After nabbing fourth place at the first Bassmaster Opens Elite Qualifier of 2024 on Lake Okeechobee and eighth place at the second EQ on Lake Ouachita, Georgia’s Paul Marks is high in the overall EQ rankings — currently 14th. The 22-year-old may have surprised himself with his blistering fast start.
“I really don’t know what to think about it,” Marks said. “I guess I just have to keep backing it up.”
Despite his youth, Marks is long on bass fishing experience. His father, Paul, began taking him fishing in a bass boat when he was only 3 years old. From then on, he fished often for bass with his father and his father’s best friend, Mark Hardin. Both are avid tournament anglers.
He competed in his first tournament with his father, a local pot derby, at around age 10. He still bass fishes for fun and in tournaments with his father and Hardin whenever he has time. Now that he’s on the EQ tour, that time is limited.
“Mark Hardin has fished a bunch of major bass tournaments,” Marks said. “He helped me a lot. We’ve traveled all over the country fishing tournaments and just for fun.”
Although Marks attended the University of North Georgia for two years, he fished only one collegiate bass tournament. In 2022 he competed in his first Bassmaster tournaments — the Southern Opens. He finished in the middle of the pack in the first two events. In the final tournament on Lake Hartwell he claimed fifth place.
He took a year off from the Opens the following season, but he continued to compete in other tournaments. He did well enough in the BFLs to fund his EQ campaign this year. It has proven to be a sound investment.
“My goal this year is to make the Elites and maybe get into the Classic,” Marks said.
He regards himself as a “power Finesse fisherman.” He dotes on spinning tackle but rarely employs line under 12-pound test. He also relies heavily on jerkbaits, especially in conjunction with forward-facing sonar, which he employs “a good bit.”
During the first EQs of the year, he caught all but one of his bass with the help of this sonar technology. He ignored the grass at Okeechobee and fished open water in the rim canal.
His father is as addicted to hunting as he is to fishing and indoctrinated Marks into this aspect of the outdoors.
“Duck hunting is my favorite,” Marks said. “I’ve been going to Arkansas to hunt ducks with my dad since I was tiny. We hunt out of Mud Boats. I really enjoy being out there with my black lab Axl.”
He somehow finds time to also hunt whitetails, mainly with a bow. When he’s not hunting in autumn, you’ll find him fishing, which he loves to do late in the year.
Marks has the full support of his parents. His mother, Shannon, surprised him by showing up on all three tournament days at the Ouachita Open. When he isn’t fishing or hunting, Marks works at his father’s business, Oakwood Bait and Tackle, which is located just east of Lake Lanier.
He has garnered the support of several sponsors including John Megel Chevrolet and Ford, Roaming Shot Outdoors, Sonar Pros, Oakwood Bait and Tackle, Bay Marine, Lowrance Electronics, Cinelease Studios, Herc Entertainment Services, Mercury Marine, Fashion 10 and Trends, Spro, Zoom, Seaguar, Greenfish Tackle and Phoenix Boats.
