Bass-Fishing Pros’ Tips for Catching Bass After the Spawn
George Cochran on Post-Spawn Bass
 Editor’s Note: With the bass on the bed, most anglers can find and catch them because they can see them. However, after the spawn, the bass seem to vanish. This week, six of the nation’s top-bass-fishing pros to tell us where to find post-spawn bass and how to catch them. Today, we’ll learn how George Cochran of Hot Springs, Arkansas, catches bass after the spawn. Cochran has won the BASS Angler-of-the-Year title as well as two Bassmaster  Classics and the FLW World Championship. Known primarily as a shallow-water fisherman, here’s how Cochran approaches the post spawn.
As soon as the spawn ends, the bass won’t move far from where they’ve been bedding. They’re generally cruising shallow water and are easy to catch at this time of year. I like to catch post-spawn bass in several-different ways. One of my favorite ways is with a Strike King trick worm because it hits the water very gently and doesn’t create a big splash like other lures do. I put a hook in the middle of the trick worm to rig it wacky style and cast it to isolated cover around the bank. After the worm lands, I’ll twitch it slightly. If there’s a bass within 5 yards of the worm, you’ll see the bass attack the worm and grab it.
I prefer to catch bass at this time of year with a spinner bait. Instead of casting the spinner bait toward the bank and retrieving it away from the bank, or paralleling the bank with the spinner bait, I fish it out in the middles of pockets, sloughs and creeks to catch the su spended bass cruising out in the middle of the bay at this time of year. The bottom may be 10-feet deep, but the bass will be holding about 2-feet below the surface. Most peop le won’t fish for bass out in open water.
Generally, fishermen should cast 10- to 20-feet away from the bank where their boats sit. The bass are most active in the middle of the bay just before they start to leave the bay and move out to the points of the creeks and the bays. To catch open-water bass in calm weather with little or no wind, I fish the Strike King Spit-N-King. If there’s a chop on the water and the wind’s blowing, my go-to bait will be the buzzbait.
During the post spawn, the Strike King Quad-Shad spinner bait, which features four blades and resembles a school of minnows, is very productive in the middle of the pockets. I reel it really fast. Almost everyone else is fishing down the bank at this time of year, so if you move away from the bank and fish the centers of those pockets, you’ll catch more bass.
Tomorrow: Tim Horton on Post-Spawn Bass
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