Abu Garcia and Fenwick Professional Pake South is again once more together with his second Bassmaster Open win in 2026. That is simply weeks after setting a file win on his residence lake, Sam Rayburn Reservoir. Now, Pake South is again at it once more with one other runaway victory at Lake Eufaula. South was dominating the leaderboard early, leaping into the lead on Day Two and simply working off with it. Then, to seal the deal on his win at Eufaula, he introduced in an enormous 30-pound 7-ounce restrict on the ultimate day of the event to provide him a three-day complete of 84 kilos. This gave South a margin of over 10 kilos over second place. This second win for him makes him solely the fourth angler to win a number of Opens in a single season. Coming into the primary day of the Open, South didn’t anticipate a lot, as fishing throughout his follow time was sluggish. He knew he must develop and discover out what post-spawn he would want for this event.
“I used to be not on something a lot in follow however I knew the fish had been there,” South stated. “I used to be specializing in staging areas the place post-spawn largemouth had been passing by way of as they left the spawning flats. I focused fish that had been suspended above and round a mixture of brushpiles, stumps, vegetation and even rock piles, all in 6 to 12 ft of water, and adjoining to spawning areas. It was a fantastic week the place issues simply occurred every single day for me and I used to be capable of execute.”
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So South leaned into a few confidence setups for the Eufuala Bassmaster Open, switching between the brand new Bassmaster Classic winning Berkley Lab Series Minnow to work on suspended bass on deeper construction and an urchin-style bait for bass up in shallow brush. The rod for the Berkley Lab Minnow, South used a 7’ Fenwick World Class medium-light fast-action spinning rod mated with an Abu Garcia Zenon X spinning reel. For line, he used 10-pound Berkley X9 braided mainline with 17-pound Berkley GinClear fluorocarbon as his chief. For the urchin-style bait combo, South used a 7’ 3” Fenwick World Class medium-heavy energy fast-action casting rod paired with an 8.3:1 ratio Abu Garcia Zenon X baitcaster spooled with 20-pound Berkley GinClear fluorocarbon.
“Once I was focusing on the larger fish across the shallow brush piles, I might choose up the Urchin bait. Its slower sinking price allowed me to maintain the bait within the strike zone so long as attainable. I used to be principally fishing it like a jerkbait, getting these massive fish to return out of the quilt and eat it, since I couldn’t see them on scope. After they had been sitting on deeper construction or shifting quick, the Lab Sequence Minnow was clutch.” – Pake South
Utilizing the 6.5 in Lab Sequence minnow in Wakasagi colour, he picked up a number of fish on deeper construction or shifting by way of the water column. For these deeper water fish, the Lab Sequence Minnow would get down into the strike zone shortly, letting South preserve the bait in entrance of the fish for longer, getting him extra bites. As he labored his predominant goal areas for bass, he observed that the large fish had been unfold out, and solely about one in twenty of those deep stumps would have a fish.
“With each of those strategies, you want a rod with a light-weight sufficient tip to work the bait, however nonetheless have the spine to get fish out of the wooden. These Fenwick World Class rods are unbelievable for any method, and are simply the lightest rods I’ve ever picked up. It was an unbelievable week.” – Pake South
Now with a Bassmaster Open win outdoors his residence state of Texas, Pake South has change into a rising star on the earth of bass fishing, displaying that he’s able to fishing with the perfect already in his younger profession.
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