greenville, South Carolina. After a strong first day, he managed to boat a 3-pound bass the second day but missed the Top 25. He finished 49th in the 52-angler field with 15 pounds, 11 ounces, and took home $10,000, the payout for 26th to 52nd.

The Classic thrill was addictive for the bass angler who grew up fishing Lake Fausse Pointe and the Atchafalaya Basin. He is rarin’ to get back to the Super Bowl of bass fishing.

“Hell, yeah, I like it. I’m feeling a little bit more motivated. Once you get a taste of the Classic, you want to get back to it,” he said. “Overall, it was the experience of a lifetime. It was pretty exciting.”

He was loose and on top of his game that week on Lake Hartwell.

“I never got intimidated. I just looked at it as another tournament,” he said, adding his focus was on himself against the fish and “the fish got the better of me.”

Sumrall was on “a good spotted bass pattern” going into the Classic, he said. He had a consistent bite going on a deep-diving jerkbait in 10-foot depths, he said.

“The bite left. The fish left. Several (Classic) anglers in the area around there, their bite left, too. I don’t know if it was the pressure. The bite completely died and left me high and dry,” he said.

He was just as amazed by the Classic winner, Jordan Lee, as everyone else there and across the country. Lee, who has won back-to-back Classics, grabbed the $300,000 first-place check with 47 pounds, 1 ounce, after boating 18 pounds, 10 ounces, opening day, coming back the second day with 12 pounds, 2 ounces, and claiming the trophy the third and final day with 16 pounds, 5 ounces.

“That kid is just unbelievable, absolutely. His ability to keep cool and just go fishing is awesome,” Sumrall said in admiration of the 26-year-old bass angler from Grant, Alabama.

Sumrall is turning his attention to the next stop on his B.A.S.S. career, the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament set for the Sabine River out of Orange, Texas. As of today, though, there’s no hurry after an unseasonably late cold front at midweek dumped beau coup rain in southeast Texas, where bayous and creeks flooded

B.A.S.S. announced Thursday the start of the next Bassmaster Elite Series tournament will be delayed, for sure, and may be postponed and held at a later date depending on information gathered this weekend, according to Trip Weldon, B.A.S.S. tournament director.

“We have conferred with authorities there to get the best information and forecasts we can. River levels are predicted to crest along the Sabine and Neches sometime tomorrow or Saturday, depending on the location,” Weldon said Thursday in a note to anglers on the Bassmaster Elite Series circuit.

B.A.S.S. will continue to monitor the situation and talk to authorities prior to making a decision Monday whether to hold the event this week.

“Safety is the utmost consideration,” Weldon said, noting high water levels could necessitate postponing the event.

If the tournament begins this week, practice days will be Wednesday through Friday and the first day of the four-day event would be Saturday with the final weigh-in Tuesday.

The tournament was supposed to begin Friday and end Monday with all 6:45 a.m. takeoffs and 3 p.m. weigh-ins at the City of Orange Boat Ramp. It was scheduled to be held in conjunction with the Orange County River Festival, which includes live music by Tracy Byrd, The Mixed Nuts, Curse and the Cure and Dustin Sonnier, among other bands. The festival includes the 16th annual Art in the Park, a Kids’ Catch and Release Fish Tank and more. 

Sumrall said he spent three or four days scouting on and around the Sabine River before the 28-day cutoff period began March 5.

“I liked what I saw. It’s fun to fish. (But) it’s going to fish small,” he said, noting Louisiana waters are off-limits despite being just a few miles away from Orange.

“I covered a bunch of water looking at everything. I didn’t do a bunch of fishing. I just kind of kept my head down looking at a bunch of stuff is all,” he said.

He’s on a river system that doesn’t give up quality or quantity. Each and every keeper bass deposited in the livewell at tournament is critical to making the cut. In 2013, it took about 10 pounds to make the cuts. Two years later, Mississippian Paul Elias squeaked in with 11 pounds, 10 pounds.

One 4-pound class bass could mean the difference between winning or coming in second.

This year the fishery could be even tougher due to the new boundaries and reported limited gas options following last year’s hurricanes.

Nevertheless, Sumrall is primed to fish his second Bassmaster Elite Series tournament after missing the cut at Alabama’s Lake Martin,  site of the Elite opener, 575 miles and three states away from Orange.