EUFAULA, Ala. — Pake South is on a remarkable heater in Bassmaster Opens competition, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon.
The Winnsboro, Texas native claimed the lead at the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Lake Eufaula presented by Battery Tender with a two-day total weighing 52 pounds, 10 ounces, adding 24-10 on Friday to his 28-0 limit from Day 1. He holds a 1-14 advantage over second-place Chase Clarke.
South has already won an Open in 2026, the Division II opener at Sam Rayburn. If he were to win this event, South would become only the fourth angler to win multiple Opens in a single season, joining Terry Scroggins, Randall Tharp and Easton Fothergill in that exclusive club.
“It would be pretty awesome to win two, especially back-to-back Opens. We’ll see if we can seal the deal tomorrow,” the Elite Series rookie said.
In eight Turtlebox Bassmaster Opens presented by Battery Tender and Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier presented by Bass Pro Shopsevents, including this week’s tournament, South has seven Top 25 finishes and six Top 10s.
Staying primarily on the northern side of Lake Eufaula, South is targeting postspawn largemouth staging in 6 to 12 feet of water. Brushpiles and stumps have been the abundant cover options in the region, but South has also found rockpiles and even some grass patches that have produced key bites.
“The bass are further along in the spawn in this region,” South explained. “The further south you go, the more scattered they get. So rather than trying to fish for bass in all stages, I wanted to only target postspawners. I feel like I have them coming to me, so I’m targeting those bass where they are pulling out to.”
Several brushpiles have held groups of eight or nine bass, but more often than not, South is targeting individual bass or wolfpacks of two or three. If he gets one to bite, he added, it’s almost impossible to get the rest of the group to bite.
A 23 mm dice-style bait with a light weight and a Berkley Lab Series Minnow have been South’s best presentations, with the dice bait being the most productive on Day 2.
“They have been sitting right off the edge of the brushpiles, and some of them are hovering a foot above them. They are pretty much touching the stumps,” he said. “When they are going to bite it, there is no doubt about it. There haven’t been many that I have had to mess with to get them to bite.”
Similarly to Day 1, South opened the day by catching his biggest bass, in this case a 5-pounder. That 5-pounder came off the same stump as another 5-pounder he caught on Day 1. He quickly filled out a limit close to 19 pounds before bouncing around and making key culls as the day progressed.
“It was really about the same as yesterday, except all my bass today were about a half-pound smaller than the ones yesterday,” South said. “They were all about the same size. Once I had about 20 pounds, I made small upgrades. I ran some new water and found some more new stuff.”
Clarke had one of his best days of fishing ever on Friday, landing 27-3 to move into second-place with a two-day total of 50-12. That limit was anchored by an 8-15 largemouth, the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Day and the second-biggest bass Clarke has ever landed.
“That is the biggest bag I’ve ever weighed in. Today was just a blessing,” the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour qualifier said. “Lake Eufaula feels like home to me.”
The Virginia Beach native who now calls Auburn, Ala., home has been running two patterns this week. Clarke has been throwing a rotation of baits on river ledges in 14 to 17 feet of water as well as brushpiles between 4 and 8 feet of water. The majority of the largemouth he’s caught have been prespawn.
“They are still in prespawn in my area. I saw quite a few bass in my area,” he said. “With that being said, they are hard to catch.”
Early in the day, Clarke pulled up to a brushpile where he felt he could land several keeper spotted bass, but when he panned his forward-facing sonar to the pile, he didn’t see any bass at all. He decided to make a cast anyway and was rewarded.
“I saw her swim out. When I set the hook, I thought it was a giant catfish. It was a pretty special catch. It is the biggest bass I’ve ever weighed in at a tournament, and to do it at Lake Eufaula makes it that much more special.”
After landing that fish, Clarke filled out a limit quickly before making a couple key culls in the afternoon. Late in the day, he added a 4-pounder to his limit to reach his final tally for the day.
Alabama’s Fisher Anaya, meanwhile, added 23-7 to his Day 1 limit of 19-9 to jump into third place with a total of 43 pounds. The Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series rookie has been fishing Lake Eufaula for several years now, and the fishery has become one of his favorite places to fish.
Three hard spots in 8 to 10 feet of water have produced the bulk of his bites throughout the tournament. Both postspawn and prespawn largemouth are utilizing those hard spots, and most of those fish have been sitting on the bottom.
A Rapala Mavrick 100 jerkbait was his best bait on Friday while a dice-style bait and a jighead minnow have also produced key bites.
While he is nearly 10 pounds behind his roommate, Anaya also knows a 30-pound bag is possible on any given day at Lake Eufaula.
“We have some weight to make up, but it is doable. 30 pounds is swimming in this place,” he said.
Georgia’s Cody Stahl leads the Division I points race with 378 points followed by fellow Georgia angler Buddy Benson in second with 378 points. Florida’s Bryson Osteen is third with 369 points, Alabama’s Connor Jacob is fourth with 361 points and Texas’s Niko Romero is fifth with 361 points. Dillon Falardeau (359), Bo Thomas (354), Clarke (351), David Williams (350) and Jonathan Kelley (348) round out the Top 10.
The Top 10 anglers will launch from Lakepoint State Park beginning at 6:30 a.m. CT and return for weigh-in at 2:30 p.m. The winner will earn a spot in the 2027 Bassmaster Classic, given they fish each of the four Division I events.
Bassmaster LIVE will be available on Bassmaster.com and the ROKU Sports Channel beginning at 8 a.m. ET and continue until 3 p.m. ET.
The event is being hosted by the Eufaula Chamber of Commerce.
2026 Bassmaster Opens Series Title Sponsor: Turtlebox
2026 Bassmaster Opens Series Presenting Sponsor: Battery Tender
2026 Bassmaster Opens Series Platinum Sponsor: Progressive, Toyota
2026Bassmaster Opens Series Premier Sponsors: Bass Pro Shops, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mountain Dew, Nitro Boats, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha
2026 Bassmaster Opens Series Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Daiwa, Lew’s, Lowrance, Phoenix Boats, VMC, Yokohama
