Hoernke closes the deal

JASPER, Ala. – For five years, Sean Hoernke of Magnolia, Texas, has traveled the country searching for perfection in a national-level bass tournament – four days of all the right moves at the right times to leave his competition behind and stand alone in the winner’s circle.

And this season, he’s been so close: an eighth-place finish at the Wal-Mart FLW Tour season opener on Okeechobee, then a fourth-place finish at Cumberland. Each time he failed to make the right adjustments on the final day.

Today, Hoernke finally put all the pieces to the perfection puzzle together to win the Lewis Smith Lake Wal-Mart FLW Series event – the last event of the season – by more than a 3-pound margin.

“What a special, special day,” Hoernke said after collecting $100,000 for his win. “To make all the right adjustments at all the right times and finally get it right feels so good.”

Hoernke was quick to point out that his success is the result of five years of learning things the hard way.

“You learn the most from the hardest licks,” he said. “For example, I fished a tournament here on Smith several years ago and got the pants beat off me by guys fishing those runouts after several days of rain. Then at Cumberland this year, I led going into the last day and missed the adjustment to win. And most recently at Lake of the Ozarks, I was on the right deal the first day, and I left the fish too soon and cratered.

“Those are the hard lessons that create new pieces to plug into the fishing puzzle,” said the analytical angler. “During the course of this tournament, I used the hard lessons from those three examples to make the adjustments I needed to win.”

For the record, Hoernke brought in a five-bass limit weighing 9 pounds, 11 ounces Saturday to win with a four-day total of 37 pounds, 7 ounces.

During the first two days, the Texas pro fished dozens of “runouts,” places where runoff washes into the lake after a rain. He used a Lucky Craft BDS 1 and a buzzbait on those days to amass a day-two lead.

Day three was an adjustment period. Hoernke discovered his runout pattern had evaporated, and he began flipping wood targets to catch two bass to hang onto his lead going into day four.”

“Today was all about closing the deal,” he said. “I knew the runouts were done, so I never went to that water. Instead, I decided to try and protect my lead by finesse fishing near the dam. I broke out the spinning rods and the 8-pound-test and went to work fortifying my lead with a limit, and that’s how it worked out.”

And at what point did Hoernke think he had won the tournament?

“You can never assume you’ve won anything at this level with these caliber fishermen,” Hoernke said. “But I will say that when I put my fifth keeper in the boat, my mouth went dry like I’ve never experienced before.” 

Shelton comes up short

Jeff Shelton of Cullman, Ala., made the hardest charge on Hoernke on day four by virtue of a 10-pound, 6-ounce limit that gave him the runner-up position with a four-day total of 34 pounds, 3 ounces worth $50,000.

Shelton, a well-known local on Smith Lake, fished brush piles in 10 to 25 feet of water all week.

“I had about 25 deep places I fished every day,” he said. “I used just one thing: a homemade 3/8-ounce jig trimmed with a Zoom Superchunk Jr. I figured the best way to have the perfect jig is to make it yourself.”

Shelton was especially appreciative of a chance to compete in the FLW Series on his home lake.

“I want to thank FLW Outdoors for coming to Smith Lake and giving me this opportunity,” he said. “It’s been a wonderful experience.”

G-Man ‘junks’ his way to third

Gerald Swindle of Warrior, Ala., finished third with a four-day total of 33 pounds, 5 ounces worth $40,000.

When asked about his key lures for the week, the G-Man simply began piling a heap of lures onto the deck of his boat.

The assortment included several Lucky Craft shallow-running crankbaits, a couple of jigs, a big spinnerbait with a No. 7 willow blade and a Lucky Craft Gunfish top-water.

“That pretty much sums up my week right there,” Swindle said, pointing to the myriad of lures. “And the GPS track on my Lowrance looks like a 3-year-old scribbled all over the screen, given the number of places I hit this week.”

Swindle’s list of fishing targets included runouts, lay-downs, floating docks, creek channels, flats and riprap.

“The best pattern was no pattern,” Swindle laughed. “If it got in my way, I fished it.” 

Fritts takes fourth

Give David Fritts of Lexington, N.C., enough time to find fish with a crankbait, and he’ll do it.

Even though Fritts noted that Smith Lake is not exactly a great cranking lake, he managed to put a crankbait to use enough this week to finish fourth with a four-day total of 32 pounds, 12 ounces.

The well-known cranking expert used a Rapala DT-6 in a color called brown bone to catch suspended fish.

“These fish were suspended over small ditch channels in the backs of creeks,” he described. “The water was anywhere from 8 to 20 feet deep in the channel, but the fish were suspended over the little ditches and drains in about 5 to 6 feet.”

Fritts contends that he lost the tournament on day two when he brought just one keeper to the scales.

“I was so close to the right adjustment on day two, and I just left too early and didn’t stay with it,” he said. “When I finally figured it out on day three, I couldn’t believe how close I was on day two.”

Salewske adjusts for fifth 

Rusty Salewske of Alpine, Calif., who caught the biggest limit of the tournament 

on day two at 16 pounds, had to move shallow today to catch a five-bass limit weighing 9 pounds, 12 ounces.

The adjustment pushed Salewske to fifth place with a four-day total of 32 pounds worth $20,000.

“I went to my deep spotted-bass stuff first thing this morning,” he said. “I gave it an hour without a bite. And I was actually just fishing down a bank wondering what the heck to do when I pitched up under a dock and caught a keeper largemouth. That fish was like my answer, and I fished shallow the rest of the day.”

Salewske’s best pattern, however, turned out to be flipping a jig into logjams and matted leaf debris around runouts. He used a 5/8-ounce green-pumpkin jig teamed with a Smallie Beaver on 14-pound-test fluorocarbon.

“The water has come up about 5 feet since we’ve been here, and it’s created a lot of those little leaf mats,” he said. “Some of them were only 6 inches to a foot deep, but they had fish under them.”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros in the FLW Series on Smith Lake:

6th: Gary Yamamoto of Mineola, Texas, 26-3, $19,000
7th: Craig Powers of Rockwood, Tenn., 23-7, $18,000
8th: Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., 23-5, $17,000
9th: Matt Herren of Trussville, Ala., 23-2, $16,000
10th: Keith Monson of Burgin, Ky., 20-0, $15,000