I've gone people powered.....

[bassboogieman]

Bought a kayak today. Most of my local water is small and electric only, so with retirement growing very close and my wanting to fish more, I am going to give fishing from a kayak a try. I'm figuring it will be much easier than hauling the big boat to those small lakes EVERY time I want to go fishing, not to mention being a more economical option, and I will get some exercise.
My kayak of choice is a Hobie Mirage Outback, it's a pedal powered 12' yak that is set up for fishing. It will be consideralbly different fishing from it than the 21' bass boat, but I'm hoping it will be a lot of fun. I wanted a pedal yak so I can fish and move the yak without putting down the rod and picking up a paddle.
I know a couple guys fishing from yaks and I'm figuring to join them come spring. I wanted the Hobie Pro Angler, but it would have cost me an additonal grand, and I just couldn't justify it until I know I'm going to like it.

[Marc David]

I've been on and off with getting a kayak ever since I watched an episode with Hank Parker and his sons fishing out of Hobie Mirage Outbacks. I think it would be a fun way of fishing. There seems to be several kayakers on the rivers here that fish. Let us know how you end up liking it.

[tarpon120]

Guys I love my yaks, my wife and two sons all fish out of them as well as the bass boat. We have Wilderness systems, tarpon 120's and 100's. We fish small rivers mainly in them, but have used them everywhere. I get a sense of being stealthy when fishiing in them and have caught a lot of fish from them. It's really fun when the fish can actually pull you around. If you have any questions there seems to be several people on this forum using them.

[walkeraviator]

heck yeah. I am still looking for the cash to buy my kayak. Have been dreaming of buying one for two years now. If you are looking for a good source of information, there are two sites i attend dedicated to kayak fishing.

KayakFishing.com
Texaskayakfisherman.com

[Abbeysdad]

Yup - Those Hobie Mirrage Yaks look pretty cool (I saw the Hank Parker special where he was with the Hobie folks overviewing the features.).

[CiK]

There are probably a lot of fishing kayaks to choose from. Is there 1 or 2 that come highly recommended over the others?

[walkeraviator]

Kayaks are like Bass Boats. There are certain people who just swear by certain brands. Hobies are like the Rangers of kayaks. They are huge stable comfortable and super easy to move around in, but they are also the most expensive. The other brands that in my opinion are all about equal, but may may have options you prefer over others are...

Wilderness Systems
Ocean Kayak
Native Watercraft
NuCanoe

The big thing is deciding what size kayak you need. The longer they are the faster the paddle but the less maneuverable they become. If you need to paddle a great distance to get to your honey hole, a 15 foot yak may be the ticket. If you are paddling a river with some rapids and moving water, 10 foot may be as long as you want to go. It seems to me that 12ft models seem to be the most versatile and that is what length i am focused on.

There is also a new line of Kayaks from Bass Pro Shops called Ascend that seem to be pretty good for a good price. With all that said, here is my personal short list of kayaks that I woudl purchase if I could get the dough together.

Ocean Kayak Trident Angler 13
Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120
Ascend FS12T
Native Watercraft Ultimate 12.5
NuCanoe 12'

And new to my list is a little different design called the VersaBoard from Liquid Logic that is now marketed by their siter company Native Watercraft as a stand up fishing platform.

[bassboogieman]

I looked very hard at Native Watercraft Ultimate with the pedal system - I really liked the bicycle pedal system that also allows you to go in REVERSE. The Hobie won't backup, you need a paddle for that. The drawback in the Ultimate is that it's a hybrid canoe/kyack - its open, not much in the way of DRY storage - and these low to the water boats do get wet. The other Native I looked at the Mariner (pedal) also lacked dry storage - only 1 small compartment.
I wanted a pedal yak for reasons above, the Hobie flipper system also held the advantage for shallow water or beaching - the flippers lock against the hull, the Native you had to unlatch and lift he prop drive.
All depends on what you want in a yak. I wanted pedal power to leave my hands free to fish rather than use a paddle. When moving to a spot you can also paddle & pedal getting there quickly. Either the Hobie or the Native can also be powered by a trolling motor, but that adds a lot of weight and negates any of the exercise I'm also looking for.
You can certainly get in to a kyack for little money (or a lot), just depends on what you want. I really think I'm going to enjoy this.

[CiK]

I have been kicking around the idea of a kayak for years for small river systems. I would rather buy a kayak instead of going to a canoe livery and renting a canoe.

This post is providing a lot of great information and helping. Thanks!!

[walkeraviator]

Im gonna give my $.02 on the NuCanoe which is the forerunner in my list right now. It is 12 ft long and weighs about the same as any other 12' sit-on-top kayaks out there. They are super stable and are designed like teh Ultimate 12.5 in that they are a hybrid, but unlike the Ultimate, if they get swamped they will not sink. They are stable enough to stand up and fish out of. And the best part is that they are super versatile...

Lets say you are gonna go Kayak a river with a few rapids and fish. You got all the fishing accesories any other fishing yak would have. You can store stuff in a wet bag behind your seat. And using their nice padded seats can paddle all day in a nicely maneuverable boat and fish...

Then lets say the next weekend you want to go camping along a river on a three day trip. More than enough room for that.

Then the next weekend you wanna take the wife and kid canoeing. Put three seats in and go to town.

Then the weekend after that you wanna go to a local lake and fish with a buddy, and you are both feeling lazy. Put a trolling motor on the square stern. And teh best part, you can put the padded swivel fishin seats on it and you have a nice comfortable way to fish. Then you see some cover you wanna flip to... go ahead. Stand up in this boat and pitch and flip all you want.

It just seems like the best all around boat i can find.

[bamabassman]

are you willing to travel a bit for a great yak? ZOOKER'S mother still has his yak for sale. it is in north carolina. i can get you the info or ive oyu the number if you are willing to seriously talk about it. send me a pm if oyu are interested.