Entry 100-2

George Cochran - My Five Most Miserable Tournaments

The Tournament I Should Have Won But Didn't

Editor's Note: Most of us believe that professional fishermen live the stuff of dreams. They fish for a living, teach seminars, work with sponsors and have a great time. But the side of professional bass fishing that we rarely ever see is the bad tournaments-miserable tournaments-the tournaments they want to forget. Just like you, professional fishermen have bad days also. This week, George Cochran, a 2004 inductee into the Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame will share some of his memories of his worst tournaments.

Cochran: I was fishing on Lake Dardanelle in Arkansas at a state championship tournament back in my early days of competitive fishing. I had practiced for three days, and I had located what I believed to be a really-big school of bass that would enable me to win this great tournament. I was so excited about the fish I had found and the chance I had to win this tournament that I couldn't sleep the first night of the tournament.

Next morning, at the takeoff, I throttled down and ran as fast as the boat would go up the river. But on the way to my fish, I met a barge coming down the river. To dodge the barge, I turned a little bit wide of the barge and hit an underwater jetty that I wasn't aware was even in the river. When my engine came in contact with the rocks, I tore the lower unit off my engine. I had to be towed in, losing the whole first day of the tournament. However, the second and the third days, I came in with the biggest string caught each of those two days, and I lost the tournament by less than a pound, even though I didn't get to fish the first day.

As I look back over my fishing career, I see that one tournament as one of the most miserable tournaments I have ever fished. I knew I had the tournament won. I knew that I had enough fish holding on this one area to easily win the tournament, but when you lose a whole day of fishing, it's hard to recover. Although I finished in second place, I really believe I could have won the tournament had it not been for that bad luck. And, what's worse is that I know I could have won the tournament with a big total of bass.
 

© 1996-2008 Strike King Lure Company