The Cheese Stands Alone
Posted by Pete Robbins on May 24th 2021
With his win at Guntersville this past weekend, Caleb Kuphall became the first Wisconsinite to win a Bassmaster Elite Series tournament. It’s not that northerners can’t do well on tour – New York’s Jamie Hartman won at the Big G two years ago, and some guy from Michigan won like 800 B.A.S.S. tournaments over, including four Classics – but it seemed that this day would both never come and that it was coming for a while. As I blogged early last year, Cheeseland’s War of Northern Aggression has been on the upswing, with lots of AAA hardware headed back that way.
All three Wisconsin pros on tour this year – Kuphall, Pat Schlapper and Bob Downey – seemed capable, but Kuphall was the first to pull the trigger.
Meanwhile, the neighboring state of Minnesota is home to your current AOY leader and last year’s Rookie of the Year.
Could you have planned this season any better? Kuphall was semi-sorta-challenged for the win by second place finisher (and fellow sophomore) Wes Logan, who might’ve been more upset had he not won the previous event at Neely Henry. Other winners on tour include third year Elites Jeff Gustafson (the second Canadian winner) and Lee Livesay, who put together a ridiculous performance at Fork. The only true veterans among them have stories of their own. Longtime bridesmaid Bill Lowen finally got the W, and returning Elite Jason Christie completed some unfinished business. Livesay and Christie are the only ones in that group with more than one blue trophy.
Now we’re on to the Classic, the first summer iteration since 2005, and ready to make some more history. While the COVID campaign of 2020 was miraculous simply because it got completed, this follow-up seems to have a new and intriguing bedtime story at every turn.
