By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
(Editor's note: In observance of the Memorial Day holiday Monday, a new First Cast article will not publish until Tuesday, June 1.)
Caleb Kuphall's home in Mukwonago, Wis. is a long way from any of the famed tournament venues in Alabama. Nonetheless, the second-year Bassmaster Elite Series pro has proven quite adept at catching bass in the state often referred to as "The Heart of Dixie."
Both of his B.A.S.S. victories have occurred there – the 2019 Central Open at Lewis Smith Lake and the recent Elite Series derby at Lake Guntersville. He completely dominated the latter event, spending all four days atop the leaderboard after posting a 27-10 stringer on day 1 and prevailing by almost 18 pounds over runner-up Wes Logan (the winner of the previous Elite Series tournament at Neely Henry Lake).
Would he consider joining the bevy of pro anglers from around the county who've adopted Alabama as their home state?
"No, I like living in the North," he said. "The winters are a little long, that's the only disadvantage, but the good thing is I get to go south in February (when the tournament season starts) every year. That makes them a lot shorter."
The win was his third finish of 16th or better in seven Elite outings this year, but he also has three bombs on his ledger (all 68th or worse). He's 33rd in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race – more than a handful of spots inside the cutoff for the 2022 Bassmaster Classic, but not enough to get comfortable with two tournaments remaining.
"Winning takes a lot of financial pressure off, but I've still got a lot of work to do. I have to catch them up north; it's not like I've got it sewed up."
Great Birthday Week
Kuphall's 38th birthday arrived during the official practice period for Guntersville. He described his on-the-water productivity over those three days as mediocre.
"Practice wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great," he said. "Based on what I caught, I thought I was headed for more of a mid-pack finish.
"It came down to really not knowing what I had. I didn't fish anything real hard and I'd just gotten a few bites here and there. You never want to lean on places too much in practice – you try to feel things out and expand on what you found, and that's kind of what I did."
He threw several baits, including a frog and a swimjig, but discovered that flipping produced a better grade of fish.
He fished two different areas during the tournament and used a different flipping presentation for each. After the monster haul on opening day, his bags on days 2-4 weighed 15-10, 23-09 and 19-01, respectively, for an 85-14 total.
His starting area was close to the launch at Goose Pond Landing. Milfoil was present and he could get bites within a 100-yard circle, but the sweet spot wasn't much larger than his boat.
"I kept cycling back to it and every time I made a pass, I'd catch one," he said. "There had to be something special there, like maybe a hard spot or a break in the weeks, but I couldn't notice anything from above. It was in 6 feet of water and the milfoil started about a foot down."
His other area was up the lake, not quite to the B.B. Comer Bridge. It had a couple of productive mats – one that extended for 50 to 75 yards and one that was much smaller.
"I did a lot of damage there on the third day, and the fourth day as well. Over the course of the tournament, the little mat gave me four or five fish that were over 5 pounds."
At either place, he noted that there was a minimum-depth requirement for generating strikes.
"The shallowest I caught anything was 5 feet," he said. "If I went up shallower, like into the 4-foot section, I couldn't get bit."
Winning Gear Notes
> Light flipping gear: 7'4" heavy-action St. Croix Avid X rod, unnamed casting reel (7.5:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar Red Label fluorocarbon line, 3/4-ounce weight, 4/0 VMC Straight Shank hook (snelled), Zoom Z Hog (California 420 or green-pumpkin).
> Heavy flipping gear: Same rod and reel, 50-pound PowerPro braided line, 1-ounce weight, same hook (snelled) and baits.
