Sumrall overcomes dead motor for good opening day

RIDGEDALE, Mo. — After Caleb Sumrall got well enough to fish earlier this week, the outboard motor on his familiar Phoenix B.A.S.S. Nation Champion boat broke down on Tuesday, his first day of prefishing for the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Championship.

The 31-year-old New Iberia angler, who recently completed his rookie season on the Bassmaster Elite Series circuit for 2018, rushed to get the outboard motor repaired for Thursday’s opening day of the three-day tournament on Table Rock Lake. Sumrall and 27 other qualifiers for the Opens Championship started the first day soon after sunrise with a staggered blast-off. A few minutes and two miles later, the outboard motor conked out again.

Sumrall’s co-angler, Will McNutt, a U.S. Air Force serviceman stationed at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana, offered a solution. McNutt’s father, Bill McNutt of Henry, Illinois, was fishing on the lake in his Legend bass boat and might lend it to him for the day if Bassmaster officials OK’d the switch.

Will McNutt towed the broken-down Phoenix to Long Creek Marina, where, after the Legend bass boat was checked for safety points and marine electronics were cleared of all “weigh points,” Sumrall and McNutt took off again for a date with fate in the New Iberian’s quest to qualify again for the Bassmaster Classic.

Sumrall’s day got better and better as he put keeper bass in the livewell. At 3:15 p.m., he weighed a five-fish limit for 15 pounds, 1 ounces, to settle into second place behind Mark Rose of West Memphis, Arkansas, whose limit weighed 15 pounds, 9 ounces.

“It’s been one thing after another this week. Someone’s looking out for me,” Sumrall told the weighmaster on the stage.

Because Bill McNutt has a history of fishing the lake, using the boat sonar equipment was prohibited by the tournament directed. As a result, Sumrall was limited to using a depth-finder only.

He told the weighmaster, “I just went and fished what felt good.”

His was one of only 10 limits weighed in on Thursday. All five bass that hit the scale were largemouth bass on a day when everyone else had a mix of largemouth, smallmouth and spots.

He was stuck on three fish for about 7 12 pounds for a little while late in the morning. Then, in a span of about five minutes, he caught his fourth, fifth and sixth keeper, with the last one being a solid “cull” fish.

His catch included a 4-pound class bass, the biggest bass he caught all week.

After the weigh-in, Sumrall said, “I told my co-angler, ‘I think this was meant to happen.’ It truly was a blessed day.”

Sumrall went into the tournament with several potential scenarios to make a repeat appearance in the Bassmaster Classic. As an Opens Championship qualifier, he trails third-place Toby Hartsell by 21 points, which will be difficult to make up. He also could qualify by winning the event, which he is in position to do, or by successfully defending his title in the upcoming B.A.S.S. Nation National Championship.

Also, the Top 3 pro anglers in points from each division (Central and Eastern) following the championship are invited to the Classic, which is next March in Knoxville, Tennessee.

In a column he wrote earlier this week for bassmaster.com, Sumrall wrote, “Now is the time to really swing hard. I go into the Championship sixth in points, so I have some ground to make up. The goal is simple: Win the event if I can, but definitely move into the top three in overall points.

“It’s going to be tough, since I have to earn 21 of the possible 28 points available in the event. A positive of the small Championship field is that I’ll have a little more cushion to overcome mistakes. If I miss a fish, I don’t have to panic because there won’t be 180-plus anglers breathing down my neck.”

Going into today’s round, Tyler Rivet of Raceland is third with 14 pounds, 6 ounces; Jared Lintner of Arroyo Grande, California, is fourth with 12 pounds, 14 ounces, and Ed Loughran III of Mechanicsville, Virginia, is fifth with 12 pounds, 12 ounces.

The 28-boat field launches today at 7:15 a.m. from Long Creek Marina. Today’s weigh-in is at 3:15 p.m. at the marina.