GEORGE COCHRAN’S HALF-MILLION-DOLLAR WEEKEND
Days One and Day Two of the Tournament
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: George Cochran of Hot Springs, Arkansas, has just
finished a tremendous bass-fishing career with a $500,000
FLW (Forrest L. Wood) Championship win, the highest
payout for any bass-fishing tournament in history. Cochran,
a Strike King pro staffer for 30 years, has won two
Bassmasters Classics. Cochran admits, “Winning
championships on both the BASS and the FLW circuits
is a dream come true.” Only a few anglers in history
have been able to complete a double grand slam like
this.
 QUESTION:
George, what happened day one of the FLW Championship
tournament?
COCHRAN: I almost messed up. I practiced seven days
for the tournament and only caught about 13 pounds of
bass on my best day with a top-water lure. I made the
decision to only fish top-water lures because the other
six days of practice I hadn’t caught hardly anything.
The first day I fished, the water was  clear,
we had a blue bird sky, and I got to fish one of my
better areas. However, I only caught three bass. I’d
lost three or four bass, but as luck would have it,
I beat Sandy Melvin of Florida, by one ounce. In this
type of tournament, you’re fishing head-to-head
against other competitors. That mere one ounce on the
first day, allowed me to move to the second day. The
first day of the tournament, I only fished Strike King’s
Spit-N-King and the Baby Chug Bug.
 QUESTION:
On the second day of the tournament, you knew you were
in trouble. You had only stayed in the competition by
a single ounce. How did your strategy change at that
point?
COCHRAN: I had a heart-to-heart talk with myself. I
told myself, “George, you can’t hold back
much more and stay in the competition.” I knew
I’d caught all the bass I could in that area,
so I went to a completely new region where I thought
I could catch some bass on top water. Thankfully, on
the second day in this new area I caught 6 pounds of
bass, and I beat out Sandy Melvin by one pound, enabling
me to move into the third day of competition.
TOMORROW: HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH
BRENT CHAPMAN
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