Entry 336-2
How I Hate to Fish with George Cochran
Editor’s Note: George Cochran of Hot Springs, Arkansas, winner of two Bassmaster Classic Championships, the FLW World Championship and many other tournaments over his long and illustrious bass-fishing career, is one of the most-versatile and knowledgeable fishermen on the professional bass-fishing circuit. Cochran is viewed as a tournament competitor who can create bass, meaning he catches bass in places that generally don’t hold bass to win tournaments. However, like other pro fishermen, there are certain types of fishing Cochran dislikes. But, he has to overcome those dislikes to win. The biggest secret in bass fishing is learning to catch bass under conditions you don’t like to fish.
Part 2: I Hate Deep Water Fishing
I’m basically a shallow-water fisherman. Anytime a tournament is held on a lake where I know we’ll have to fish deep, I don’t have much confidence. I generally don’t perform well in these types of tournaments. I prefer to fish shallow-water cover, and throughout my entire life, I’ve focused on fishing shallow-water cover. I’ve earned a living fishing shallow-water cover, and this tactic is the one in which I’m the most confident. Now, I can fish in deep water, and I’ve been successful fishing in deep water using my electronics. But I’m out of my element when I have to fish below 10- or 12-feet deep.
To fish successfully, you need to have confidence in the tactics you’re fishing. Some of my really-good friends are excellent deep-water fishermen, like Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Arkansas, and Larry Nixon of Bee Branch, Arkansas. Mark and Larry will go out to the breaks, the drop-offs and the ridges out in the middle of a lake and fish those places all day with confidence. Oftentimes within 15 minutes, these guys can catch a big limit of bass using this strategy. But I’d rather be fishing in shallow-water cover thinking of the next line of stumps I can find where I’ll limit-out. I don’t like fishing in water 15- to 30-feet deep. But when I have to, I have confidence in my Strike King Series 5 and Series 6 crankbaits. I also have confidence in the Strike King Anaconda and the big Strike King jigs, like the Hack Attack and the Premier Pro-Model Jig.
To catch bass in places you don’t like to fish, fish with lures in which you have confidence. In other words, I have a lot of confidence in my Strike King crankbaits, jigs and worms. 
So, even though I may have to fish deep water where I don’t like to fish, I know that when I run these lures through deep water, if there’s a bass down there, it will eat these baits. Therefore, my Strike King lures give me the assurance that I can catch bass in places I don’t like to fish. You have to find some way to give yourself confidence when you’re fishing a technique or an area you really don’t want or like to fish. That’s when belief in my Strike King lures has really paid-off for me. Fishing deep water isn’t hard. You just need confidence in the lures to fish the structure you can’t see. We all prefer to fish the types of places where we’ve always fished best, and for me, that’s shallow-water fishing.
Contents:
- Part 1: Fishing Places You Really Don't Like to Fish
- Part 2: I Hate Deep-Water Fishing
- Part 3: I Hate to Chase, but I Love the Sexy Spoon
- Part 4: I Hate to Fish Slow
- Part 5: I Drop Out of Drop-Shotting
