Entry 165-3

George Cochran on Weed Whacking for Mr. Bass

Part 3: Spit on the Grass

Editor’s Note: The grass parts. The wake on the water shows the approach of a bass. Then the bass explodes on the bait, blowing it out of the water in as savage an attack as when a mountain lion kills a lamb. Regardless of where and when you fish, if you locate any type of water vegetation in that body of water, you can bet you’ll find bass in the grass, which provides a hiding place for baitfish, cover, shade and oxygen and acts like a fortress against anglers.

George Cochran of Hot Springs, Arkansas, uses various grass-fishing strategies for bass when he fishes these areas in the spring and the summer, and you too can have success with Cochran’s weed-whacking tactics for bass.

George Cochran, who enjoys seeing a big bass blow up on a top-water bait on the surface, can think of no-more-deadly lure you can fish around grass than the Spit-n-King, a lure he has developed for Strike King. “Most top-water spitting baits require a lot of rod-tip action to make the bait spit,” Cochran says. “However, when you jerk those baits forward and cause the lure to spit water out in front of them, in most instances you’re moving the bait away from the bass.” The Spit-n-King will spit water with just the lightest twitch of the rod.

Cochran has found that to catch bass around grass on top-water lures, you must have a bait that you can work extremely slowly. Cochran names fishing a bait too fast as the biggest mistake anglers make when fishing top-water lures around grass. “You’ve got to keep that top-water lure in the right spot where the bass can see it long enough to get that fish mad enough to attack the lure,” Cochran mentions. “A bait that’s sitting on the water spitting water and only moving inches will solicit more strikes than a bait that’s moving 1 to 1-1/2-feet at a time away from the bass.”

When Cochran finds clear pockets in the grass, he’ll cast the bait out. Next he’ll let the lure sit dead on the water until all the rings have dissipated from the lure’s splash. “I’ll twitch the bait just enough to let it spit one time before allowing it to sit dead in the water for another 15 to 20 seconds before I move it again,” Cochran advises. Next, Cochran will twitch the bait once more and let it sit still in the water. When the lure has moved 1- to 2-feet away from the grass, Cochran will quickly retrieve the bait and make another cast.

According to Cochran, “The Spit-n-King produces best at first light when you fish it down the edge of the grass and parallel to the grass and also during spawning season when you cast it into the holes in the grass. Just get it to spit enough to cause the bass to blow up through the hole and take the bait.”

Next: Worms in the Grass

Contents:

• Part 1: A Grass Master Becomes Number-One Bass Master
• Part 2: Diamonds in the Grass
• Part 3: Spit on the Grass
• Part 4: Worms in the Grass
• Part 5: Spinner Baits and Jigs in the Grass