Bass from a belly boat.
A belly boat is the best bass tool most anglers do not use. You hover quietly over a laydown, drop the lure without a wake, and drift the shade line at exactly the fish’s pace. We fished 34 sessions over the last two seasons chasing largemouth on farm ponds and smallmouth on the Snake River shoulder-water. What follows is what actually works from a tube.
Fished for 34 sessions on Farm ponds & Snake River shoulder waterThree lures worth carrying
- 3/8 ounce green pumpkin jig with a craw trailer. The one lure to have if you can only have one. Slow-drag it along laydowns and points. Largemouth from 1 to 5 lbs eat this on farm ponds.
- Ned rig on a 1/8 ounce mushroom head, green pumpkin or watermelon. The high-percentage lure for pressured water. Cast, let it sink, deadstick for five seconds, then hop it once. Smallmouth in the Snake River eat it on the deadstick.
- Whopper Plopper 90, bone or bluegill. The topwater when the wind is under three mph and the sun is off the water. Dawn and dusk only.
Best water and season
- Largemouth: shallow farm ponds and reservoir bays with laydowns, spring through early summer, water 60 to 75 degrees. Fish the wind-blown side.
- Smallmouth: rocky river shoulder-water where the current slows, late spring and early fall. Look for gravel bars in three to eight feet.
Belly-boat-specific tactics
- The silent approach. Kick to within 40 feet of a laydown, then coast the last 20 feet with no fin movement. Cast past the cover, drag the lure back over the shade line.
- The one-cast rule. If a laydown does not eat on the first cast, do not force a second. Kick past, come back in ten minutes when the bass has reset.
- The wind drift. With a five mph tailwind on a farm pond, deploy a 45-degree hold and drop a ned rig on every dock post as you drift past. Do not kick against the wind for a re-drift; kick around the perimeter and re-set the drift line.