A week after graduating from high school in 2022, Texan Pake South became a full-time guide at Lake Fork and other east Texas reservoirs. Many legendary bass pros were fishing guides prior to becoming tournament competitors. The list includes Bassmaster Classic Champions Rick Clunn, Guido Hibdon, Larry Nixon and Tommy Martin.
South hopes to take the same path to fishing stardom. The task of putting paying customers on bass every day throughout the season has much in common with finding bass during tournaments. Guiding appears to have sharpened South’s bass instincts to a razor’s edge.
In 2025, South fished Div. 2 of the Bassmaster Opens — his first professional-level tournaments — and claimed the overall Angler of the Year title. In the three Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers, South finished 51st, sixth and 10th to earn a Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series invitation landing at ninth in the final EQ standings.
First 5-pounder
When South was 5 years old, his father Brian borrowed a boat and took him bass fishing for the first time on Lake Fork. South struggled to hold a rod that dragged a Carolina-rigged lizard. That day he managed to reel in his first bass, a 5-pound largemouth.
“That 100% got me going,” South said. “I’ve been hooked ever since.”
South’s father had been an avid tournament angler when he was younger but stopped after suffering heat stroke which caused migraine headaches. The migraines mysteriously ceased when his son was born.
A few years after South caught his first bass, his father bought a bass boat. Thereafter, they fished Lake Fork practically every weekend. His father taught him basic shallow-water tactics, about seasonal bass movements and how to locate offshore schools of bass with electronics.
“We didn’t know anything about forward-facing sonar,” South said. “But I’ve spent a lot of time teaching myself how to use it. I think I’m pretty good with it.”
Early tournaments
He began fishing tournaments when he attended high school. His father served as his boat captain. While competing in Texas High School Bass Association events, he stuffed a largemouth into his livewell that weighed 12.80. That fish is still the heaviest bass ever caught during a THSBA tournament.
He also won several tournaments and missed being the AOY by three points when he was a senior. COVID-19 caused him to miss one of the tournaments, which cost him that title.
High school events took him to a variety of Texas impoundments, including Lake O’ the Pines, his “favorite Lake in the world.”
“When that lake floods the bushes every spring, you can have a blast flipping and skipping frogs,” South said. “When they run current through it in the summer, you can catch tons of 4-pounders on crankbaits. That lake has a lot of grass on the north end where you can murder them with a red Trap in February. You can catch 30-pound bags then without scoping.”
Making the pro move
After high school, South enrolled in a junior college, but it didn’t work out financially. He dropped out and focused on fishing. His 2025 AOY title in the Opens indicates he made the right choice.
Sam Rayburn Reservoir was the only lake on the Open’s Div. 2 schedule South had seen prior to competing in the series. This bodes well for his continuing pro career.
“My number one goal is to be an Elite pro,” South said as the 2025 EQ season began. “Right up there with that is holding one of them blue trophies. I’ve wanted one since I was a kid.”
In 2025, South’s No. 1 sponsor was Santone Lures. His others included 6th Sense Fishing, Sheppard Guard Service, Jones Marina Electronics, NBT Marine, Cowser Tire, Ragsdale & Martin Optical, Ships Marine and Phoenix Boats.
