5 minute read
WAYNE BAILEY
“They won’t start biting until we get there.”
In a painful and awkward moment,
Wayne Bailey was a dedicated angler of the Lake Champlain International Father’s Day Fishing Derby. He died at age 63 in a boating accident last year.
WAYNE BAILEY VERMONT ANGLER REMEMBERD ON FATHER’S DAY
BY EVAN LLOYD JOHNSON R ae Washburn has a favorite fishing story involving his friend Wayne Bailey. They were fishing on Lake Wayne Bailey jumped in to help his friend. “He had a cast on his right hand, but Wayne was right handed. He was trying to help me out by hitting
Champlain and Bailey was helping this fish with a pair of Vise-Grips,
Washburn land a lake trout. but he was doing it left handed,”
Washburn said. the Moretown resident found As a solution, Wayne suggested himself pierced through his finger they tape the fish to his chest and with the fishhook that was already attempt to remove it on shore. protruding from the mouth of the Fortunately, they were able to wriggling trout in the net. dislodge the hook before any further action was needed. 18 — A Publication of Vermont Sports For last year’s fishing season, after the death of his friend in a boating accident, Washburn said he used hardly a tank of gas in his boats.
“The day that he died was the day fishing died,” he said.
A familiar face will be missing from Lake Champlain this spring as well as from the Father’s Day Fishing Derby, hosted by Lake Champlain International.
Wayne Bailey, age 63, of Berlin was a Vermonter and dedicated member of the Canadian Club, Masonic Temple, and the Central Vermont — Wayne Bailey Boating Club. While he was an avid outdoorsman and hunter, his true love was fishing. From trolling for lake trout in the summer to fishing for perch on the wintertime ice, friends and family described a man constantly in pursuit of the next big catch, guided by his motto, “They won’t start biting until we get there.”
Wayne Bailey grew up in the Montpelier area fishing on rivers and ponds with his brothers and father.
“We fished about everything that we could think of,” said his brother Eric Bailey, who lives in East Calais. “We started off walking the brooks, casting for brook trout and when we got older we fished a lot of the ponds in our area because Lake Champlain didn’t have very many fish in it at the time.”
Lake Champlain became Wayne’s favorite place to cast a line.
“He just loved to be on that lake,” his wife Lisa Bailey said. “That was just who Wayne was.”
Boating deaths are rare in Vermont. Between 2013 and 2017, Vermont had the fewest boating deaths of any state in the nation, averaging 1.2 fatal accidents per year. The statistic is markedly lower when compared to Florida or California, which averaged more than 650 and 350 crashes per year during the five-year period, respectively. Vermont’s Fish and Wildlife Department requires that boat operators take a safety education course. The Department also publishes a handbook that outlines best practices.
During fishing derbies, he often volunteered to take out the individuals who showed up without a team.
“He could always talk someone into coming down, getting a ticket, and joining the fishing derby,” Lisa said. “Even if they didn’t have a team he would tell them to come on the boat.” “He was someone who loved everything about being outside and on the water. He was a real steward of the sport of fishing. He loved anything and everything about it and would help anyone to be successful at it.” – Adam Martin
On the water, Wayne Bailey could be counted on for his knowledge of which knots and lures to deploy and under which conditions. In addition to making his own experimental lures and developing new tactics to get a bite, he developed new prototypes of his invention for managing downriggers used while trolling for fish.
While working at Miles Supply in Barre, Wayne often took clients out onto Lake Champlain for their first experience fishing for lake trout.
“They always came back with a smile,” said his brother Clay Bailey.
“The knowledge he had was incredible,” said friend and coworker Dave Heath. “We lost one hell of a worker and one hell of a fisherman.”
Eric Kemp of Middlesex said his friend introduced him to fishing on the lake.
“When I first started I’d never fished on a lake in my life,” he said. “It was always river fishing and I’d never been out in the boat. Wayne
Wayne Bailey holds up a lake trout caught on Lake Champlain. Bailey passed away during a tragic boating accident during last year’s LCI Father’s Day Fishing Derby.
got me so addicted to it I ended up getting my own boat.”
Adam Martin of Barre described his friend and coworker as “the definition of a true sportsman.”
“He was someone who loved everything about being outside and on the water. He was a real steward of the sport of fishing. He loved anything and everything about it and would help anyone to be successful at it,” he said.
“He got real joy out of watching everyone else catch fish, especially kids,” Martin said.
“The knowledge he had was incredible... We lost one hell of a worker and one hell of a fisherman.”
– Dave Heath
Wayne also had a love of music and wrote and recorded what the band’s bassist Rae Washburn called “classic country.” His family played a recording of one of his songs titled “Where the sun meets the water” at his funeral.
Following his death, the Bailey family requested memorial contributions be made to the Central Vermont Boating Club’s Little Anglers Fishing Derby, which saw about 40 local kids participate.
“Wayne always said if you can get young people into fishing at a young age and keep them interested in it, the sport will go on and on forever,” said Lisa Bailey. “He was always trying to make sure that kids were always involved.”
This June 20 through 22, Washburn will join the thousands of participants in the annual derby.
