Entry 307-2
Handling the Highs and the Lows with Strike King Pro George Cochran
Editor’s Note: George Cochran of Hot Springs, Arkansas, has bass fished for more than 50 years, has won the FLW Cup and finished first in two Bassmaster Classics. Cochran says, “I just love what I do for a living.” Cochran’s known in fishing circuits as Gentleman George, the Gentle Bear and Mister Persistent. Cochran, a quiet railroad man, got into tournament bass fishing because he loved the sport. Each professional bass fisherman who stays in the sport for a number of years develops a style of fishing and a way of fishing that suits him. Kevin VanDam is a run-and-gun, high-energy, fast-casting, fast-running bass fisherman. Denny Brauer loves thick cover that probably nobody in his right mind can get to, let alone fish. But when you’re riding down the lake with a tournament angler, and he looks over at the bank and says, “That’s a George Cochran place,” that means that to all who see it, the place looks like there’s absolutely no reason to fish it. These spots are where Gentleman George fishes and wins tournaments. Cochran is patient, persistent and thorough. On TV, you’ll see some professional fishermen jump up and down, scream, shout and roll around the bottoms of their boats when they catch fish, but not Cochran. Whether Cochran puts a 2 pounder or a 10 pounder in the boat, he has the same quiet demeanor. This week we’ll look at how Gentleman George stays cool, calm and collected in the biggest bass-fishing tournaments in the world.
Part 2: A Slump is Only in Your Mind
Question: How do you handle a slump? When nothing seems to be going right for you and regardless of how hard you work and how hard you try you just can’t seem to catch the fish you need to do well in the tournaments, how do you get over that?
Cochran: After 30 years of fishing professionally, I’ve definitely had some slumps in my career. A slump is really the mindset that you develop when you’ve made some mistakes and had some losses without having the successes to balance them. If you have a couple of bad tournaments, your mind begins to think, “Well, what am I doing wrong? Am I not thinking right? What’s going on in my head that’s causing me not to perform at the highest level?” I think age and years of fishing competitively really put successes and failures into perspective and protect you from the slump mindset.
I realized when I was 50-years old that I could catch bass as good as anybody could. I knew all I had to do was find the right area and do what I did best, and I’d catch fish. When I was in my 30s and 40s, and I was performing poorly, I’d talk myself into believing I was in a slump. But I really wasn’t. I just had my mind messed-up. As you get older, you see things more clearly and you know that you can perform when you have to perform. These young fishermen have got to learn that there’s no such thing as a slump, but if they tell themselves they’re losing or something is causing them to lose, they’ll perform as they’ve predicted.
Contents:
- Part 1: Swing for the Fence
- Part 2: A Slump is Only in Your Mind
- Part 3: Surviving Equipment Breakdowns
- Part 4: Catching Fish Isn't Everything
- Part 5: When You're Hot
