Weed Whacking in August for Bass with George Cochran
Day 5: Jigs in the Grass Catch Late Summer Bass with George Cochran
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.
  Cochran believes that the jig-and-pig will produce more big bass than most-other grass baits will, although he may not get as many bites. "After I've fished all my other baits in the grass and caught a limit of bass, I'll start fishing the jig-and-pig to try and catch a really big bass and cull my catch. I fish the Denny Brauer Pro Model jig that rattles with real pork as a trailer in the spring of the year. Then in the summer months, I prefer a plastic trailer." The pork chunk helps the lure fall slower. Since the fish's body metabolism slows down in the spring in the cool water, the bass needs more time to look and attack the bait than it does in the summer months when bass have a much higher body metabolism. Cochran chooses a plastic trailer in the summer months for the jig to fall faster and solicit more reaction strikes.
Bigger Bass on the Inside
  When Cochran approaches a grass bed, he not only searches for places where he hopes to pinpoint bass holding, but also thinks about where and how most bass anglers will fish that patch of grass. "Most folks will fish the outer edge of the grass and the pockets in the grass they can cast to from that outside edge," Cochran says. "But I'll pull my outboard up out of the water and move my trolling motor up shallow. Then I'll go across the grass and fish the back side of the grass where most anglers won't go, because of the difficulty involved in getting there." To catch more bass each time you go out on the lake, search for grass. Then try Cochran's grass-fishing techniques. Like Cochran, you, too, can catch more bass on every outing once you become a grass master.
  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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