Cochran's Cartoons

Category: Fishing

  • Orvis and Bead Head

    Remember Beavis and Butt Head? Could you identify with them? Me neither, but I thought they were funny in a junior high school sort of way. Maybe I would’ve liked them even more if they had been fly fishermen… like Orvis and Bead Head.Orvis & Beadhead

  • Rockbridge Trout Ranch

    Want to feel like you’re a real hot stuff trout fisherman? Spend a few days at Rockbridge Trout Ranch in southern Missouri. Nice people, beautiful scenery, comfortable accommodations, and millions of huge, hungry rainbows finning lazily in the clear water, hoping somebody will throw them a woollybugger or zebra midge. But you’d better use 6X or even 7X tippet because the day of reckoning comes at check out time.  You have to keep every fish you catch. They clean them for you and charge by the pound.

    With the picturesque old mill and the excellent dining room with full service bar, Rockbridge isn’t a bad way to spend a few days. We were a little early for the full fall color display but it’s a beautiful area any time of year.

    You don’t fish? Just go to Rockbridge anyway for the food, scenery and relaxing atmosphere. For reservations call (417) 679-3619.

  • Mike George ties for Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing

    Award winning fly tyer and Air Force veteran Mike George of Olathe, KS demonstrated his unique technique for working with deer hair for a small gathering of veterans at a Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing meeting Monday night.

    To learn more about Mike and his tying methods take a look at his web site www.deerhairsculptures.com .

    Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. is dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active military personnel and veterans through fly fishing and associated activities. For more information see www.projecthealingwaters.org .

     

  • Catfish Cochran strikes again

    Yesterday was the second time I’ve caught a big channel catfish on a fly rod while bass fishing at Kill Creek Lake near DeSoto, KS.

    I knew immediately it wasn’t a big bass. Bass are close-in fighters. They like to slug it out up close and personal with lots of head-shaking top water acrobatics. Old Mister Catfish just heads back home to the bottom thinking, “Dang! I wish I hadn’t bit that  thing!” He also makes long runs like a big trout. This one took me all the way into my backing. Hadn’t seen that since my last trip to the San Juan. Ten minutes later he was flopping in the boat and posing for a picture before being released. I love to eat catfish if somebody else cleans them.

    The fly? Same pattern that fooled the last big cat at Kill Creek only this time white instead of purple: My own creation, the  Conehead Buddybou. For a bass fly it catches lots of catfish.

    The evening would have been complete if Larry Lunker had been with me, but I believe he was there in spirit.

    Catfish_edited-1

  • Lake Taneycomo

    Country music isn’t all that’s happening at Branson, Missouri. Water from Table Rock dam forms Lake Taneycomo which gets its name from Taney County, MO and provides miles and miles of some of the best trout fishing in the state.

    If you enjoy fishing from a boat you’ll hope for lots of power generation from the dam, which raises the water level in Taneycomo several feet and provides a swift current.

    If you’re like me and prefer to wade you’ll hope for zero generation. There will still be a gentle current and you’ll swear you’re fishing a beautiful Ozark river. Ned Spence and I hit Taneycomo in one of her more gentle moods Sept. 24th and 25th.  Staying at Lilley’s Landing and fishing only a couple of hours each morning we made up in size what we lacked in numbers. Calm, sunny days are not ideal for trout fishing, yet Spence landed a beautiful 18” rainbow Tuesday morning. I followed up next day with another nice rainbow. It’s hard to measure a flopping fish while you’re trying to take its picture and keep from dropping your iPhone in the water but this beauty went at least 23 or 24 inches. Both fish were released.

    Whether you want to fish, take in some shows, or just relax Lilley’s Landing is your kind of place. Check it out at www.lilleyslanding.com .


  • Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing

    Project Healing Waters veterans fishing with Capt. Rick Lisek out of Lilley’s Landing recently caught and released several beautiful rainbows and browns at Lake Taneycomo.

  • Larry Bowser 1935 – 2013

    One of the most creative guys I’ve ever known, my good friend and long time fishing partner Larry Bowser passed away recently. Larry was one of the first people I met at Hallmark when I went to work there in 1960. We fished together from 1960 until the last few years when Larry’s health deteriorated.

    Long ago, while fishing a strip pit near Pleasanton, KS, Larry caught a large bass (the first of many) and I caught a big catfish while fishing for crappie with an ultra light spinning rod and 16th oz. jig. From then on we often referred to ourselves as “Larry Lunker and Catfish Cochran”.

    So the ongoing saga of “Larry Lunker and Catfish Cochran” has finally come to a close.

    I will always miss him.

  • Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing

    Representing the Heart Of America Fly Fishers, Mark Borserine and I sat in with a couple of other fly tiers at the Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing meeting Tuesday night. PHWFF is an organization that helps wounded service men and women get into all aspects of fly fishing from rod building and fly tying to developing fly casting proficiency.

    You can become involved in this worthwhile project by contacting Bob Barnett at (816) 309-7071   or barnbo@msn.com

  • Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc.

    A catchphrase making the rounds nowadays is “I want to do something to make a difference”. What makes a difference varies from person to person but here’s something that will definitely make a difference regardless of your political persuasion: Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc.

    PHWFF provides fly fishing, fly casting, and fly tying instruction for wounded military personnel. If you are proficient in any of these areas this great organization can find a use for you.

    If you’re not confident in your instructional abilities but would like to contribute to PHWFF please mail your check to:

    Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc.
    PO Box 695
    La Plata, MD  20624

    Support our wounded servicemen and women. visit http://projecthealingwaters.org.

    PHWFF

     

  • Big Browns Like a Meal

    Thanks to John and Bobbi Norman of Ft. Collins, CO for this unusual photo of a huge brown trout attempting to eat a smaller trout. The entrée of the day is bigger than most trout I catch. I’d be happy with either one of these guys (or gals) on a #22 parachute Adams and 6X tippet (for a few seconds anyway).

    Chow Time