Entry 132-3

George Cochran’s December Bass Tactics

What to Do When Cranking Doesn't Work

Editor's Note: Two-time Bassmasters Classic winner and longtime avid bass angler, George Cochran, fishes in all kinds of weather and at different times of the year.

Cochran: One of the most consistent things that happens during the month of December is cold fronts will come through the area where you're fishing. After all, it's December, you're fishing during the winter months, and winter months mean cold fronts. From fishing so many years in all types of weather, at all times of the year, under all wind and weather conditions you can face, I've learned that when you have a cold front to come through that causes the water temperature to drop 5 degrees quickly, the bass stop hitting the crankbait.

The bass no longer want a bait that's moving as fast as the crankbait. That 5-degree drop in temperature has caused the fish's body metabolism to slow down quite a bit. When that cold front drops the water temperature, I'll change from the crankbait to Strike King's new Compact Bleeding Bait Spinner Bait with the two willow-leaf blades. I'll be fishing this little spinner bait around cover, like blown-down trees, logs and stumps. I'll reel the Compact spinner bait up to the cover, over the cover, kill the bait and then let it flutter down toward the bottom.

That little spinner bait looks like a dying shad. When you have a cold front hit a lake and a dramatic drop of 5 degrees or more in the water temperature, shad will to die off. That's the reason I'm using this Compact spinner bait type of retrieve to simulate dying shad's falling right in front of an ambush point where the bass are holding. At this time of the year, bass are going to be looking for those dying shad when that quick hard cold front hits. So, what you are doing is not only presenting a bait to the bass that they want to eat, but you're presenting the bass the bait the way it should be acting based on the water and weather conditions.

What makes this technique even more convincing is not only is the bass expecting to eat the shad that are dying and falling to the bottom. When you drop that Compact spinner bait right in front of a bass' face, that fish will be thinking "Oh, boy. There's a dying shad that I don't have to move more than an inch or two to eat." So the bass will suck the bait in after usually taking the bait on a slack line. This spinner bait catches a lot of bass for me at this time of year when a cold front moves through an area.

I'll be fishing the spinner bait on 14-pound-test line, which is a little lighter than the size line I normally fish. When the bait begins to fall on the slack line, instead of letting it fall all the way vertically to the bottom, I'll keep my line a little bit tight. Then when the bait swings toward me, I'll still able to feel the blade turn and feel the strike better. That lighter line gives me a better feel for what the bait's doing and when the bass attacks. I don't put a trailer hook on a spinner bait, but what I do is I'll put a 3-inch Strike King tube on the back of my Compact spinner bait. I think that tube on the back of the spinner bait causes the spinner bait to look more like a dying shad. I get more strikes with a tube on the back of the spinner bait than I do when I don't put a tube on the back of the lure.

George Cochran’s December Bass Tactics

What to Do When Cranking Doesn't Work

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