2023 Inductees

1955 -2022

John had a long and illustrious history at the helm and in the cockpit of sport fishing boats all over the globe.  In addition to fishing the Texas coast, John fished out of ports in Louisiana, Florida, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Australia, Belize, Panama, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Jamaica, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cape Verde Islands, Costa Rica, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, Cabo San Lucas, Mag Bay, Revillagigedo Islands, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo and Zihuatanejo.

John served as captain of numerous boats, including the “Horizons” (owned by Don Tyson), a 72’ sport fisherman (owned by Bill Lyons), the 37’ Merritt “Billy B” (owned by Bill Lyons), a 46’ Merritt “Billy B” (owned by Bill Lyons), a 52’ Cabo (owned by James Flores) and a 58’ Merritt “La Belle” (owned by Steven Rhyne) and 3 different boats owned by Ed Bass.

Interestingly, John operated and maintained Jerry Dunaway’s famous 110’ mothership “The Madam.” On the maiden voyage of “The Madam” & “The Hooker”. John mated on “The Hooker” on the maiden voyage of “The Madam” & “The Hooker” and over time on “The Hooker” participated in 13 IGFA World Records. John also supervised new mothership construction of the “Horizons” in Ensenada, Mexico for Don Tyson.

John was a co-founder of the Texas Saltwater Fishing Hall of Fame and one of the co-founding members of Houston Big Game Fishing Club.

John’s biggest Black Marlin was 1047 lbs., caught in Australia. In 1996, as captain, John caught 31 Blue Marlin in the Gulf of Mexico, a record at that time.  In 2006, as captain, John caught 21 Blue Marlin in the Gulf of Mexico, including catching 5 in one day. That was his best day of fishing in the Gulf.  The biggest that day was 676 lbs, the rest were released.  In 2014, as captain, John caught 71 Blue Marlin for the year and placed second in the Bermuda Blast fishing tournament.  In 2020, John boated a 599 lb. Bluefin Tuna off the Texas Coast.

John was the winner of the Jim Peachey Award from the Houston Big Game Fishing Club. This award is equivalent to the HBGFC’s lifetime achievement award for offshore fishing boat captains. The prestigious Annual Captain of the Year Award of the Houston Big Game Fishing Club is now named the “John Cochrane Award”.

John Cochrane graduated from Texas A&M University in 1978 with a B.S in Wildlife & Fisheries.