Day 2: George Cochran Says to Spit on the Grass to Catch the Bass
Editor’s Note: George Cochran has won more than $1 million in tournament bass fishing, including the 1987 and the 1996 Bassmasters Classics and the FLW. Most of his winnings have occurred while fishing shallow water, particularly in the grass in August and September.
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 developed for Strike King Lure Company. "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 lures 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 it extremely slow. Cochran names fishing a bait too fast as the biggest mistake anglers make when fishing topwater lures around grass. "You've got to keep that topwater 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 advised. 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."
To learn more about how to fish for bass, click the titles for the new books by John E. Phillips, “How to Bass Fish Like a Pro” and “Catch the Most and Biggest Bass in Any Lake” , or go to http://www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks, and type in the names of the books to buy them. Too, you can download a Kindle app for free and buy the book from Amazon to read it on your iPad, Smartphone or computer.
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