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Posted by Ted on 19:19:23 07/14/03
In Reply to: I am an expert in choosing kayaks. posted by Ted
: Okay..............everyone can stop laughing now.Kayaks are very different and personal to each person. What you like I may not like.The perfect fishing kayak depends on many factors. What capacity you need, what kind of water you will be on and what kind of fishing you will be doing. The hard part comes in when you do many types of fishing. I fish in the ocean through the surf and out of bays and harbors, I fish in mountain lakes and most of the time I troll leadcore in those lakes. If I could only buy one kayak to use on all those applications, the decision gets tougher and the choices become fewer. For example trolling leadcore puts tremendous drag on your kayak and will affect your tracking and your ability to let out more than 5-7 colors. Shorter kayaks, narrower kayaks and lighter kayaks would not be a good choice for this type of fishing. Also since mountain lakes have much colder water temps and colder air temps, kayaks with a drier ride will reduce your exposure to the elements and lengthen your fishing day.The best way to figure out which kayak will suit your needs it to make a very inexpensive crate and rent several different kayaks and go fishing on each one. Most shops will put your rental fee toward your purchase. A crate is very inexpensive and is very portable. You only need a bungie that you can run through the handles and down to pad eyes on the deck and you are ready to go. I have even used zip-ties to attach my crate to different kayaks.You can see in the picture that I have cut parts of the bottom of the crate out, that is so on narrower kayaks where the crate sits across the gunwhales, the padeyes can poke through and keep the crate flat against the gunwhales. I have also drill holes in different places so I can use zip ties instead of bungies. One time I rented a Scramber XT and a large guitar fish pull the crate over because the bungie was not tight enough. I didn't lose my pole, but the zip-ties seem to be a better solution.I angled two of the holders for trolling and they are all secured by zip-ties.If you take the time to try out a few, you will better be able to understand what is different about all these different kayaks. I have had a great experience with Malibu Kayak and I have also owned a Ocean Kayak Scupper Pro TW which is a great kayak, but both kayaks are not the same and it is not fair to compare them side by side because they are designed differently with different features. You will know which features you like more when you get in both of them and give it a try. I currently own a Pro2 Tandem and Pro Explorer. I have owned a Scupper Pro TW and fished a Scrambler XT and Cabo.-Ted
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