After placing fourth on Day 1 with 22-2, Caleb Sumrall’s slow start took a frustrating turn when his first hook up of Day 2 came unbuttoned as he was trying to scoop it. Looked like a good fish and the good-natured pro from New Iberia, La. handled the loss in style.
“All you can do is laugh it off,” Sumrall said.
About 5 minutes later, his optimism was rewarded with a solid bite that led to the kind of close-range drama that draws a collective gasp from the Bassmaster LIVE audience.
Sumrall diligently fights the fish to boatside and gets a hand under the big brown belly but the fish literally rockets out of his grip and leaps 4 feet down the gunwale before splashing back into the St. Lawrence River.
Calmly recovering, Sumrall works the fish for another pass, calculates his timing and smoothly secures a 4 3/4-pounds smallie that lifted him from his BassTrakk position of 43rd to 23rd.
“I got you that time, baby; let’s go!”
Fist bump.