BassFan Winning Pattern
Texas' Hoernke Played The Hands He Was Dealt
Monday, November 20, 2006 by:Bassfan.com
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Photo: FLW Outdoors/Rob Newell Sean Hoernke made all the right adjustments at the ultra-tough Lewis Smith FLW Series.
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Alabama's Lewis Smith Lake is bass fishing's equivalent of a U.S. Open golf course. Overgrown rough, narrowed fairways and rock-hard greens make it all but impossible for any golfer to break par for 4 straight days at an Open venue, and a dearth of 15-inchers make four consecutive limits at Smith just as unlikely.
That's especially true in the fall, when the keeper spotted bass and the smaller population of largemouths are scattered all over the 21,200-acre impoundment. Throw in some dynamic weather to keep those fish on the move from day to day, and you've got an ideal recipe for a low-weight tournament that'll force the top finishers to make a lot of adjustments.
Sean Hoernke of Texas was the only angler in a field of 187 who averaged 9 pounds a day at the Lewis Smith FLW Series. He took the lead on day 2, then changed his gameplan to suit the conditions over the final 2 days and claimed his first tour-level victory with a 37-07 total.
Here's how he did it.
Practice
The 30-year-old Hoernke came to Jasper, Ala. with a plan to target spotted bass exclusively.
"Traditionally, Smith is noted for spots," he said. "If you talk to locals and look at past results, you can tell that tournaments are won with them the majority of the time. You might be able to lead a day or 2 with largemouths, but after the second day, that usually falls away.
"My plan was to fish strictly for spots and maybe catch a few largemouths if I got lucky. I spent 3 of my 4 practice days targeting them, dropshotting little worms in deep water along bluffs and long points."
That didn't work too well. He discovered that most of the spots were suspended and "uncatchable," and he averaged about two keeper bites a day.
"When I was basically at the point of insanity, I cruised up to the bank and threw into a pocket and ended up picking up a keeper largemouth. So for the rest of that day and all of the next one, I went around doing that, getting one here and one there.
"I figured out there was some form of a largemouth pattern to be exploited, and I just kept going through pockets and coves and looking for any type of cover. It could have been a piece of stryofoam on a walkway, a piece of wood or anything in less than 5 feet of water. It was at least something to get me started, and I shook off about 6 keepers doing that."
The sky was clear on that final practice day and those fish were finicky – they wanted only finesse worms. That would change on day 1 though, as the sun was obscured by clouds and a torrential downpour began to muddy up the lake.
Competition
> Day 1: 4, 9-06
> Day 2: 5, 13-10
> Day 3: 2, 4-12
> Day 4: 5, 9-11
> Total = 16, 37-07
Days 1 and 2
When Hoernke realized the forecast for rain on day 1 would prove correct, he hearkened back to the Bassmaster Tour event at Smith in 2004. Most of the top finishers focused on run-ins at the back of coves where new water was entering the lake.
He went as far as he could into the pockets and quickly learned that the largemouths were by then amenable to the power-fishing tactics that he prefers. He used a Lucky Craft BDS 1 and his own Hoern Toad Tackle Brokeback Buzzer buzzbait to catch a four-fish, 9-06 bag that landed him in 9th place.
He thought he'd catch his best sack of the tournament on day 2, and he was right. Instead of a deluge, the precipitation was more of a drizzle, but the big key was that the sun remained absent.
"I was really looking forward to that day," he said. "The cold front was coming through and I knew the baitfish would move into the dirty water. I figured that would be the day to really catch them."
He employed the same tactics as on day 1. The only differences were the pockets held more fish, and he switched to a fire/tiger-colored BDS 1 to accommodate the dirtier water.
He caught 10 or 11 keepers en route to the 13-10 limit that put him in the lead to stay. His advantage would have been huge had he not lost a pair of 5-pounders.
"The fish were everywhere I went. I caught them at just about every place I stopped."
Day 3
The return of the sun had Hoernke concerned about whether he could maintain his advantage, which was 2 1/2 pounds when day 3 dawned.
"The rain had stopped and the front had passed, and we had typical bluebird, post-frontal conditions," he said. "I knew the run-in thing was over, and in order to win I'd have to do something different over the next 2 days."
He tried to catch his largemouths with shakey-head worms, to no avail.
"I moved around and pretty much cost myself the whole morning doing that. At about noon I said something's got to give, and I started flipping a jig to laydowns or any form of shade.
"It was weird, but when it got colder, they wanted the jig. I couldn't get bit on the worm. I went back through the same stretch and got four bites and caught two, and that salvaged the day."
His 4-12 bag kept him in the lead, but the margin was reduced to less than a pound and a half.
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Photo: FLW Outdoors/Rob Newell Sean Hoernke used his own Hoern Toad Tackle Porky's Revenge jighead and a Zoom Finesse Worm to catch a limit on day 4.
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Day 4
Hoernke figured he needed to catch 10 pounds on day 4 to nail down the win, and doubted he could get it done with largemouths.
"The bottom line was that my largemouth stuff was going downhill," he said. "My odds of catching 10 pounds of largemouths were slim to none at the point. The conditions were better for finesse stuff."
He pulled out the shakey-head gear he'd abandoned in practice and headed for the lower end of the lake.
"I fished every piece of wood I could find in 5 to 20 feet of water," he said. "There were some steep banks with big chunk rock, and I just focused on the wood or pieces of brush."
He caught a keeper on his third cast of the day, then went about 4 hours without a bite. But things picked up when noon rolled around – he caught five or six keepers in a 45-minute span.
"I fished super-slow because I could just barely feel the bites. I actually lost several because I pulled it out of their mouth, the bite was so soft."
The action shut down again before 1:00, but his work was done. He culled once in the final hour, but all that did was slightly boost his victory margin.
Winning Gear Notes
> Crankbait gear – 6'6" medium-heavy Setyr CKN176MH rod, Shimano Chronarch casting reel (5:1 gear ratio), 15-pound P-Line copolymer, Lucky Craft BDS 1 (root beer or fire/tiger).
> Buzzbait gear – 7' medium-heavy Setyr CLS184MH rod, Shimano Chronarch reel (6:1 ratio), 20-pound P-Line copolymer, 1/4-ounce Hoern Toad Tackle Brokeback Buzzer (white with gold blade).
> Shakey-head gear – 7'2" medium-heavy Setyr DSF184MH rod, Daiwa Carpricorn spinning reel, 8-pound P-Line Fluoroclear, 1/8-ounce Hoern Toad Tackle Porky's Revenge jighead, 4-inch Zoom Finesse Worm (green-pumpkin).
> Flipping gear – 7'10" medium-heavy Setyr FNS194MH flipping stick, Shimano Castaic casting reel (6:1 ratio), 20-pound P-Line copolymer, 3/8-ounce Hoern Toad Tackle jig (black/blue), Zoom Super Chunk trailer (blue sapphire).
The Bottom Line
> Main factor in his success – "The key word was adaptation. I basically caught them three different ways over 4 days, and that seems to be the way Smith wants to be fished. There's not a wad of them sitting anywhere to camp out on."
> Performance edge – "On the last day it was my Porky's Revenge jighead. It saved the day when things got tough."
Notable
> Hoernke plans to fish 20 or more tournaments in 2007. He'll compete on the FLW Tour and FLW Series Eastern Division, and in the Bassmaster Opens (both Central and Southern). "I fished about 15 this year, so that's another month's worth of work. But I like to fish and you can't make any money sitting at home."
