inside bailey’s brain
ternoon with a lull in mid-day or is that a seasonal characteristic on this lake? BAILEY: in the winter feeding evens out some. it’s almost like about 1: 00 p.m., they get warmed, so they really get goin’ and start eating. For some reason the fish eat at night a lot during the winter, you can go out there and catch more eight to ten pounders in de- cember than any other month at night, which is kind of odd to me.
WB: It’s October and you’re throwing the frog - when will you stop throwing one? BAILEY: depends on the temperature, but usu- ally the start of november, pretty much October is when it changes enough to make me stop. Plus, i fish it pretty slow right now, those big ones are pretty smart; so i fish it slow and leave it there for them as long as i can.
WB: As it continues to get colder - what else will you change about your bait choices compared to what you’re fishing today? BAILEY: i’m fishing three things, a chatterbait,
an Alabama rig and a Rat-l- Trap. With those three baits, you can fish fast and you’re going to cover a lot water and you’re going to find schools on the lake. As it keeps getting colder, i’m going to say the main baits are the A-rig and a swimbait.
WB: What are your favorite target areas? BAILEY: Wood docks are good for some reason it seems like bass like the older wood docks. i’m also looking for rock, the fish won’t necessarily go deep, they sit shallow. i’m fishing shallow rock. i like tules - anywhere in front of tules you find rock, the locals know that and i like isolated rock piles, not necessar- ily the big, big ones like shag Rock and that stretch; but i like the isolated rock that not too many guys are fishing, seems like i can pick one or two up there and that’s how i like to fish the wintertime here. i like the fine gravel. They’ll hold on to it in the winter; they will get on the asphalt and concrete ramps in the morn- ing next to rock piles, so that is a pattern that we will actually run in the winter time.
WB: What about when it’s raining, does your strategy change at all? BAILEY: if it is raining, you better be throwin’ a jig here, that’s what i’ve learned. if you’re not throwin a jig, you better be throwin a swimbait, bouncin’ on the bot- tom. The fish here just get stuck to the bottom in the rain, unless you’re fishing the creek and then they go right to the wood and up shallow; but pretty much they go straight to the bottom and you’ve got to fish slow.
WB: Does it matter if it’s a cold winter rain or a warmer spring rain for the jig? BAILEY: Cold rain, warm rain - they eat the jig way better in the rain.
WB: What color, what size and what specifically are you looking for with your jig? BAILEY: Chunky, big “bouldery” type rock - a black and blue jig - when its dark - oxblood colors, purple and brown. l throw a big jig with a double wide Beaver. The smallest i would throw is a 3/8 with a regular Beaver not a smallie. Because there’s always something go- ing here, these fish are so keyed into the bait you can always get’em on a reaction bait, i’ve caught ‘em on a swimbait here when the surface water was 39-de- grees. it was wide open five pounders, temperature below the surface was 45 or 46; it was 29 degrees out-
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