From the back of the boat, Caleb Harper with Aces of Indian Lake club took the Day 1 lead in the BASS Nation of West Virginia State Championship.

Most times when someone takes the lead in this caliber of tournament they know they have the lead. But not Caleb Harper who didn’t know he had the lead until he returned our call for an interview. He was at revival at his church.

“I just found out when I got out of church,” said Harper. “I had been at a revival. I felt pretty confident I was going to be in the lead I just didn’t know how close it would be.”

It’s not often that you see a non boater take the lead in a field like this and while it looks good on paper, Harper claims it was no easy task out there today.

“It looks good, but it was slow. I had six bites all day, one was a short fish and the other five were keepers that I weighed in. Caught a fish every 90 minutes or two hours. Painfully slow.”

Harper had enough to take the lead with 8.59 pounds on a stingy Summersville Lake.

“My goal tomorrow is to go out there and catch five fish no matter what,” Harper said. “The goal was if I can catch 6 pounds a day I’d be in good shape, so I’m ahead of schedule a little bit. My boater (Henry Chisolm) today was great and he did a great job and just thankfully it worked out.”

Sitting close behind is Adam McGhee with Southeast Bassmasters in second with 8.50 pounds and third place is Josh Milam with Classic Bound Bassmasters with 7.98 pounds.

The full field fishes again tomorrow on Summersville Lake and the Top 12 will advance to the 2024 B.A.S.S. Nation Championship. Sitting just inside the cut is Lewis Bailey with 6.18 pounds. Stay tuned tomorrow as DockTalkWV will be providing coverage following the event.