Wire to Wire 2021 Bassmaster Elite Lake Guntersville Win for Caleb Kuphall!

Canadians Chris Johnston 9th

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Kuphall's 17lb gap between second place Wes Logan. 
(Photo: BASS) 

An Elite angler’s “walk-up” music has no bearing on tournament performance, but Caleb Kuphall’s could not have been more fitting for his dominant wire-to-wire victory in the Berkley Bassmaster Elite at Lake Guntersville, where he tallied a four-day total weight of 85 pounds, 14 ounces.

 

The second-year pro from Mukwonago, Wis., enters the weigh-in stage each day to the Beach Boys’ Catch a Wave. The opening verse perfectly mirrors the eye-popping Day 1 performance that gave Kuphall nearly a 6 1/2-pound lead and positioned him to ride out the slower periods and end up surging across the finish line by a huge margin.

 

“Catch a wave and you’re sitting on top of the world.”

 

“Having as much of a lead as I did, it was very nerve wracking, because you don’t want to blow it,” Kuphall said. “You’re like ‘I’ve got this lead and if I blow it, it’s a catastrophic train wreck.’ I kinda just rode that wave.”

 

Earning his first Elite trophy and becoming the first Wisconsin angler to do so, Kuphall set the bar high with a Day 1 catch of 27-10. With a windy Day 2 creating position and presentation challenges, his productivity dipped to 15-10, but Kuphall retained the top spot by a 4-9 margin.

 

Day 3 saw him getting back on track with a 23-9 limit that pushed his lead to 11 1/2 pounds. On Championship Sunday, Kuphall started slow, picked up steady momentum and sacked up the biggest bag of the final round — 19-1 — to collect a $100,000 top prize.

 

Notably, Kuphall’s 17-14 margin of victory is the second largest in Bassmaster Elite Series history (behind South Carolina pro Patrick Walter’s 29-10 margin last year at Lake Fork). Kuphall is only the 11th Elite angler to win by a double-digit margin.

 

Kuphall caught all of his bass flipping and punching shallow vegetation. In a tournament that saw competitors trying a wide range of spring tactics, he kept it simple and stuck to a fundamentally sound game plan that helped steady his nerves.

Frank "The Tank" Talley Wins 2020 NOCO Bassmaster Elite on Lakes Guntersville with 64-3Lbs!

Final day rally key for 1st Elite win

By Bryan Brasher 

BASS PRESS RELEASE 

Frank Talley has dreamed of winning a top-level professional bass tournament his entire life.

But with three small children at home, he kept that dream in his back pocket for two decades in favor of coaching youth sports teams, fishing local tournaments and just being a good husband and dad. 

Saturday, at age 45, the second-year Elite Series pro affectionately known as “Frank the Tank” saw his dream come true, weighing in 18 pounds, 2 ounces of bass during the final round to win the NOCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Guntersville with a four-day total of 64-3. 

Talley earned $100,000 and the cheers and tears of his family, who drove 14 hours through the night Friday from their home in Temple, Texas, to be there for his big moment.

“I was perfectly fine with just raising my kids — that’s why we had kids,” Talley said. “Finally, when my youngest boy got into high school, my kids and my wife kind of had an intervention. That sat me down and said, ‘You’re gonna go do this.’

“That’s what helped me understand it was OK to finally go and chase this dream — and they’re the reason I’m standing here with this trophy now.”

Good fishing instincts also played a role in Talley’s success, especially with a key decision he made before his first cast Saturday morning. 

Jamie Hartman Win 2019 BASS Elite Lake Guntersville with 79-10lbs!

Arey and Zaldain tie for 2nd! 

By Bryan Brasher

BASS PRESS RELEASE

One hour of topwater magic seals the deal for Hartman.
(Photo: BASS)

When Jamie Hartman burst onto the scene with the Bassmaster Elite Series in 2017, he seemed like a virtual lock to eventually hoist one of the trail’s coveted blue winner’s trophies.

He had five Top 10s that first season — including a second- and a third-place showing — prompting many to believe he could be a true superstar in professional bass fishing.

A back ailment cut Hartman’s season short in 2018 and delayed his quest for an Elite Series win.

But it couldn’t derail it.

The New York native, who now lives in Arkansas, caught five bass Monday that weighed 23 pounds, 15 ounces and claimed his first Elite Series victory with a four-day total of 79-10 atthe Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Elite at Lake Guntersville.

“It’s just a godsend to be back here on the Bassmaster Elite Series,” Hartman said. “I’m just so happy to be able to do this for a living and to finally get over the hump with a win.

“I never say this — and I really don’t even know how to describe it. But I had a creepy, creepy feeling coming into this week that I was going to win.”

Having never seen Lake Guntersville before the official practice period began Tuesday, Hartman did what most anglers would likely do — he headed straight for the lake’s famous ledges and tried to find big schools of bass deep. But he struggled deep on Day 1, bringing in only 14-13 and landing in 46th place.

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Summer Slamming in the Thick Stuff!

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