Overtime Outdoors

Published 1:00 am Sunday, June 12, 2022

Before the 2022 Whatburger Bassmaster Elite tournament at Pickwick Lake in Tennessee, a New Iberia pro bass fisherman was barely within shouting distance of the leaders, let alone making the cut for the next Bassmaster Classic.

After the tournament held June 9-12, Caleb Sumrall was within at least whispering distance to qualify for the Classic. He put subpar finishes in four of the first five tournaments, including a 57th in the recent derby at Lake Fork in Texas, behind him to make a significant jump in the all-important Angler of the Year standings.

The 35-year-old New Iberian worked hard to get a limit, then cull, when it counted all three days he fished at Pickwick Lake. His three-day total was 49 pounds, 5 ounces. Getting to the third day of action was the key.

After several “tough” practice days, Sumrall said he was “super blessed to have a good event.”

How important was the latest result for Sumrall?

“Huge, man!” the all-around outdoorsman told Bassmaster Elite tournament emcee Dave Mercer after his Semifinal Saturday weight was recorded and announced on the big stage set up along the scenic shoreline at Pickwick Landing State Park.

“You know, this game we play, it’s all about decisions and numbers and yesterday I had some that I made that weren’t smart. I mean, I did some things that didn’t work and had, like, two fish at 2 o’clock. I made a stop and caught some fish late that got me here today and I figured something out today and I just blistered them. Me and my marshal had a blast. Ummm, I’m kind of sour it took me so long to figure it out but when I did, I mean, I had it to myself and it was just fun. I had so much fun.

“But it’s huge for the points, huge for the Classic (his ongoing bid to make next year’s world’s championship on the Tennessee River out of Knoxville), going back to the Classic. I needed that. My year’s been kind of subpar. … That’s it, man. I’m ready to go home, see my kids (Clelie and Axel), my wife (Jacie). Love y’all. Be home soon.”

On his Facebook page late the night before, after weigh-in for Day 2, Sumrall said his catch of 14 pounds, 15 ounces, “was the hardest 14-15-pound bag I ever caught. But we’re fishing tomorrow. Only way to go is up.”

He rebounded in customary fashion here and jumped 20 spots to finish 18th to earn $10,000.

His Day 1 catch of 14-7 moved him up to 53rd with 307 points. Day 2 perseverance paid off and he climbed to 51st with 308 points.

Sumrall left here with 327 points and in a good place – 45th — going into the stretch run of the 2022 Bassmaster Elite Series. The Top 40, plus perhaps a few more with any double qualifiers, qualify for the Classic.

Meanwhile, Tennessee Bassmaster Elite angler Brandon Lester went out the next day on Championship Sunday and maintained his 3 ½-pound lead established on Semifinal Saturday. His fourth-day limit weighed 22 pounds, 14 ounces to give him a four-day total of 20 bass for 86-1 worth $100,000.

Fishing two hours from his home in Fayetteville, Lester found a special spot by accident in the river during practice and milked it for all it was worth. The bass replenished daily.

“It was a shellbed, and where the current rolled up on that bar, from 8 feet to 4 feet, there was a hard spot,” Lester told bassmaster.com minutes after his second win of the year (he won a Bassmaster Open on Florida’s Kissimmee Chain of Lakes . “The fish were sitting up on that spot. It was small, maybe three times the size of my boat. It was a typical Tennessee River feeding spot, right off the main river. There was a ton of bait in there — gizzard shad, threadfin shad.”

He started strong on Championship Sunday by raking in a limit for 17 pounds in the first 20 to 30 minutes. He culled a few of those bass later in the morning but a 6-pounder soon after 1 p.m. sealed the deal after he moved to a secondary spot, a ledge on the main river that dropped from 14 to 21 feet, which he found several years ago.

That big bass bit on a ¾-ounce Scrounger head with a 5-inch Castaic Jerky J. Most of his bass over the four-day period were caught on a chartreuse shad Strike King 4.0 crank bait but a 6-13 he got on Day 1 fell for a football jig.

Cody Huff of Ava, Missouri, a rookie, finished second with 80-5 to win $35,000 while Fort Worth, Texas, veteran Chris Zaldain was third wth 77-15 for $31,000.

Sumrall and the other Elites have the opportunity to enjoy a month-long break in the schedule before returning to action July 14-17 for the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster elite at the St. Lawrence River, Clayton, New York. Upstate New York is one of the New Iberian’s favorite places to fish.

The Elites will have another one-month break before hauling their boat to South Dakota for the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite on Aug. 18-21 at Lake Oahe in Mobridge. Sumrall likes that draw, too, because he fished it for the first time ever in mid-summer 2018 and finished 13th with 39 pounds, 11 ounces.

“Yeah, same lake. I liked it. It’s full of fish. It’ll be an interesting tournament,” he said earlier this year.

The 2022 season concludes Aug. 26-29 with the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at the Mississippi River, La Crosse, Wisconsin. When Sumrall slides his Xpress on the boat trailer to return to New Iberia from the upper Midwest, he’ll have qualified to fish the Classic next year on the Tennessee River. Book it.

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.