Kayak Advice

[IFISHALOT]

Exactly my thought. I'm fine with hand paddle kayak on the bay bait fishing. But struggling when casting lures on windy days with currents such as fishing the mighty Goulburn river for cod. Last time I did that, I spent more time paddling just to stay in place and hardly casting.

Also, the ability to reverse paddle sounds great when the current/fish/wind pushing into rocky/snaggy area. Just reverse paddling to get out while maintaining position and two hands on the rod and reel.

Seb, again when fishing really snaggy rivers the drive is a nuisance. We wnd up switching to smaller kayaks that are simple cheapo sit on's for smaller systems. you can easily break a drive on a snag, Alex recently busted his at Mulwala. Gets worse when there is current and sunken trees.

Errrhhh fair point...
So what's the solution? Sounds like nothing fits all.

A kayak for the bay and river/lake casting lures into snaggy areas.
I thought of Hobie Outback or Native Watercraft Slayer 12.

The new 360 the fins automatically kick up when they hit something so no more bent shafts on the drive, but it is going to cost around $6995

[rb85]

Exactly my thought. I'm fine with hand paddle kayak on the bay bait fishing. But struggling when casting lures on windy days with currents such as fishing the mighty Goulburn river for cod. Last time I did that, I spent more time paddling just to stay in place and hardly casting.

Also, the ability to reverse paddle sounds great when the current/fish/wind pushing into rocky/snaggy area. Just reverse paddling to get out while maintaining position and two hands on the rod and reel.

Seb, again when fishing really snaggy rivers the drive is a nuisance. We wnd up switching to smaller kayaks that are simple cheapo sit on's for smaller systems. you can easily break a drive on a snag, Alex recently busted his at Mulwala. Gets worse when there is current and sunken trees.

Errrhhh fair point...
So what's the solution? Sounds like nothing fits all.

A kayak for the bay and river/lake casting lures into snaggy areas.
I thought of Hobie Outback or Native Watercraft Slayer 12.

The new 360 the fins automatically kick up when they hit something so no more bent shafts on the drive, but it is going to cost around $6995

For me thats too expensive.

[4liters]

I've had a look around on some local online stores and found a couple models that look good, like the viking profish 400 and the profish 35, and the wilderness systems tarpon 140. Do you have any opinions on these? They're all a little above my budget, but I would be happy to spend more for extra quality. They also come second hand on gumtree, which i'm happy to consider too.

cheers

croe

I've fished with guys who use a Viking Profish (I think it was that model, it was definitely a Viking) and a Tarpon, they both look like pretty nice yaks.

If you're happy to spend a little more on a better kayak keep in mind the internal layout of it as good storage options make a world of difference to how nice it is to fish out of. For example my first kayak was an early model Ocean Kayak Prowler which only had a very small hatch close to the seat, it really limited what I could take and I ended up needing to do a few mods to make it decent to fish out of. Compare it to Cheaterparts' newer model Prowler, Cheater's has a big tub down the centre of the cockpit that holds a heap of stuff. Then you have some like the fiberglass kayaks like the Stealths which can fit 4 or more fully riggeed rods inside the kayak and out of the way, as well as having rod holders on the outside. I think some of the roto-molded kayaks like the Jackson Kraken can also store rods inside them. There's probably a bunch of really innovative stuff on newer models now kayak fishing has really taken off and people have realised there's money to be made investing in new ideas.

Don't rush into a decision, take your time and check out a few different models, sit in them if possible, and try and imagine what gear you'll be taking out, where it'll go and how you'll reach it. There's guys with experience with a lot of different kayaks on VYak too, they're all too happy to answer any questions.

[Sebb]

Wow this whole kayak fishing thing becomes too much of a rocket science to me ... I get more confused and in dilemma more than before.
Thanks for info thou guys.

[rb85]

Wow this whole kayak fishing thing becomes too much of a rocket science to me ... I get more confused and in dilemma more than before.
Thanks for info thou guys.

It's not that bad mate you wont take a dinghy to the canyons off lakes get something to suit the style of fishing you want to do. The hobie outback is great for enclosed waters the pedals handle current easily and you can cast without worrying about oars.

[4liters]

Wow this whole kayak fishing thing becomes too much of a rocket science to me ... I get more confused and in dilemma more than before.
Thanks for info thou guys.

Break it down into more manageable sections. It's not really that hard.

[Lightningx]

Exactly my thought. I'm fine with hand paddle kayak on the bay bait fishing. But struggling when casting lures on windy days with currents such as fishing the mighty Goulburn river for cod. Last time I did that, I spent more time paddling just to stay in place and hardly casting.

Also, the ability to reverse paddle sounds great when the current/fish/wind pushing into rocky/snaggy area. Just reverse paddling to get out while maintaining position and two hands on the rod and reel.

Seb, again when fishing really snaggy rivers the drive is a nuisance. We wnd up switching to smaller kayaks that are simple cheapo sit on's for smaller systems. you can easily break a drive on a snag, Alex recently busted his at Mulwala. Gets worse when there is current and sunken trees.

Errrhhh fair point...
So what's the solution? Sounds like nothing fits all.

A kayak for the bay and river/lake casting lures into snaggy areas.
I thought of Hobie Outback or Native Watercraft Slayer 12.

The new 360 the fins automatically kick up when they hit something so no more bent shafts on the drive, but it is going to cost around $6995

Dam! Didn’t know they were so expensive for a kayak anyway...

[laneends]

Dam! Didn’t know they were so expensive for a kayak anyway...

Those things dont really resemble what you think of traditionally as kayaks anymore, just fancy pants pedal boats with a ton of bolts ons.. You can still do basic on a budget if you want to.

[smokin_reels]

Yeah really depends on what you want .
Also bear in mind a lot of people may not be able to afford the space for a boat , even if they can afford a boat.
The result,
A really nice kayak. Hands free lure fishing is a plus.
For bait work, you could really use anything .

[purple5ive]

7k will get you a boat.
but as already mentioned, fishing in a yak is not the same as a boat. some get the yak because of storage issues, ease of launch and many other factors.
work out exactly what you want the water craft for, and go from there.
in an ideal world i would love a small boat, a big boat and maybe a kayak. but thats never going to happen, so a compromise is in order.