Hoernke Wins $150,000 on Lake Norman

Written by FLW Outdoors

Sunday, 27 April 2008

Sean Hoernke of Magnolia, Texas, won the FLW event on Lake Norman. Photo by Rob Newell, FLW Outdoors Sean Hoernke of Magnolia, Texas, pocketed $150,000 Sunday April 27 on Lake Norman with a final-round, two-day total of 10 bass weighing 27 pounds. He earned the hard-fought victory with over 4 pounds to spare over runner-up Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., who earned $50,000 with 10 bass weighing 22-09. “The tournament has really been a grind. Every single day I woke up with literally no place to start fishing. The bass were just so scattered, I would put the trolling motor on high and just burn the batteries looking for fish with some size.” said Hoernke, Hoernke opened the tournament Thursday with a 15-pound limit that put him in second place. He added five more bass weighing 12-11 to his catch Friday to advance to the final round in first place with a two-day, opening-round total of 10 bass weighing 27-11. On Saturday he caught five bass weighing 13-05 to retain his lead heading in to the final day of competition, where he caught five bass weighing 13-11. To catch his bass on opening day, Hoernke relied on a white jig that he swam around a dock suspended over a river channel. Early in the morning he was catching bass feeding on spawning shad. “When we have warm nights like we’ve had, the shad move up and spawn on the banks, on docks and just anywhere their eggs will stick to some algae,” he said. “The spawn goes on all night, so the bass feed all night long, and it lasts a couple of hours into the morning. That allowed me to put some key fish in the boat early on opening day and then go sight-fishing.” The shad-spawn bite died off on day two, however, and only produced a few fish the rest of the week. Fortunately, Hoernke’s sight-fishing pattern held up. He used a shaky-head worm to catch the majority of his sight fish until Sunday, when he switched to a wacky worm in watermelon candy color. “The cloud cover we had today really loosened the bass up, and the wacky worm seemed to work a lot better than the shaky head,” Hoernke said. Rounding out the top 10 pros were Scott Canterbury of Odenville, Ala. (10 bass, 22-05, $40,000); Greg Pugh of Cullman, Ala. (10 bass, 22-00, $35,000); Berkley pro Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla. (10 bass, 20-06, $30,000); Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif. (10 bass, 19-11, $28,000); Bud Pruitt of Houston, Texas (10 bass, 18-04, $26,000); Mike Surman of Boca Raton, Fla. (10 bass, 17-10, $24,000); Art Ferguson of St. Clair Shores, Mich. (10 bass, 17-09, $22,000); and Chris Baumgardner of Gastonia, N.C. (eight bass, 12-14, $20,000). On Saturday, veteran co-angler David Hudson of Jasper, Ala., claimed his first FLW Tour victory after qualifying for the top-10 a record 15 times. Prior to Saturday’s win, courtesy of a five-bass catch weighing 8-2, Hudson had finished in every top-10 position except for first. He earned $40,000 for the win and boosted his career earnings to $141,260 – an FLW Tour co-angler record. Hudson opened the tournament in fourth place Thursday with five bass weighing 10-10 while fishing with pro Steve Redding of Plano, Texas. He then added five more bass weighing 8-12 Friday after fishing with JT Kenney of Port Charlotte, Fla., to advance to the final round in fourth place with 10 bass weighing 19-06. He wrapped up his win Saturday while fishing with Baumgardner. “This has been a long time coming. I’ve been close a lot of times, but I’ve never actually closed the deal, and today was real close,” Hudson said. “I’ve had some great coaches. I’m giving credit to Jay (Yelas), Mark Davis and guys like that. I’ve roomed with them and practiced with them, and that stuff rubs off on you.” Hudson caught his fish Saturday on a green-pumpkin and purple 4-inch Yum Dinger that he wacky-rigged on a 1/16-ounce jig head. Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were Mark Swink of Shelby, N.C. (five bass, 8-1, $10,000); Chad Pipkens of Holt, Mich. (four bass, 7-12, $9,000); Deirdre Davison of Tega Cay, S.C. (five bass, 6-15, $8,000); Andrew Lemle of Perrysburg, Ohio (four bass, 6-14, $7,000); Beecher Strunk of Somerset, Ky. (four bass, 6-7, $6,000); Teddy Bradley of Mishawaka, Ind. (three bass, 6-2, $5,000); Shane Lehew of Charlotte (three bass, 4-13, $4,000); Butch Zadlo of Boone, N.C. (three bass, 3-11, $3,000); and Dirk Davenport of Delaware, Ohio (one bass, 1-11, $2,000). Lehew is the reigning TBF Junior World Champion. This was his first FLW Tour event.

Last Updated ( Sunday, 27 April 2008 )

 

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