How Understanding Weather Helps You Catch More Bass with George Cochran
Day 4: Pro Fisherman George Cochran Explains the Impact of No Wind and Wind Direction on Catching Bass
Editor’s Note: With the 2014 Bassmaster Classic taking place at Alabama’s Lake Guntersville, February 21 – 23, Night Hawk talked with George Cochran, a past Bassmaster Classic winner about ways to always catch bass. Cochran of Hot Springs, Arkansas, passed a milestone in his fishing career, earning over $2 million in tournament winnings. According to Cochran, “I believe my understanding of weather and its effect on bass has helped my fishing career. Any bass angler who wants to regularly catch more bass must know what various types of weather do to the bass he’s trying to take.” To help us get a better understanding of the importance of weather in successful bassing and how you can change your fishing patterns to react to the weather like the bass do, I’ve asked Cochran to pick weather situations, tell us what happens to the bass under each weather condition and explain how his fishing changes with the weather.
  “When the wind dies, and the lake is as slick and still as a mirror, the bass can see better then they can if there’s a breeze on the water,” Cochran explains. “On a still, calm day, the bass have much-more time to watch a lure and study it before they attack than they do on a day when there’s a breeze on the water and the surface is choppy. On a calm, still day, an angler can make a cast, see a bass run after his lure and then watch the bass stop just before it attacks. Also, when bass look-up and see the shadow of a lure falling from the sky to where they’re holding, they’ll run from that shadow. If the bait hits the water and doesn’t spook the bass, the bass often will run-up to the lure, look at it and think to itself, ‘That’s not real,’ and never attack the bait. To catch a bass on clear, calm, still days, the angler must fool the bass with his lures. Therefore, if I’m fishing shallow water, I’ll cast either a worm or a pig and jig onto the bank and then crawl it off the bank into the water, so that the lure appears more natural and doesn’t spook the bass.”
Wind Direction:
  “I don’t believe the wind itself affects bass, except as I mentioned before its churning effect on the water,” Cochran comments. “But I’m convinced that wind brings atmospheric conditions that directly cause bass to bite or not to bite. In the United States, we have a saying that, ‘When the wind is out of the West, the fishing is the best. When the wind is out of the East, the bass bite the least.’ I’ve found that this rhyme is true in the United States, because our cold fronts generally come out of the West and the Northwest. Therefore, a wind out of the West signals that a cold front is on its way, and the bass usually will begin to feed ahead of that front. Generally when the wind comes out of the East, the front already has passed through, the wind has changed directions, and the bass are attempting to get accustomed to a different weather condition. Although I don’t know how the winds are in Japan, I’m sure that when an angler studies the winds, he’ll soon learn which winds produce the best bass fishing.”
To learn more about bass fishing, get John E. Phillips’ Kindle ebooks, “How to Bass Fish Like a Pro,” “How to Win a Bass Tournament” and “Catch the Most and Biggest Bass in Any Lake: 18 Pro Fishermen’s Best Tactics” go to http://www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks, type in the names of the books, and download them to your Kindle and/or download a Kindle app for your iPad, SmartPhone or computer.
About the Author
John Phillips, winner of the 2012 Homer Circle Fishing Award for outstanding fishing writer by the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) and the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA), the 2008 Crossbow Communicator of the year and the 2007 Legendary Communicator chosen for induction into the National Fresh Water Hall of Fame, is a freelance writer (over 6,000 magazine articles for about 100 magazines and several thousand newspaper columns published), magazine editor, photographer for print media as well as industry catalogues (over 25,000 photos published), lecturer, outdoor consultant, marketing consultant, book author and daily internet content provider with an overview of the outdoors. Click here for more information and a list of all the books available from John E. Phillips.
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