Entry 231-5
Wintertime Bass Fishing with George Cochran
Editor’s Note: George Cochran of Hot Springs, Arkansas, one of the most-consistent Strike King pros on the professional fishing circuit, has won more than $1.2 million on the BASS circuit and two Bassmaster Classics through the years besides winning the FLW Championship. Regardless of weather or water conditions, Cochran usually finds a way to catch bass in shallow water. Let’s learn where and how he’ll fish this month.
Part 5: Use This When All Else Fails
Question: George, what’s your go-to lure when none of these tactics work?
Cochran: I fish the softest-presentation, slowest-moving, easiest bait for the bass to bite – the Strike King Zulu. This soft-plastic jerkbait can move so slowly that you’ll think it’s sleepwalking. It doesn’t make any noise, give off much vibration or have a lot of action. When the Zulu passes by the nose of the bass, there’s no reason for the bass not to suck this bait in and at least taste it. The Zulu is a really-versatile bait because it can be fished many-different ways and looks a lot like a shad.
There are three ways I like to fish the Zulu this month. At this time of year, after a cold front hits, I cast it out, twitch it once and let it fall like its dying. Next to the Football Jig, this is an excellent technique because you’re presenting a shad-like bait that the bass assume has died. When that Zulu is falling, the bass knows it doesn’t have to chase or ambush the bait. The bass just open its mouth and let the Zulu fall in it. 
So, letting the Zulu fall is an excellent tactic when the region you’re fishing has a cold front this month.
If you get a warm front in the middle of December, which sometimes we do, I cast the Zulu out and constantly twitch it right on the surface like a shad that’s gone berserk or trying to escape from another predator. I twitch the bait, stop it like a shad that’s run out of energy, twitch it again and then stop it once more. That fast twitching gets the bass’s attention. Stopping the Zulu and letting it fall triggers the strike.
The third way I fish the Zulu this month is I make a long cast and work it extremely fast as soon as it hits the water. I bring that Zulu by the cover really fast where I think a bass is holding. I work the bait fast all the way back to the boat. 
Then I make a second cast right back to that same piece of cover, work the Zulu up to the cover, kill the bait, let it fall all the way to the bottom and dead stick it (let it sit there awhile).
Question: Why do the bass bite the Zulu when you work it really fast on the first cast and then you bring it up to the cover and dead stick it on the second cast?
Cochran: I’ve had fishermen ask me, “Why don’t you dead stick it the first time you cast it?” I’ve tried that, and it doesn’t trigger as many strikes as making one cast and moving the bait quickly and then dead sticking the lure on the second cast. The first time I work the Zuluquickly, I get the bass’s attention and try and pull the lure away from the bass. So, I’ve got the bass fired-up. On that second cast, when I dead stick the lure, the bass is primed and ready to bite. The bass thinks the first shad got away because the bass was cold and slow. So, when that second shad dies in front of its face, the bass will make sure it doesn’t get away. 
That’s when the bass takes the bait.
To be honest, I don’t know why it takes two casts to make bass bite, or what the bass are thinking. But as long as I can catch bass using this two-cast strategy, I don’t really care what the bass are thinking.
Question: What color Zulu do you like?
Cochran: I prefer either pearl, pearl with a black back or pearl with a green back.
Contents:
- Part 1: Cranking Up Wintertime Bass
- Part 2: Spin Them Up
- Part 3: It’s Not Too Cold for Top-Water Fishing
- Part 4: Dead Stick the Jig When the Bass Batten-Down the Hatches
- Part 5: Use This When All Else Fails
