Entry 67-1

George Cochran On How He Started Professionally Fishing For Bass

From Choo-Choos To Bass Fishing

Editor's Note: Fifty-three-year-old George Cochran has won two Bassmaster Classics in 1987 and 1996, more than a million dollars in tournament fishing and has finished first six times at BASS tournaments. Known as Gentleman George on the professional bass fishing circuit because of his quiet, courteous demeanor, he's as good as it gets when it comes to fishing. Cochran has had 47 top-10 finishes on the BASS tournament trail alone. This week we'll get up close and personal with the man known as Gentleman George.

Question: George, what did you do before becoming a tournament bass fisherman?

Cochran: I worked on the railroad and even continued that job for the first few years of my competitive fishing career.

Question: How did you get started in fishing?

Cochran: When I was 7 or 8 years old, my parents bought a house in a new subdivision in North Little Rock, Arkansas that had four or five lakes in it. Every day after school, I'd get my rod and reel and walk the banks fishing. I never could get enough of fishing. Those lakes near my house called to me every day when I dropped my books after school. Finally when I was 10-years old, I talked my mom and dad into buying me an aluminum boat, a paddle and a cushion. Then I could fish every afternoon and weekend. Most of my teenage life centered around that boat and those lakes. I like to catch bass the most.

I went to college for two years and thought I wanted to be a forest ranger so I could work outside and still go fishing. Once I found out how much a forest ranger made, I decided I needed to change my career plans. At that time, the best jobs in our area were found at the Missouri-Pacific Railroad. Little Rock had one of the main depots for this railroad line, and everyone I knew who worked for the railroad earned a good living. So I put my application in to work for the railroad after I finished high school.

My application stayed on file for two years while I was in college. I finally got the call from the railroad, and they invited me to work for them. I had to make a decision between staying in college, not knowing what I wanted to do, and taking a job on the railroad making good money and having a nice benefit package. I didn't struggle with this decision. I decided I could make good money and fish when I wasn't working. I'd also just gotten married, so I needed a steady income.

I started off as a brakeman, and my wife, Deborah, worked at the bank. My starting income was between $30,000 and $35,000 a year, which was huge money for a 21-year-old to be earning in West Memphis, Arkansas. In 1971, my Dad helped me buy some land, and I built a trailer park. My wife and I lived in a trailer, and we had about 40 other families paying us rent each month to live in the trailer park. We were doing well until a tornado hit, came through the trailer park and took our trailer and everyone else's trailer. Luckily I had everything insured, so I got enough from my insurance company to buy a home. Once we moved into that home near a lake where I'd grown up, some buddies and I started the Central Arkansas Bass Club.




 

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