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Fishing Stories from Ned Kehde |
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Submitted by Ned Kehde - Dec. 19, 2000 It all started on his parents' farm near Lone Star. That's were his mother assembled his first fishing outfit: a six-foot stick, some kite string, a cork, a hook and a worm, cricket or grasshopper for bait. With this apparatus, the five-year-old Bailey caught bullheads and green sunfish galore from the family farm pond. Eventually his horizons expanded to included journeys along the banks of Rock Creek in pursuit of sunfish, chubs and bullheads. During the summer of 1947, he climbed over the gunnels of Ted Corbin's boat at Lone Star Lake, and Corbin taught Bailey the ins and outs of catching crappie, which made a lasting impression on him In 1949, the Baileys moved to North Lawrence, and the young Bailey spent days on end along the banks of the Kansas River, watching such anglers as Tom Burns work his mastery on the catfish of the Kaw. After the 1951 flood created several permanent lakes in North Lawrence, Bailey assiduously fished those waters as well as the river. In the mid-1950s, Bailey got his driver's license, a car and a 10-foot johnboat. And from then on, Bailey fished almost incessantly. At first, he ventured to the Wakarusa River to catch channel catfish and to Lone Star for crappie and bass. Then he gradually expanded his range to Tuttle Creek Lake and ultimately to Grand Lake, Okla., where he discovered the joys of catching white bass and new ways to catch crappie. By the late 1960s, Bailey had become a superb angler, rivaling talented old-timers such as Blair Flynn of Overbrook. In fact, Bailey won the livebait segment and Flynn won the artificial bait division of the state championship tournament at Pomona Lake in 1969. To win that event, Bailey used nightcrawlers and caught an array of walleye. After that Bailey became bewitched with walleye and chased them from Missouri and across Kansas and into Colorado, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. His expertise at catching walleye at Milford Lake was shown across America on Babe Winkelman's "Good Fishing" television show. Ultimately, he became known around Kansas as Mr. Walleye, and his name regularly appeared at the top of the leaderboard at walleye tournaments. Stories about his prowess also appeared in national magazine and big city newspapers. Then a chronic back injury waylaid Bailey in l985. And after a surgeon whittled on his spine, he gave up walleye and tournament fishing and returned to his roots: crappie fishing around northeastern Kansas. From about 1986 to 1994, which were the heydays of Kansas crappie fishing, Bailey and a small handful of other intrepid anglers discovered the secrets of catching wintertime crappie, and they caught crappie by the thousands. During this era, he trumpeted this world-class fishery on a weekly radio show on KLWN, and oodles of anglers came to enjoy the great fishing. About 18 months ago, Bailey began designing a new crappie lure. With the help of Bob Brown of Lee's Summit, Mo. and Al Polston of Precision Lures of Strawberry, Ark., he created the Bailey's Magnet. Bailey calls it the ultimate jig body, incorporating the finest features and 15 of the best colors from all the jig bodies ever made. Last winter, Bailey caught countless crappie from Clinton Lake to Toledo Bend Lake, Texas, by wielding a prototype of his Magnet. Now it is on the market and can be purchased in Lawrence at
Lunker Tackle, and anglers across the nation can buy it from
the Bass Pro Shops' catalog. |
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