A word about Kayaks

[conorsixtakc]

@nomolites once I have my own boat I'll be in the vocally anti-sitting crowd too 😁

[ollie]

I bought my Pam 100 back in 2002 at Pak Rat and it was one of the best buys I had ever made!  When I was fishing back then you never saw another yak out on the stream and I got a lot of looks.  Now everyone on the water around here has one due to the low cost of getting on the water.  It sure opened up a lot of opportunities for me on the creek. Now that I am older it was harder for me to get in and out of it so I bought the current Disco I have.  Wouldn't change a thing!

[RogueAgent]

I've been in a pedal fishing yak since May (Native Propel 10')  It's ~34" wide and plenty stable to stand and fish from.  I've switched from tournament co-angling the BFL, Costa, Bassmaster Opens to tournament kayak bass fishing and have loved it.  I'm getting to fish some new (to me) water and live and die by my own choices.

The sport is exploding in popularity and after being a part of it for a few months, I see why.  Not only is it an active, positive, welcoming community, you have the chance to win some serious JACK! 

The Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) national championship qualifiers compete for $100,000.  The River Bassin' Trail series will hold their national championship near Waynesville this year with a prize purse of $75k!  

Jeff Mellencamp, (Osage Beach firefighter) is the face behind Lake of the Ozarks Kayak Bass Fishing and was a huge help to me when I started to think about getting into the sport.  He's also plum crazy for fishing the big bass bash out of his kayak 🤪

Here are some local clubs if you have the urge to get into the sport competitively...

Mo-Yak

KAMO

O.R.A.T.T.

MKFS

Several local kayak anglers have YouTube channels as well;

Weekend Warrior Fisherman

Brian Hillman - Ozarks Yak Angler

MoFishYaker

Ozark Smallmouth Alliance

Tight lines! PM me if you have any questions about kayak derby fishing.  I'm a noob at this but I'll try my best to help.

RogueAgent

[kjackson]

For those interested in the new style of what I really don't think is a kayak, but fun, check out https://blueskyboatworks.com

These definitely not car-toppable and may not even be something you can slide in a pickup bed. But with the wheels on the hulls, they would be easy to slide off a flatbed trailer and get them in the water.

I saw two yaks at ICAST that I might consider adding to the fleet--one is the Old Town Topwater, a 10-foot boat with a cathedral-hull bottom and the new Jackson Big Rig angling kayak. It was definitely a trailer boat--fairly large and with some fishing bells and whistles I've not seen in other kayaks.

But what I need is a boat to leave in town so that I can fish the strip pits, and that means a beamy 10-footer.  The Topwater paddle version would be a good choice for that...but all I need is money...

[TroutRinger]

I love my Old Town Predator MX. Gets me to places I could never go by foot or boat. Saves about $40/float trip too if you self shuttle with a friend. 

I have a lot of advice I could give to new kayak fisherman, but number one would be to buy something that you can carry by yourself for your first kayak. If you need to trailer it or use a cart, it starts to defeat the purpose, and you may not have as much interest. Fall in love with the sport first, and then you may be more willing later to mess with that stuff. 

And don’t worry about buying a kayak to just sell later. If you get into the sport, you’ll go through several models before you find one that works best. I’m on my 6th different boat. Buy used so you don’t lose money (or much money) when reselling. 

[fishinwrench]

5 hours ago, aarchdale@coresleep.com said:

I could never get used to the sitting down part. Heck i took the seats off the deck of my boat, they just get in the way

Yep, seats and pedestals are the first thing to get tossed on every boat I plan to use.

[tjm]

What tips the decisions to kayak vs solo canoe? When you get into big man sizes it looks to me like the canoe is a better option.

[Flysmallie]

37 minutes ago, tjm said:

When you get into big man sizes it looks to me like the canoe is a better option.

 

It depends on the person I guess. I'm as big a guy as you will probably find in a kayak and the only time I would rather have the canoe is when I need to carry a lot of gear. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

Been using my Pond Prowler for over 30 years with no real competition and now the blasted things are infesting my water.

[tjm]

Pond Prowler looks like the original sit on top kayak to me.