inSide baIley’s bRaIN
side, everything was frozen and we were whackin’ five pounders we were practicing for a tournament.
WB: What are you willing to say about swimbait fishing? BAILEY: Most of the time, i’m going to use Huddleston - it looks too real and i have too much confidence in it. i will start using it when the water hits 57 and they start gettin’ on that real steep rock. For me, here, any blue top swimbait works really well. everybody knows that i fish that blue back Huddleston and i throw it all winter long; but i have to get in the mix with the a rig - i think the a- rig bite will run all winter. last year if you weren’t throwin’ one, you weren’t in the top-15; but it ended by spring. The guys trained the fish all winter long.
WB: Tell me about the swimbait you’re using today? BAILEY: This is the tsunaga. it is real special, it looks like a real fish. it’s 8-inches. You’ve got to work this, it doesn’t work itself. You’ve got to work it like a Spook, rippin’ it, twitchin, chuggin’. it comes down to cadence with this one. i fish it on the same setup as the Punker. This one is blue; but i think a white belly and silver sides is what is most important. i fish this in ambush spots, it’s a direct cast bait. i don’t use it for a search bait, but once i’ve located my fish - this is the one to get ‘em to bite.
WB: Is the umbrella rig going to win all the Oc- tober/November tournaments. BAILEY: i think the start of the october tourna- ments will be both the trash Fish and a rig; but you can fish the rig so much faster, you just get more casts in. Sometimes it takes me three minutes to wind in the trash Fish, so it’s just a slower fishing bait, but still deadly.
WB: Tell me about fishing the umbrella rig? BAILEY: i will throw it steady when the temps are constantly in the 60’s. i use the irod Genesis ii Bama rig Special. it’s a 7’10” rod with 65-lb braid. For the a-rig, on the lakes, it is about the angles, when you’ve got the right angle, you can just get ‘em one after an- other. Some days they’re going to eat it on the fall and
some on the wind. Stay on the rock piles. i am going to fish the steep rock, mid-lake to the rattle Snake arm to the red Bud arm.
WB: There are a lot of night tournaments here - got any night fishing tips you will share.? BAILEY: Stay on the rock at 20-feet or deeper with a jig.
WB: Do you ever fish a dropshot? BAILEY: in springtime, i am. i’m pitching it in tule holes and certain docks i’ve seen big ones on during the year. i fish it a lot then actually. i throw it on 8-lb- test to get more bites with a roboworm in Peoples and that special red aarons color.
WB: Do you ever fish a Senko? BAILEY: i do; but i use it as a follow up to a buzzbait.
WB: Is there any item that you never go fishing without? BAILEY: My reactor watch. it never fails. it’s the toughest sport watch there is and it comes prepro- grammed with moon phases and tidal charts for 250 locations.
Paul Bailey and his partner pulled 41.08 from the lake to earn a 4th place finish in the Triton Owner’s Tournament - West this month.
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