At just 12-years-old, Jacob Sumrall of Kirbyville, Texas has won the Sealy Outdoors Big Bass Splash Fall Shootout event. He caught the winning 9.6-pound largemouth bass in the opening hour of the first day of the two-day tournament.
This was the fifth Big Bass Splash that he has fished, but all previous events had him in the Junior Angler Division.
“I have been fishing it since I was eight-years-old,” Sumrall said.
When he hooked the fish, he thought he had gotten hung up on something until he felt a hard tug and saw the fish leap out of the water.
“(The fish) had his head up out of the water, and it was like it was walking,” he continued.
The bass put up a struggle but he was finally able to get in in a net, thanks to the assist from his fishing partner, and Godfather, Chad “Paran” Porto.
“I’m still trying to comprehend all this,” Sumrall says while thanking Paran for the help. “Without him this day would not have been possible.”
He used a Carolina-rig with a blue and green Senko to catch the fish. He won a red 2017 Triton 18 TrX boat powered by Mercury and $6,000, including $1,000 for the tournament’s heaviest bass.
Sumrall is pretty much living the dream of any young angler who’s ever cast a line out hoping for a bite. Winning a boat and $6,000 at only 12 is a heck of a way to let the world know there’s a new bass master in town.
