Entry 100-4

George Cochran - My Five Most Miserable Tournaments

The Tree That Did Me In

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 in Alabama and had located a huge school of bass in the back of a creek during practice. Now to get to these fish, I had to run my boat over some logs and trash that most people wouldn't go over to get to a fishing spot. One really big tree had fallen across the creek. On the first day of competition, I tried to get over the tree like I had gotten over it during practice. But I couldn't get my boat over the tree. So, I decided to back my boat up, run really fast to the tree, let the boat hit the tree and jump the boat over the tree. I backed-up, got up some speed and ran to the tree. Instead of jumping the tree, my boat stopped in the middle of the tree.

Now, I was messed up for sure. I spent all day trying to get the boat off of the tree, and I lost the entire day of fishing. Finally, BASS sent out a boat and a chainsaw. The tree had to be cut before BASS could get me off the tree and pull me back to the weigh-in site after the tournament was over. I caught no fish for the day and lost the tournament. I learned a lot from that experience. I learned that if you can't get over a tree the way you have gotten over it before, don't try to jump the tree.

Once again I was in a position to win the tournament because of the large number of big fish I had found in the back of this creek. But because my boat got hung up on that stupid tree and I was unable to get to my fish, and had to be towed back in, this tournament was one of the most -frustrating tournaments I could ever remember. I knew I had a chance to win and then because of some silly quirk of fate I lost. But that is just competition. And, I've learned from competing so many years that the sooner you can forget those tournaments and get over those disappointments, the better your chances for winning the next tournament you fish.




 

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