Texas angler Pake South has claimed his second Bassmaster Open victory of the 2026 season, winning the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Lake Eufaula in Alabama with 84 pounds, 1 ounce — an 11-pound-plus margin over the second-place finisher.
South, of Winnsboro, Texas, is now one of the defining storylines of the 2026 Open schedule. His first win of the year came at Sam Rayburn Reservoir in February, where he set what the tour described as an Open division record for total weight in a single tournament. Two events later, he has repeated the feat on a different fishery under completely different conditions.
The Lake Eufaula performance relied on heavy daily bags rather than a one-day explosion. South opened with 28 pounds on five fish, followed with 24 pounds, 10 ounces on day two, then unloaded a 31-pound, 7-ounce limit on the final day — the only 30-pound bag registered in the tournament. The Sunday weight alone would have been competitive for a day-one lead at many Elite Series events.
Coverage of the event noted that South leaned on a post-spawn pattern to establish control after day one, rotating between areas as the fish moved and resetting his rotation each morning. The win secured his second Open trophy of the year in a division where anglers typically fish multiple events before a breakthrough result, and marked a rare back-to-back dominant showing on fisheries as dissimilar as Sam Rayburn and Eufaula.
The Bassmaster Open series now shifts to the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Grand Lake O' the Cherokees in Grove, Oklahoma, scheduled for 23–25 April. South arrives as the points leader and the favourite to convert the Open division's annual Elite Series invitation, which is awarded to the top finisher in season standings.
What makes the 2026 run unusual is the nature of the fisheries South has dominated. Sam Rayburn is a Texas reservoir known for heavy early-season bags; Eufaula sits on the Chattahoochee River system and tends to reward a different set of skills in the post-spawn window. Winning both, and winning both decisively, places South in rare company this early in an Open season.
