{"id":1404097,"date":"2026-02-21T16:10:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T22:10:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/?post_type=article&p=1404097"},"modified":"2026-02-24T11:13:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T17:13:05","slug":"south-rewrites-opens-history-with-victory-at-sam-rayburn","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/opens\/news\/south-rewrites-opens-history-with-victory-at-sam-rayburn\/","title":{"rendered":"South rewrites Opens history with victory at Sam Rayburn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

JASPER, Texas \u2014 Pake South<\/a> fell a little short of an ambitious goal, but along the way, he turned in a record-breaking performance to win the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Battery Tender<\/a> with a three-day total of 96 pounds, 15 ounces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Day 1, the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series<\/a> rookie from Winnsboro, Texas placed fifth with 28-1 and took over the lead with a Day 2 limit of 34-4. Championship Saturday saw him turn in his biggest bag \u2014 34-10 \u2014 to seal the deal by a margin of 15-14 over Jace Lindsay<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt was great; the lake impressed me this week,\u201d South said. \u201cI didn\u2019t come into this one expecting to catch that much weight. I was expecting to have about 30 pounds a day, but to have back-to-back 34-pound days was a little bit more than I expected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South anchored his final limit with a 10-15 that bit shortly before 9 a.m. Knowing such quality lives in Rayburn, he said he had been looking forward to fishing this event since last fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the schedule came out last year, I said, \u2018I\u2019m gonna go try to win that one,\u2019\u201d South said. \u201cI fished to win this week, not for points.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For his efforts, South earned the $45,408 top prize. Winning anglers who compete in all four events of Division 1 or 2 receive an invitation to fish the 2027 Bassmaster Classic. Because South is not fishing a complete division, this event\u2019s Classic berth goes to the Bassmaster Elite Series field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the start of Day 3, South stated that he had his sights set on reaching the 100-pound mark. While that didn\u2019t come to fruition, he still wrote his name in the record book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South\u2019s final weight broke the record for all-time heaviest winning total in a three-day Bassmaster event. Florida pro Scott Martin<\/a> set the previous mark on February 3, 2024 by topping the Bassmaster Open at Lake Okeechobee<\/a> with 90-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI saw the fish to break 100 pounds on LiveScope today,\u201d South said. \u201cThis lake is impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, the event also saw Day 1 leader Riley Harris<\/a> catch the heaviest five-bass limit in Bassmaster Opens history \u2014 36-15. Harris finished eighth with 67-10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spending all three days in Ayish Bayou, South stayed relatively close to takeoff and maximized his fishing time. Targeting prespawn bass, he fished a drain accessing a spawning flat and worked various depths up to 15 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was clay bottom with stumps and shellbeds; anything that looked good,\u201d South said. \u201cIt was kind of all over the place. Some of the fish would be swimming down the edges of the drain, some of them would be swimming right down the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South caught all of his fish on a green pumpkin dice style bait. He Neko rigged the soft plastic bait on a 1\/0 hook with a 3\/32-ounce nail weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter I got to 30 pounds, I was just throwing at big ones,\u201d South said. \u201cI was still seeing a lot of fish, but I wasn\u2019t wasting time on the smaller ones. I was just hog hunting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When South realized he had eclipsed Martin\u2019s record on BassTrakk\u2019s unofficial standings, BassLIVE saw the leader boldly state: \u201cIt might get stupid. We\u2019re at 28 pounds and I have three 3-pounders. We have a lot of room to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South\u2019s bag certainly did grow, and while no one\u2019s calling his effort \u201cstupid,\u201d that was his word and the meaning came true in a big way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis means the world to me,\u201d said South, who placed eighth at the Lippert Bassmaster Elite at Lake Martin<\/a> on February 15. \u201cI\u2019ve been so close to winning a big deal so many times. I had four or five Top 10s last year and I felt like I was right there on the verge of winning one, so it feels great to finally be able to seal the deal on one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Pake South<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lindsay, who hails from Beckville, Texas, finished second with 81-1. Holding that position all three days, his limits weighed 30-12, 26-9 and 23-12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sticking with the same game plan for three days, Lindsay looked for shallow hard spots along the side of drains. He used these spots to intercept pre-spawners moving up with the favorable weather conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fish are pulling into these drains getting ready to spawn and with this warmer weather, they\u2019re moving out of the drains,\u201d Lindsay said. \u201cI was kinda cutting them off at the hard spots. I had a couple of brushpiles in the same area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lindsay caught his fish on a Megabass Vision 110 +2 jerkbait, an 8-inch Deps Sakamata Shad on a 1\/8-ounce jig head and a dice style bait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Behnke<\/a> of Fond Du Lac, Wis., finished third with 80-4. His daily weights were 21-4, 27-2 and 31-14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behnke spent most of his time in a saddle between a main lake island and a point. The spot had a drain running into it and a high, hard spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shaking a 6 1\/2-inch minnow on a Missile Baits Eye Roll jig head enticed several fish, but he did most of his final-round work by cranking a Strike King 8XD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was a bunch of fish there; you just had to keep casting, keep casting and all of a sudden, you\u2019d catch a big one and another big one,\u201d Behnke said. \u201cThen it would shut down and you\u2019d have to wait it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harris and Behnke tied for\u00a0Phoenix Boats<\/a>\u00a0Big Bass honors, both with bass that weighed 11-14, which ties for second-heaviest in Opens competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lindsay leads the Turtlebox Bassmaster Opens presented by Battery Tender Division 2 points standings<\/a> with 200 points. Behnke is in second with 199, followed by Brody Robison<\/a> of Dawson, Ala., with 198, Kollin Crawford<\/a> of Broken Bow, Okla., with 197 and Rylan Hamlin<\/a> of Jackson, Mich., with 196.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brock Bila<\/a> of Republic, Mo. leads the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers presented by Bass Pro Shops<\/a> standings with 363 points. Adam Rasmussen<\/a> of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., is in second with 352, followed by Dillon Falardeau<\/a> of Hixson, Tenn., with 351, Grant Neubauer<\/a> of Medford, Wis., with 334 and Laker Howell<\/a> of Guntersville, Ala., with 329.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasper Development District No. 1<\/a> hosted this event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winnsboro, Texas pro Pake South has won the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Battery Tender with a three-day total of 96 pounds, 15 ounces, the heaviest winning weight ever in Bassmaster Open competition. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":1404142,"template":"","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":6255,"post_id":6631}}]},"bassmaster_plugin_short_title":"","bassmaster_plugin_photo_attribution":[{"id":57365,"title":"Andy Crawford"}],"bassmaster_plugin_caption_attribution":[],"bassmaster_article_column":false,"bassmaster_article_columnists":[],"bassmaster_dfp":[],"bassmaster_ad_refresh_interval_bool":false,"bassmaster_ad_refresh_interval_length":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100038],"sponsors":[],"people":[],"tournaments":[115687],"tournament-series":[1277],"byline":[6255],"class_list":["post-1404097","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opens","tournaments-2026-bassmaster-open-at-sam-rayburn-reservoir","tournament-series-opens"],"yoast_head":"\nSouth rewrites Opens history with victory at Sam Rayburn - Bassmaster<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/opens\/news\/south-rewrites-opens-history-with-victory-at-sam-rayburn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"South rewrites Opens history with victory at Sam Rayburn - Bassmaster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Winnsboro, Texas pro Pake South has won the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Battery Tender with a three-day total of 96 pounds, 15 ounces, the heaviest winning weight ever in Bassmaster Open competition.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/opens\/news\/south-rewrites-opens-history-with-victory-at-sam-rayburn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bassmaster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bass\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-24T17:13:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image2_9b02b8.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2048\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1365\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bassmaster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"David A. 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