THE BASS COLLEGE

Lessons from small boat bassin'

There are some big advantages to using small boats when trying to locate and catch skittish bass . . .

By Tim Tucker

BASSMASTER Magazine, Apr. 2005

Small boating

BASS pros spend their days jettisoning around America's lakes and reservoirs aboard sleek 20-foot-plus fiberglass boats and powerful 250-hp Mercury outboards — a far cry from their fishing roots.

For 2003 CITGO Bassmaster Classic champion Michael Iaconelli, it was a 12-foot polyurethane Coleman boat with a trolling motor. In Edwin Evers' case, it was a one-man kick boat that he propelled with swim fins before later adding a 2-hp motor. Although they have moved up considerably in class and power, both still fondly remember their primitive, small boat years.

"I had a lot of good times in that little boat and learned an awful lot about fishing," says New Jersey pro, Iaconelli. "It was perfect for all the small electric-motors-only lakes back home. I fished out of that boat until I was 21 or 22 years old and won a boat as an amateur in a Bassmaster Top 100 tournament."

Growing up in Texas, Evers spent every free hour honing his skills from atop his little kick boat in lakes like Fork, Worth, Bridgeport and Possum Kingdom. "Later, when I was in the eighth grade, dad bought a Bass Tracker," the 29-year-old pro recalls. "We'd put my little kick boat on the back deck of the Tracker and when we got to a spot, I'd put that boat out in the water and start fishing around. I had a bigger boat at that time, but I still chose to fish out of that Fishin' Pal because I felt I fished better out of it."

Small boating

Both accomplished pros understand the beauty of small boat fishing. And there are thousands like them, including famed big bass hunter Doug Hannon. The vast majority of Hannon's more than 500 10-pound-plus bass were caught from a 14-foot highly personalized camouflaged johnboat.

"The small boat is something that I consider in a large way responsible for all of the fish I have caught," Hannon says. "I think the small boat fisherman has an advantage over big boat fishermen when it comes to catching big bass.

     In praise of aluminum boats  

Although fiberglass boats have long dominated the CITGO Bassmaster Tournament Trail, a few pros have done well running aluminum boats in past seasons.

Arkansas' David Ashcraft qualified for the 1995 Bassmaster Classic in the midst of two seasons of utilizing a 19-foot Xpress aluminum powered by a 150-hp outboard.

Although he sacrificed some speed, Ashcraft didn't feel disadvantaged by running an aluminum in a sea of more expensive fiberglass boats.

"In my opinion, it is the best big, rough water boat that I've ever been in," he notes. "I'm talking about from 5- to 10-foot waves.

"It also allowed me to get back into some shallow places because it only drafts about 6 inches of water and it would run really high in the water. It would also go into really shallow water with the trolling motor. Six to 8 inches of water is all you needed to float it."

Ricky Green, a 14 time Classic qualifier from Arkansas, ran an Xpress boat during the 1998 Bassmaster season.

"I was a little more gutsy when I was running around stumpfields, timber and stuff like that because I knew I couldn't knock a hole in it," Green recalls. "I could dent it, but I couldn't knock a hole in it, so I did take more chances."

"With the pressured lakes of today, the biggest problem you face with a big fish is not having it realize that there is a fisherman in the area. A small boat allows you to not only reach fish in remote areas where the bass are less molested; it also is subtle enough that you are not so apparent when you approach a big fish. It presents much less of a presence in the water because it's small and light, which also means that it takes less power to move the boat around. That means less disturbance in the water. Everything has to be right to catch a 10-pound bass, but it begins with being as inconspicuous as possible."

The charm of small boat fishing has survived and flourished since the sport's infant days. Despite the popularity of the fiberglass big rigs, small boats (particularly aluminum) continue to dominate the annual sales figures.

It is the reason small boat clubs have popped up all over the country (like the Fort Worth Mini-Boat Club, Longhorn Mini-Boat Club, Small Boat Bass Club in Omaha and the Florida Pond Jumpers), where big boats and motors are not allowed. Attend one of their tournaments and you will likely see aluminums, inflatables, hard plastic miniboats, canoes, kayaks, paddle boats and even tubes.

These little boats are perfect for situations like Florida's extensive network of canals, farm ponds in Georgia, floating Tennessee smallmouth creek streams, and shallow water tidal conditions all along the marshy coastal areas.

There is plenty to like about small boats, particularly their cost, ease of transportation to the lake and stealthy maneuverability on the water. Not to mention the lessons they teach.

"One of the things it will teach you is to figure out how to catch fish because you don't have the luxury of running all over the lake," says Evers, a four time Bassmaster Classic qualifier now living in Oklahoma. "A small boat makes you a better angler because you have to develop a way to catch them wherever you are. That's where you're stuck for the day, so you've got to figure out a way to get them to bite.

"It taught me a lot about patience and fishing slow. There are a lot more fish in an area than you realize. A lot of times people go through an area in a big boat and catch one or two and just keep going. In that small boat, you kind of work that area all day long, and you find that there is a whole lot more fish in any given spot than most fishermen realize."

Evers credits his Fishin' Pal boat with enabling him to catch numerous trophy-class bass that he never would have reached in a full-size boat.

Jim Haynes can relate to that. A member of the Longhorn Mini-Boat Club, the electrical contractor from Mesquite, Texas, often carries his little boat aboard his 20-foot fiberglass craft and then launches it to penetrate the heavily timbered sections of various Lone Star State lakes.

A growing number of knowledgeable fishermen now take a two boat approach to their favorite lake or reservoir. They use a larger, faster fiberglass boat to get to the more remote upriver sections of the impoundment and then switch to an aluminum boat to penetrate the smaller sections where most anglers fear to tread.

That maneuverability has become more evident in recent years on the CITGO Bassmaster Tournament Trail, where aluminum jetboats are showing up more often in river tournaments. Last April, Randy Howell won the inaugural CITGO Bassmaster Elite 50 event on Lake Dardanelle by using a Triton 1860 aluminum and an 80-hp Mercury jet-powered outboard to reach an inaccessible pond loaded with spotted bass.

"I learned an important lesson in that tournament," the Alabama pro notes. "I plan on keeping this boat as a backup for tough, shallow water tournaments. It amazes me how these boats can get you to water that you never dreamed accessible."

So... Last week Steve added this to his boats. lol I have done this for 40 years so i didn't need the article to tell me this but I thought it was interesting.

                 The benifit of a small boat is I can go where others cannot.Shallow fishing is my game.I have lillies that I can go into where the water is only 1 to 2ft deep and fly fishing or topwater is key.I have a shallow cove at a lake I frequint,and on my way I`ll see nice boats trying to catch from 3-10 ft and I stroll back to the shallows and catch all sizes of bass.
                So even though you can afford a nice size bass boat its not always the way to go,depending on where you fish.
                I like the boat.

Hey Welcome back rick. Glad to see you here again. missed you. Now go get some bass and put up some pics. lol

                  Steve I never figured out how to post pic`s here.

You go to PHOTOBUCKET.COM and open a free account. You upload the pictures to photobucket or any hosting site like that. Aftter you upload the pictures it will give you many options, one of them will be a "DIRECT LINK_, (URL), to that picture. You copy the URL and come here and click on the little blue square in the posts here by the smily, and it will ask for a URL of the pic. You insert the uRL and it will appear.

This is a good article.  It makes me feel better about my small boat! 

Actually, one of my favorite parts of having a small boat is the smaller lakes that I fish with it.  The pressure is very low, which leads to some relaxing days of having an entire lake to myself. 

Right! I have a 19 foot bass Boat, and I love it, but I can't get it into some of the best lakes around with huge bass in them, so i also love a small boat.

before we got our small bass boat we fished of of a 9 foot inflatable

Kayak Bass Fishing

By Chad Hoover

Bassmaster.com

Exploring remote locations can be as simple as dragging the kayak a short distance to the water's edge.

Kayaks offer a practical means to explore these locations and overcome the obstacles associated with fishing them effectively. Generally, getting to the water is as simple as dragging, carting or carrying the kayak a short distance. Another option is to use your boat to mother ship the kayak to the fishing grounds and reach the least pressured waters anywhere. By using the boat and kayak together, you can overcome the range limitation and find bass in places where they have eluded anglers and have seldom (or never) seen a lure.

This concept isn't new or revolutionary. Modern fishing kayaks simply make it easier, more comfortable and affordable. We've all seen infomercials and back-of-the-magazine ads claiming something so effective that it "outfishes live bait" or has been "banned from tournaments" for being too effective. Unfortunately, the technique, strategy or scenario didn't live up to the hype.

I assure you, this is not the case when choosing to fish from a kayak. Don't expect to paddle out and have the biggest fish of your life struggling at the end of the line on your first cast, but, when used effectively, a kayak can improve your overall fishing experience, provide invaluable insights and increase your success in very short order.

Next week we'll discuss fishing unpressured, remote waters and the special techniques, equipment and considerations required to remain undetected and maximize your effectiveness using this approach.