It won’t be hard at all to cheer hard for Caleb Sumrall as he begins his Bassmaster Elite Series career Feb. 8, no matter the star-studded cast he will fish against on Lake Martin in Alabama.

The 30-year-old New Iberia bass angler, who once was a regular on the local Hawg Fight scene, qualified for the Elite events, all Bassmasters Opens and the Bassmaster Classic in March when he shocked the nation by winning the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. By the way, that’s where the Classic will be held March 16-18.

Jacie, his wife, said the response here at home to his impressive victory has been awesome. He said people wave as he’s driving the streets.

Here are a few reasons to back Sumrall:

• He is a God-fearing, humble and personable family man, a hard worker who is doing as much as he can to support his wife and their two children (see related story on this page) despite losing his job in the oil field in August. He has big-time family support and plenty of friends.

• He is one of us, a native of this area. He began competitive bass fishing around 2000.

• He does his homework on the water. He has been gathering as much information as possible on Lake Martin by going online and he prefished it the first week of January.

There’s more to like about the young outdoorsman, who lives in the country and has a pond behind his home that he spends a few hours at each week, if possible, honing his game, fine-tuning his equipment and artificial lures and practicing the skipping technique he wants to conquer. Sky, his 4-year-old silver Labrador retriever, often tags along to the dock on one end of the pond.

After Hurricane Harvey hit Houston in August 2017, one of the rescuers was an unselfish outdoorsman from New Iberia. Out of a job, he bought an aluminum jo-boat, which is parked alongside a shiny Phoenix bass boat under his carport, and went to Houston.

Sumrall said he went because he needed to help people whose lives were threatened by flooding. He wasn’t part of the Cajun Navy. 

He rescued an estimated 135 men, women and children during his days in Texas. He doesn’t talk about it much, doesn’t brag about it, but he did answer a question Friday afternoon about the aluminum boat parked next to the Phoenix.

His efforts during that period are one of the top reasons to pull for Sumrall. Good luck all season, Caleb!

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The Wednesday Night Hawg Fight Bass Fishing Series has changed its tournament schedule to avoid conflict with the Original Hawg Fights. 

The Wednesday Night Hawg Fight Bass Fishing Series will begin March 28.  Other dates are April 11, April 25, May 9, May 23, June 6, June 20, July 11, July 18, Aug. 1 and Aug. 15. The Classic date remains the same on Aug. 26.

Original Hawg Fight dates are March 21, April 4, April 18, May 2, May 16, May 30, June 13, June 27, July 11 and July 25. 

DON SHOOPMAN is outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian