Sean Hoernke of Euless, Texas, earned his first EverStart Series crown last June after turning in a stunning four-day performance that saw him motor 45 miles up the Red River in an aluminum bass boat. He then squeezed the 17-foot vessel through a metal culvert, where he discovered a mother lode of bass hiding amid thick shoreline cover lining the banks of an isolated oxbow.

Hoernke isn’t entered in the upcoming EverStart Series Central Division event slated for April 28-May 1 out of Morgan’s Landing, but if he were, he’d probably drag his trusty aluminum rig along and head for a Pool 4 hot spot like Sullivan’s Lake or the Jungle.

“It’s definitely going to be a backwater tournament,” Hoernke said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if there were some 20-pound sacks turned in. The Red River is a great fishery, and it can be especially good in the spring.”

Hoernke said the spawn will have pretty much run its course by tournament time, although there could still be a few males guarding fry in the shallows.

“If I were fishing it, I’d target postspawn bass around the deeper, flooded timber, floating logs and subtle ridges adjacent to the spawning flats,” he said. “The fish are going to pull out and suspend around that stuff in a 6- to 10-foot zone.”

Anglers should think small in terms of lure choices. Hoernke likes a 1/4-ounce tandem spinnerbait, a 1/4-ounce jig and a Texas-rigged creature bait like the Brush Hog. There also could be a decent top-water bite from time to time.