Just weeks after a record-setting win at his home lake of Sam Rayburn Reservoir, Abu Garcia and Fenwick pro Pake South proved once again he's a young name to watch in the bass fishing world. This time, South conquered Alabama's Lake Eufaula with a dominant performance, jumping into the lead on Day Two and never looking back. Anchored by a massive 30-pound, 7-ounce limit of bass on the final day, he slammed the door shut with a three-day total of 84 pounds, 1 ounce, winning by a margin of over 10 pounds.
In similar fashion to Sam Rayburn in February, South was in striking distance after Day One with 28 pounds. He followed it up with 24 pounds, 10 ounces on a tougher Day Two, giving him a 1-pound, 14-ounce lead. On the final day, South got going early and never looked back. His final-day bag was the biggest of the event, with the win making him the fourth angler to win multiple Opens in a single season.
Coming into the first day of the event, South had little expectation. With a slower practice, he knew he'd have to expand and figure out his post-spawn pattern throughout the event, and he executed that plan flawlessly.
"I was not on anything much in practice but I knew the fish were there," South said. "I was focusing on staging areas where post-spawn largemouth were passing through as they left the spawning flats. I targeted fish that were suspended above and around a mix of brushpiles, stumps, vegetation and even rock piles, all in 6 to 12 feet of water, and adjacent to spawning areas. It was a great week where things just happened every day for me and I was able to execute."
Confidence in His System
Photo by B.A.S.S./Chase Sansom
South leaned on two confidence setups throughout the event, rotating between the all-new Bassmaster Classic winning Berkley Lab Series Minnow for picking off suspended bass on deeper structure, and a popular urchin-style bait for bass around shallower brush. For the minnow, South used a 7' Fenwick World Class medium-light fast-action spinning rod with an Abu Garcia Zenon X spinning reel. He used a 10-pound lb. Berkley X9 braided mainline with a 17-pound Berkley GinClear fluorocarbon leader. For the urchin-style bait, South used a 7' 3" Fenwick World Class medium-heavy power fast-action casting rod paired with a 8.3:1 ratio Abu Garcia Zenon X casting reel spooled with 20-pound Berkley GinClear fluorocarbon line. South picked up a few key bites on new 6.5-inch Lab Series minnow in Wakasagi color when fish were relating to deeper structure or moving fast throughout the water column.
"When I was targeting the bigger fish around the shallow brush piles, I would pick up the Urchin bait. Its slower sinking rate allowed me to keep the bait in the strike zone as long as possible," said South. "I was basically fishing it like a jerkbait, getting those big fish to come out of the cover and eat it, since I couldn't see them on scope. When they were sitting on deeper structure or moving fast, the Lab Series Minnow was clutch."
For deeper stumps, the Lab Series Minnow would get down to them faster, and allowed him to keep the bait in front of the fish longer, resulting in more bites. As he went along his main areas, he noticed that the bigger fish were spread out, and roughly one in twenty would have a fish.
"With both of these techniques, you need a rod with a light enough tip to work the bait, but still have the backbone to get fish out of the wood," said South. "These Fenwick World Class rods are incredible for any technique, and are easily the lightest rods I've ever picked up. It was an incredible week."
Performances like these don't go unnoticed, and South's back-to-back wins are quickly establishing him as one of the sport's rising stars, showing he can compete and win against the best on any stage, and now proving his versatility with a win outside of his home state of Texas.
"Winning back-to-back Bassmaster Opens like this doesn't happen by accident," said Marc Kempter, Vice President of Marketing for Pure Fishing. "Pake is showing he can win on any body of water against the best in the country, and that kind of consistency is what separates good anglers from great anglers. We're proud to have him representing our brands and excited to see how he carries this momentum throughout the rest of the 2026 season."
With another Open win under his belt, South now turns his attention back to the Bassmaster Elite Series, looking to carry that momentum to the Arkansas River in just two weeks.
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