Choosing the proper lure, the right color and making sound, accurate casts into bass infested waters are essential in catching largemouth and smallmouth bass alike. But unless you keep your boat in the proper position to place that lure in productive water, you might as well be dabbling a hook in a bar ditch somewhere.

Proper boat positioning and/or trolling motor operation can make or break the competitive angler. This holds especially true when flippin’, pitchin’, spinnerbaiting or working soft plastic jerk baits around shallow cover in clear or muddy water.

Bass that are relating to sparse cover in extremely clear water have a tendency to be extremely spooky. They’re sort of a like a buck deer standing in an open pasture. They’ll be holding tight to the available cover, be it stumps, laydowns, bushes, etc. But they’ll also be quick to detect your presence, which naturally makes them more difficult to fool with an artificial lure.

Keeping your distance is critical when fishing this type of situation. Rather than trolling right in on top of your target, position the boat 20-30 feet away and cast your lure past the cover. Retrieve the lure as close to the cover as possible and bump it if you can. The strike normally will occur on the first cast if there is a bass in the area, since the fish will be able to see the lure coming from a ways off.

However, you should never limit a piece of cover to a single cast. Work it from several different angles. If you’re spinnerbaiting around a laydown, run the bait parallel with both sides of the log starting at the base. The same goes for points of grass or bushes. If you don’t get bit on the initial cast, change boat angles cast again.

Bass fishing around cover in shallow, muddy water is an entirely different ball game in that you can usually get much closer to the cover or structure without spooking the fish. However, it there is a good chance it could take several casts from a variety of angles to catch them.

Take boat docks for instance. A single boat dock may provide a bass with a number of places to hide. Therefore, it is extremely important to fish it thoroughly and slowly. To do this, you’ll need to continually change your point of access and make repeated casts from different angles. A key factor that’s linked directly to boat positioning is trolling motor operation.

When fishing for bass in shallow water, muddy or clear, it is critical that you try to make the least amount of noise possible with the trolling motor. Always make sure the prop is far enough beneath the surface that it doesn’t create fish-spooking turbulence when it’s under power. On the flipside, don’t extend the shaft so far that it causes the motor to drag bottom or scrape on underwater stumps or logs.

The bottom line here is to pay attention and steer your boat clear of obstructions whenever possible. It’s also a good idea to troll at a slow rate of speed. Not only will this enable you to maintain optimum boat control avoid hitting stumps, but you’ll also be able to fish the area more thoroughly. Another way to cut down on the noise factor is to make sure your trolling motor is outfitted with the right prop.

In my opinion, a four-blade prop can be a real asset when fishing in shallow water. It doesn’t tear up the water like the more powerful twin-blade prop. Plus, it lends to more precise boat handling and control.

In summary, boat positioning and proper trolling motor operation are critical when fishing for bass around shallow water cover. That’s why an angler who is not very good with a trolling motor and doesn’t know how to handle a boat very well might fish a particular bank and not get bit, whereas a guy who does know the ropes can come along right behind him and get a good start on a limit.

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