Cayuga Fishing Team Places Sixth in 2019 Lake Fork Open




The Palestine Herald-Press reports that the Cayuga bass fishing duo, Emily Banta and Kolton Foerster, had much to smile about when they left the Lake Fork Open, July 20-21 on Lake Fork. In her inaugural high school season, Banta, competing against a field of 81 teams, saw her team catapult into sixth-place at the end of day one.

Also making his Lake Fork debut, Foerster snagged an extra $500 in scholarship money, following the 2.21-pound catch that captured first-place for “Big Bass” on the tournament's opening day.

As a team, the pair finished sixth. “We were pretty happy with sixth-place, because that was a scholarship place,” Foerster said. “Of course, we were going for first, but we were confident with where we were placed.”

On day two, both the first and third seeds fell from the previous day. As the leaderboard shifted slightly, however, Banta and Foerster stayed confident in their initial strategy.

Their opportunity to pre-fish twice before the start of the competition gave them a chance to secure comfortable spots around the lake. They immediately took advantage of their predetermined spot on day one, which turned in five fish.
And sitting just outside the top five entering Day 2, they saw an opportunity to capitalize on their day one performance.

“Since we were comfortable with sixth-place,” Foerster said, “we had two options: We discussed fishing out deep looking for those big 'overs.' Or do we want to fill our sack and then find the big one?”

The two went with the latter strategy. Though the big fish never showed, their reliable spot from day one allowed them to catch enough fish to fill their limit and ensure a satisfying sixth-place finish.

The top five finishers were:
1. Kyle Sustaire – Dakota Groves, 10 fish, 15.22 lbs
2. Tate Pokrifcsak – A. J. Reed, 10 fish, 14.53 lbs
3. Jade Maples – Westin Roberts, 10 fish, 14.43 lbs
4. Ben Burns – Ian Nash, 10 fish, 13.98 lbs
5. Hunter Muncreif – Landen McCary, 9 fish, 13.59 lbs
Courtesy Photo




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Lake Fork

Fishing Report from TPWD (Jul. 9)

GOOD. Water Stained; 82 degrees; 0.23 feet above pool. Fork : Top waters early around pond weed and grass with frogs and poppers still working . Mid morning chatter baits on the outside edge of grass in 3-5 ft is good as well as shaky heads . Best bite is Carolina rigs off shore on points , road beds and humps in 12-25 ft . Big worms and flukes are good . Deep Cranks are good over the same area when the fish are suspending 19-23 ft . Report by Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Guide Service. Lily fields are filling in, hydrilla and milfoil are reaching for the surface. Fish this type of cover at mid day when bass are seeking cover. Frog patterns are working in the shallow vegetation early and late. Small fish patterns like a dock knocker are producing bass and crappie shallow near grass. Large bream have moved shallow, wooly buggers are producing good fish. Channel catfish are cruising 2-4 feet biting clousers. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service. Lake Fork crappie fishing has been super up and down this past week. The fish are stacked up on brush piles, lay downs, tire reefs and some trees. The bite is the tricky part. Some days the bite is good and the bigger fish show up. Some days the bite is just off and the short fish show up. Seems like the bite may be better on days we have a little breeze. If the winds are calm the bite is very slow. Minnows will get some bites but small 1/32nd ounce hand tied jigs with small bodies and tails are working well on fish that don’t want to bite. Best depths have been 18-13ft with most fish suspended on trees and loaded in the brush. Report by Jacky Wiggins, Jacky Wiggins Guide Service.

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