From a psychological perspective, Sean Hoernke is a different type of angler this year than he was during his first 3 years at the tour level. The 29-year-old Texan has tossed aside his figurative survival armor and put on some serious battle gear, and now he's ready to take his best shot at finishing as high as he can in each event he enters.



No longer will he fish just to make a check – any check. He got his first taste of a tour-level Top 10 at the recent Okeechobee FLW, where he was 8th, and it naturally appealed to him. Now he wants more.

"I feel a lot more relaxed and able to take more risks this year, and that's a good thing," he said. "As competitors, what we want to do is fish at the highest level we're capable of, and it's very frustrating when you put yourself in that position and you aren't able to capitalize."

What was stopping him before? Well, money, or the lack thereof. He felt he had to get some every time out, and that caused him to make overly conservative on-water decisions.

But he had some decent finishes late in the 2005 season, and then he won the Red River Bassmaster Central Open last fall. Those combined to not only give him momentum going into 2006, but also brightened his financial picture. Now he can go hawg-hunting whenever he gets the chance.

Playing it Safe

In previous tour seasons, Hoernke never felt comfortable enough to try for a big sack of fish if he perceived any chance that the move might fail. Rarely could he fish in the moment – he was always worried about next year, and whether he'd be able to fund another tour campaign. A Top 50 (or a Top 75, or whatever the final paying place was) had to be his top priority.

Before Okeechobee, his best tour finish was 15th at the 2004 Atchafalaya Basin FLW. He'd had just two other top 30s in 31 tournaments.

"Because of the financial burden, I think you see that a lot in guys my age," he said. "This sport costs a lot of money to play the game, and when I first started my focus was always on being able to come back next year. The win last fall gave me a lot of confidence going into Okeechobee, and now I can fish to try to make those Top 10s.

"When you look back through the history of the sport, you find a lot of young guys who got that first breakthrough and gained a lot of confidence, and after that they were able to insert a little more risk in their game. At first, it's frustrating from a competitive standpoint because you want to win, that's why you're out there, but to do that you have to be able to keep playing. It's a catch-22."

Dilemma at the Potomac

The Chevy Open (Potomac River FLW) last June is a prime example of a tournament in which Hoernke felt pressure to take the safe route rather than go for the gusto. He'd caught a 14-12 bag on day 1 and was confident that his area, which he shared with Greg Hackney, would give up an even bigger sack on day 2.

There was a big hitch, though – the tide wouldn't be right until early afternoon. So when 11:00 rolled around and he hadn't had a bite, he pulled out and headed upriver to a place where he knew he could catch a small limit and secure a minimum $10,000 check.

He got his five fish, but the 12-14 stringer left him about 2 1/2 pounds shy of the cut and he finished 24th. Meanwhile, Hackney stuck it out, caught a bigger bag, made the cut and went on to wrap up the Angler of the Year (AOY) title.

"The bottom line is I knew I could catch 12 pounds and make a check if I moved, but maybe not if I stayed," he said. "But if I stayed, I had a chance to make the cut. It's tough when you have to fish not the way you want to, but the way you think you have to to survive."

Start of a New Era

Hoernke is under no illusion that he'll make the Top 10 every time out for here on, or that his first tour-level win is imminent. Rather, he looks at his Okeechobee performance as another step in the direction toward consistency, which will result in additional opportunities for single-digit finishes.

If those come about often enough, there's a good chance he'll eventually win.

"I feel like I can fish so much better now than I could in past years," he said. "I'm maturing as an angler, I'm 29 years old and I think I've got a good feel of what I need to be doing every single day. I think that's where my success has come from over the last 6 months. My decision-making is getting better and I'm seeing things develop a lot quicker than I used to."

"It felt really good to break through and get that first Top 10," he said. "Everyone says that once you get the first one, the next ones come easier. I hope that's the way it works out for me."

Notable

> Hoernke said the primary reason for his success at Okeechobee was he made good adjustments. He flipped the first two days, then switched to faster-moving baits when the weather and water warmed up on days 3 and 4. "I knew the flipping bite would go downhill for me, so I had to start over from scratch. I caught some by swimming a jig. Then on the final day a lot of the fish had moved into the dead cattails and I ended up catching them on frogs and Chatterbaits."

> He's in South Carolina for this week's FLW event at Lake Murray and has had some good practice days. He predicts the 2-day cutline to fall at around 34 pounds. "It kind of depends on what the weather does, but you're going to see some real good weights. It's just a matter of getting the bigger bite – you'll need two good fish each day to bump you up."