Hoernke harnesses double-dip for lead at Norman

Texas pro still utilizing two primary patterns to take top spot on day three

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – On day two of the National Guard Open on Lake Norman, Sean Hoernke of Magnolia, Texas, revealed that he had the best of both fishing worlds: a postspawn pattern and a sight-fishing pattern.

On day three, Hoernke continued to double-dip out of both coffers to regain the lead on stop No. 3 of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour.

On the postspawn half, Hoernke has a very fragile shad-spawn bite going on one isolated dock. That pattern is extremely inconsistent, but it produces quality fish.

His sight-fishing pattern involves burning up the bank looking for beds and cruising bass. It lacks quality, but produces numbers.

Together, the two patterns have worked hand in hand for Hoernke for three days.

“I have found one dock that sits over a deep river channel, and it has three boat slips in it where the shad are spawning first thing in the morning,” Hoernke related. “I’m swimming a white jig in those slips for the first hour and a half of the day.

“The first morning it was on fire, and I caught 15 pounds there pretty quick. Yesterday it was dead. And today it produced just one fish, but it was my kicker.

“If those bass will just fire off on those shad like they did the first day, very good things could happen,” he added. “Each night it keeps getting warmer, and I’m just hoping that tomorrow I’ll pull up to that dock and it will be on fire again. Even if I could get just two or three quality fish off it, it could help put me where I need to be. If not, I’ll have to just keep grinding on the sight-bite, covering new water for keepers.”

Moynagh second

BP pro Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., is just 10 ounces off Hoernke’s lead with five bass for 12 pounds, 11 ounces.

Throughout the event, Moynagh has managed to isolate slightly bigger fish with a weightless wacky worm, a Salmo Skinner and a swimbait.

Of the three lures, the wacky worm has been ringleader.

“Yesterday was kind of rough on me, and I got to that point in the day where I started to lose confidence in what I was doing,” Moynagh said. “Then I caught a 4 1/2-pounder right at the end of the day on that wacky worm and another good one right after it, and that kind of restored my confidence in my pattern. I knew then that I didn’t need to stray too far from using that wacky worm, and it paid off today.”

Canterbury third

Day-one leader Scott Canterbury of Odenville, Ala., bounced back into third place after the cut with five bass for 11 pounds, 6 ounces today.

Much like at Lewis Smith Lake, where he finished second last month, Canterbury has gone back to his burning-while-looking technique.

At Smith he used a buzzbait to cover water quickly while he looked for beds. Here on Norman, he has gone to a swimbait to keep his hands busy while he looks for bedders.

“They actually bit that swimbait pretty well today,” Canterbury said. “I probably caught 10 keepers on it. But it also works as a great search tool, because sometimes the fish will come up and give it a look and then go back to their beds. Once I know where they are, I can pitch something else back in there on those fish to catch them.”

Ferguson fourth

Art Ferguson III of St. Clair Shores, Mich., landed in the fourth-place spot after day three with five bass for 10-13.

Ferguson is spending the first couple of hours of the day Carolina rigging to get a few fish in the box, and then he goes sight-fishing for his kickers.

“What has been weird about this tournament is that each day I’ve found a big fish on bed that I could not catch, and then I end up catching her the next day,” Ferguson said.

“On day one I found that 6-5 (the Snickers Big Bass winner on day two) on bed and fished for her for an hour without getting her to bite. I went back yesterday and caught her. Then at the end of the day yesterday, I found a big one that I couldn’t catch, went back to it today and caught her. And today I left another big one out there, so hopefully I can catch her for tomorrow.”

Pugh fifth

Snickers pro Greg Pugh of Cullman, Ala., holds down the fifth spot with 10 pounds, 13 ounces.

Pugh has been sight-fishing all week and has carefully rationed his fish each day.

“I’ve got a couple of places I’ve been saving for the last day, and I’m really excited about checking them tomorrow,” Pugh said. “I started to go in there today, but I figured I’d take my chances with what I had. I don’t know what’s changed in those areas, if anything. They had some pretty good fish in them during practice, so we’ll just see what they’ve got tomorrow.”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros in the National Guard Open on Lake Norman after day three:

6th: Castrol pro Mike Surman of Boca Raton, Fla., five bass, 10-6

7th: Berkley pro Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla., five bass, 9-13

8th: Bud Pruitt of Spring, Texas, five bass, 8-9

9th: National Guard pro Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif., five bass, 8-6

10th: Snickers pro Chris Baumgardner of Gastonia, N.C., three bass, 4-3

Day four of the FLW Tour event on Lake Norman will begin Sunday at 6:30 a.m. from Blythe Landing located at 15901 NC Highway 73 in Huntersville, N.C.