When Caleb Sumrall drove to his first Bassmaster Elite Series tournament of 2020, his new boat and old pickup truck showed the world who sponsors the outdoorsman from New Iberia.

Sumrall’s Xpress X21 aluminum bass boat and his black Toyota Tundra both were “wrapped” recently by Tommy Lipari and his staff at Lipari Specialties along the U.S. 90 frontage road between South Lewis Street and Weeks Island Road. The wrap job on the boat and on the tow vehicle match.

“He (Lipari) did a great job. They always do a first-class job,” Sumrall said Wednesday morning, also remembering the state-of-the-art wrap job on the Bass Cat Cougar he fished in in 2019. “I’d tie up to boat docks, go through the woods and everything I put my boat through. It stayed on and looked good.

“Tommy does Grade A work. They get me in and help me out a bunch. I can’t thank him enough for what he does.”

Sponsors’ logos on the boat and tow vehicle are Covington-based Kysek Ice Chests, his title sponsor, Spro, Gamakatsu, Missile Baits, Kistler Custom Rods, Carhartt, Power Pole, Keith’s Fishing Tackle, The Bridge Cemetery and Lipari Specialties. Carhartt officials announced Jan. 27 that Sumrall and Chris Zaldain of Fort Worth, an accomplished Bassmaster Elite, have been added to their team, along with Zaldain’s wife, Trait Zaldain, who fishes Bassmaster Opens.

The boat was wrapped Jan. 22 and the tow vehicle was finished Friday afternoon, just in time for Sumrall’s trip to Palatka, Florida, where he will compete in the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River that starts Thursday. He planned to leave “early Saturday morning.”

Sumrall’s wife, Jacie, and their daughter, Clélié, 8, and young son, Axel, 2, went with him to pick up the wrapped pickup truck late Friday afternoon at Lipari’s Specialties. The black pickup truck was transformed by Lipari Specialties. It bore a red camo hood and front sides and all the logos, old and new.

“It (the red) makes it pop. I’m excited. It looks awesome,” the pro angler said.

His wife agreed and said, “It’s really nice. It’s a huge difference.”

Lipari said it took five days to wrap the boat and five days to wrap the Toyota Tundra. 

“That’s printing, prepping and installing the wrap,” he said.

Lipari Specialties did the jobs with Jordan Sigue as lead installer with assistance from Lipari’s son, Cade Lipari, a member of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Fishing Team, and Wayne Jeanminette. Bryan Costello was the artist who rounded up the artwork, Lipari said.

Xpress Boats started wooing Sumrall late in the regular season last year and he accepted an offer to get on board with the company a few weeks after the last tournament Sept. 29-Oct. 1 at Lake St. Clair in Michigan. Sumrall talked to Clay Connor, the aluminum boat manufacturer’s director of marketing, at a meeting in Lafayette, then visited the plant in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

He also test drove the boat and, coupled with a tour of the plant, that’s what convinced him to hook up with Xpress Boats. They finalized the deal Nov. 11.

The 32-year-old pro bass fisherman made an official announcement on his new affiliation with Xpress Boats on Nov. 13.

Sumrall and three other Elite pros are in Xpress Boats. The others are Bill Lowen, who lives in Brookville, Indiana; Dale Hightower of Mannford, Oklahoma, and Harvey Horne of Bella Vista, Arkansas

Sumrall drove to Hot Springs, the home of Xpress Boats, in mid-January, hitched up his newly rigged boat with a 250-horsepower Yamaha Sho, and towed it back to New Iberia. It is decked out with the latest in marine electronics from Humminbird Fishing Electronics and Mapping as well as a Minn Kota Ultrex.