I really enjoy using my personal kick boat for smallmouth fly fishing in rivers. I’ve owned three different styles and they all work well.
The first time I tried one for smallmouth bass was just as a trial run. I was getting ready to use it for trout on several western trout rivers in the fall. My smallmouth river was low and there was a great amount of aquatic grass growing throughout the stream. The fishing had been slow because the bass were very wary in the low, clear water. I floated a section of the river that I had waded the previous week. I did not have good results wading so why not try floating it.
Much to my surprise, that evening in my kick boat, the smallmouth fishing was very good. As I drifted quietly through the aquatic weed growth I was not scaring the bass as I had wading. Actually I did not use a kicking action to move down the river. I let it drift gently with the current. Then as I approached each card table size opening in the grass beds, I cast a Shenandoah Chartreuse Chugger size 4 into it. The bass came from beneath the shade of the grass and to my Chugger quickly.
One stretch of the river was covered with grass for one half mile except for a ten foot wide strip along the shaded bank. By drifting downstream through the thick grass and fishing into the open water along the bank I had excellent fishing.
I assume the quiet approach which I was able to achieve with my kick boat enabled me to approach the bass without scaring them.