Entry 67-2

George Cochran On How He Started Professionally Fishing For Bass

Moving Up The Ladder

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: Why did you start a bass club?

Cochran: I loved to bass fish, and so did a lot of my friends I worked with on the railroad. There weren't any bass clubs in our area at the time, so we formed our own. We had between 50 and 75 members and fished a different lake every month. However, I created a problem for myself with this bass club. Since I loved to bass fish so much, I started winning many of the club tournaments. And because I always won the tournaments and took the other members' money, they got mad at me.

I decided I needed to find another kind of tournament to fish, so I started fishing the Mr. Bass Arkansas tournament circuit. This tournament cost $50 to with about 100 fishermen in the tournament. The winner won $1,000. Well, I started winning those tournaments, and then I won a tournament called the Governor's Cup. That tournament was big and had a couple hundred fishermen. The winner of the Governor's Cup got a huge trophy and a new Ranger boat. In one year, I won the state championship, the arthritis tournament and half of the Mr. Bass of Arkansas tournaments. My friends began encouraging me to fish the BASS circuit. But I was still working for the railroad and never dreamed that anyone could make a living fishing for bass. I just fished tournaments for fun and to make extra money.




 

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