Entry 179-2

November Bass Fishing with George Cochran

Editor’s Note: George Cochran has won over $1 million on the B.A.S.S. circuit and is just shy of winning $1 million on the FLW circuit. He’s a quiet, gentle man who doesn’t get too excited. He talks and fishes slowly and isn’t extremely versatile, which he’ll tell you himself. But he catches bass, wins money and wins the big tournaments. Cochran’s primarily a shallow-water fisherman, and this week, we’ve asked Cochran where he’ll fish and how he’ll find bass during the month of November.

Part 2: Swimming a Jig

November’s also one of my favorite months to fish a jig – particularly swimming a jig. I fish a swimming jig much like I fish a spinner bait, except I’m keeping the swimming jig 4 or 5 inches from the surface. I throw the jig just past the cover, reel it and let the jig swim pass the cover. I’m betting on the swimming action of the Strike King trailers on the back of that jig to get the fish’s attention and get me a strike. I’ll catch plenty of bass this month using this tactic.

If I’m fishing in water that’s 3-feet deep or less, I’ll be fishing a 1/4-ounce jig around shallow brush, docks, laying logs and/or even riprap. I like the 1/4-ounce jig because you can swim it slow and it stays up near the surface. If the day’s windy, or the water’s a little clear and I have to speed up my retrieve and make longer casts, I’ll use a 3/4-ounce jig.

When I’m fishing the swimming jig this month, there are three colors I like: black, black and/or black. Black’s the best color of swimming jig to fish in November. The three colors that I use as a trailer are also black, black and black. You just can’t beat black as a productive bass color in November. When I’m swimming a jig, I prefer to use braided line because bass attack the swimming jig just like they do a buzzbait.

I’ve learned that you’ll catch a larger percentage of the fish that attack the swimming jig when you’re using braided line. In general, you’ll catch more bass using braided line than you will using monofilament line. I use the braided 65-pound-test P-Line, but there are plenty of good braided lines on the market. The main reason you need braided line is because you can get a really-good hook set when you’re using no-stretch line.

I’m fishing that braided line on Daiwa Millionaire-S Baitcasting Reels. I use a left-handed reel because I cast with my right hand and reel with my left hand. This way, I don’t have to swap hands with my rod and reel after I cast. When you’re fishing a spinning reel, you cast with the right hand and reel with the left hand. But for some reason, when most anglers change to baitcasting reels, they cast with their right hand, put the rod and reel in their left hand and reel with their right hand. I never lose any motion because I cast with my right hand and reel with my left hand. As soon as the bait hits the water, I’m ready to reel.

If Daiwa made a 20:1 gear ratio reel, I’d use it. I like a fast-retrieve reel, so all my reels are either 6.3:1 or 5.1:1. The reasons I like the high-speed reels is because when a bass hits the bait, and I set the hook, I want to get the slack out of my line as soon as possible, so the bass has no slack to jump or throw the hook.

Next: Mr. Money

Contents:

• Part 1: Crank It Up
• Part 2: Swimming a Jig
• Part 3: Mr. Money
• Part 4: The Wild Shiner
• Part 5: The Black Buzzbait