GEORGE COCHRAN’S HALF-MILLION-DOLLAR WEEKEND
Head-to-Head with Brent Chapman
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, who were you fishing against on
the third day of the competition?
COCHRAN:
I was fishing against Brent Chapman of Kansas. Chapman
had limits of bass each of his first two days of competition,
so I knew he was going to be tough to beat. I also knew
I had to catch at least the limit to beat Brent.
QUESTION: What were you thinking the night before and
right before you went out to compete on the third day?
COCHRAN: I was asking myself if I should go to my best
bank, the one I was saving for the last day of competition.
But then I told myself,
“George, if you fish your best water today, you
don’t have anything for tomorrow, and there’s
no way you can win your last day. Stick to your game
plan.” I really wanted to go to my best bank,
because I didn’t know if I could beat Brent, and
if I didn’t beat Brent on the third day, I might
not be in the competition at all. I knew I couldn’t
fish the same area on two consecutive days and win,
so I was in a terrible dilemma and decided to go for
the win. I left my best-bank area alone for the final
day and went to an area close to my home. I put my trolling
motor down and got to work. I caught exactly five keepers
weighing a total of 6 pounds, and Brent had four fish
weighing 5 pounds. So I was able to stay in the competition
for the final day.
I had a follow-up tactic to fishing the Strike King
Spit-N-King and the Baby
Chug Bug. When the bass would miss the top-water baits,
I’d skip a Strike King 3X finesse worm back to
the spot where I’d missed the bass and usually
catch the fish. The trick worm I used was purple, and
for some reason the fish really liked the color. Every
day I caught one to two fish using this follow-up technique,
a good tactic to remember when bass blow up a top-water
lure and don’t take the hooks. The technique involved
throwing back to the bass with a Strike King 5-inch
3X finesse worm on 8-pound-test line without a sinker.
I’d twitch one or two times and then let the 3X
finesse worm fall. If the bass didn’t grab the
worm, I’d reel the worm in quickly and then cast
right back to the same spot a second, a third or even
a forth time.
TOMORROW: VICTORY ON THE LAST
DAY
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