Entry 46-2

When Strike King Saved the Day for George Cochran

When To Use A Trailer Hook

Editor's Note: George Cochran of Hot Springs, Arkansas, a longtime member of Strike King's Pro Fishing Team, has won the BASS Masters Classic twice and has qualified for this World Series of bass fishing numerous times. Cochran has proven himself as one of the best shallow-water anglers in the nation. Many fishermen consider Cochran the master of finding overlooked places to fish and using under-utilized tactics to catch bass. We'll find out from Cochran about when Strike King has saved the day for him.

Question: Why and when do you use the trailer hook?

Answer: When you're bass fishing for money, the trailer hook is your insurance hook. If you get 10 bites on a buzzbait or on a spinner bait, you'll miss one or two fish you will have caught if you've had a trailer hook. For this reason, I always use a trailer hook in tournaments, and I never fish with a trailer hook in practice.

In practice, I really prefer the bass not to get the hook. I just want to know where the bass are, and what lures they will take. If I catch a bass in practice, I may not be able to catch it in the tournament. Often, I'll bend the hook down on the buzzbait or the spinner bait to make sure I don't catch the bass that attack my lures.

The only time I don't use a trailer hook is when I fish thick logs, brush or heavy vegetation. But almost any other time I'm fishing the buzzbait or spinner bait, I'll have a trailer hook. Sometimes I'll fish with a small treble hook as a trailer hook. This year I've tried a new tactic. I either use a red trailer hook or a red treble trailer hook. I use the red hooks because when the baits come through the water, they resemble bleeding baitfish. Since the bass is a predator, when it sees an injured baitfish, it will more likely attack it than when it sees one that isn't injured.

I was using the Strike King Tri-Wing Buzz King on a drizzly day when I was fishing the Arkansas River. My son and I were fun-fishing together, and we caught 20 bass weighing more than 100 pounds on that day using this lure.




 

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