By B.A.S.S. Communications
LA CROSSE, Wis. — Four years ago, when Caleb Kuphall claimed his first Bassmaster Elite trophy at Lake Guntersville, the Wisconsin pro leveraged his deep knowledge of northern grass fishing to pull the winning fish out of Alabama milfoil.
Today, Kuphall intentionally avoided the typically prominent local game to find the 18-pound, 15-ounce limit that leads Day 1 of the Upper Mississippi River Elite Series.
Topping a tight leaderboard with only a pound and 14 ounces separating first and 10th, Kuphall leads second-place KJ Queen by an ounce. Third-place Brandon Card sits 5 ounces off the lead.
“I’m actually not fishing any grass at all,” Kuphall said. “I’m just fishing the way I like to fish up here. I mostly fish grass back home (in Mukwonago, Wis.), but I kinda avoid the grass here.
“We’ve had a major influx of eelgrass in this (area of the river) in probably the last five years. There used to be more milfoil, but most of that is gone now.”
Drawing on his solid river history, Kuphall said he did all of his work around a particular type of current break. He kept his specifics thin, but he noted that the way he’s fishing is the way he’s fished for two decades.
“I think I have something better figured out,” Kuphall said. “My first tournaments were here, way back in the early 2000s and I kinda learned this style of fishing and a particular technique throughout the years.
“This is a really consistent pattern. I caught two 4 1/2-pounders — you just don’t catch those here.”
Kuphall said all of his bites came in less than 3 feet of water. He caught all of his fish on a single reaction bait.
Kuphall ended up catching fish throughout his day, but the action required a little upfront patience.
“I didn’t catch anything on my first spot, but my first fish on my second spot was a high-3, so that kinda got me going,” Kuphall said. “My third spot, which I was really looking forward to fishing was blown out (by recent muddy runoff) and I never caught anything in there.
“The rest of the day was pretty consistent. I was catching them one here, one there and just keeping it going. The 4 1/2-pounders were in different sections of the river. The first one bit around 10 o’clock and the other one was 11:30.”
As Kuphall explained, his choice of tactics had short-term and long-term objectives. Adding another blue trophy to his mantle ranks high in his motivations, but so does the sport’s premier invitational event.
“I’m right on the bubble for the (Classic) and I thought to myself, if I can be consistent and weigh in a couple decent bags, it’ll get me there,” Kuphall said. “Today went way better than I thought it would.”
Kuphall said his extensive experience on the Upper Mississippi gives him an advantage in identifying the most productive stretches. That being said, he’s keenly aware of the dynamics impacting a tournament that follows a major rain event like the one anglers experienced during practice.
“I don’t think I can do it again tomorrow, but you never know,” he said. “I’m around some good ones.”
As far as the race for the Angler of the Years, things are as tight as they can be.
Jay Przekurat occupied the top spot in the Angler of the Year standings for roughly half the season before relinquishing his lead at Lake St. Clair earlier this month. A 17-01 limit has him in 10th after day 1 and back atop the points standings for now as both Chris Johnston and Trey McKinney, who entered the finale tied for the points lead, find themselves in the middle of the pack.
Johnston caught 13-01, which has him tied for 55th, while McKinney sacked 12-15, good for 58th. A six-point margin separates Przekurat from McKinney in third now with a pressure-laden day 2 ahead. Kyoya Fujita is fourth with 732 points.
Hailing from Catawba, N.C., Queen is in second place with 18-14. Celebrating his 29th birthday, he made a long run and focused on areas with blended vegetation.
“It seemed that if I could find a mix of eelgrass and peppergrass, that was better than just one type of grass,” Queen said. “If I could find a little bit of coontail and a little bit of pads mixed in, that was even better.
“I have a couple holes in the vegetation that the fish are sitting in. The bait is around the vegetation and the fish are sitting in the holes. It’s just a matter of covering a lot of water until you find where they’re at and then trying to slow down and pick it apart.”
Queen said he fished three main areas and caught his fish on a selection of finesse baits.
Card, who makes his home in Salisbury, N.C., is in third place with 18-10. Card said he’s targeting grassy habitat with a reaction bait.
“I was just looking for good, clean grass,” Card said. “There are some area where it’s kinda slimy and the fish don’t like that.
“I just got in an area where I had a few bites in practice and really slowed down and the big ones just showed up,” Card said. “Today was better than I thought and I was able to expand on my area.”
