Entry 336-5

How I Hate to Fish with George Cochran

Part 5: I Drop Out of Drop-Shotting

There are plenty of people who catch a number of bass using the drop-shot technique. I’ve learned that drop-shotting is a great way to catch a lot of bass. Last year, I did really well in a tournament because my co-angler, who was from California, was fishing the drop-shot tactic. We were fishing Lake Amistad in Texas, and I was catching nice-sized bass on the Strike King Rage Anaconda and the Strike King Sexy Spoon. But on this particular day, the sky was really clear and calm. The day before, we had a wind, and I was catching bass in 15 feet of water over brush and other types of cover. I fished first with the Anaconda, and then I’d go back to the brush and fish the Sexy Spoon, letting it fall to the bottom, jerking it up and then allowing it to fall back to the bottom again.

On the next day, when the wind was calm and the sky was clear, my co-angler and I were struggling to get a bite. As I looked at him in the back of the boat, I saw him rig-up a drop-shot rig. The boat was in 30 to 50 feet of water, and my co-angler was catching 3 and 4 pounders almost every time he threw out that drop-shot rig. I finally decided I had to overcome my hatred for the drop-shot. So, I rigged-up a drop-shot with a Strike King Finesse Worm and started catching those 3 and 4 pounders all the way down to 30- and 50-feet deep. I really liked fishing that drop-shot with the Strike King Finesse Worm because I went from catching no bass to catching lots of bass. These bass helped me move up in the standings and put more money in my pocket than I would have had if I’d been hard-headed and not fished the drop-shot tactic.

That experience re-taught me an old lesson. Regardless of your likes and dislikes, to catch bass, do well in tournaments and make money as a tournament fisherman, you have to learn to adjust and catch bass in ways you don’t necessarily like to catch bass. However, regardless of how much you may not like drop-shotting, I learned that catching bass is more fun and much-more profitable than not catching bass. The drop-shot tactic always has been a way to catch lots of bass, but not necessarily big bass. However, on that day, at Lake Amistad, the drop-shot tactic caught numbers of big bass.

Also, I learned on that day that my Strike King Lures can take on anybody else’s lures. My co-angler in the back of the boat was using hand-poured, straight-tailed worms. I didn’t have any of those types of worms, but I did have some Strike King Finesse worms that looked a lot like the worms he was using. I used my Strike King worms and caught as many bass and bass as big as the ones he caught with those hand-poured worms. The bass I caught in 15 to 30 feet of water, when the wind was blowing, then moved out to 50- and 60-foot-deep water when the wind was still, and the day and the water were clear. Even though Lake Amistad is a big-bass lake, when the days are clear and calm days, and the bass move out to really-deep water, the drop-shot tactic can be deadly effective and a fun way to catch bass.

This week, I hope you’ve learned that having techniques and water depths you don’t like to fish is okay. But if you want to catch bass instead of just fish for bass, you have to learn to fish the ways you hate to fish. When you start catching bass, winning tournaments and taking home bigger checks then you will have if you’ve been hard-headed, you’ll learn that fishing ways you hate to fish can pay-off in more bass and more money, if you’re a tournament fisherman. At least that’s what I’ve learned.

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