How many times have you walked into your local fishing or sporting goods store and looked at those kayaks lining the wall? “How do I know which Kayak is right for me?” surges through your head as you study those tags, reading the specs, and spinning over the prices. When you go to the local lake, do you watch those kayakers out enjoying the ebb and flow of the waterway, daydreaming about yourself being that person out there floating through life? You have it in you to choose the perfect kayak.
You have the resources and skills to choose the right kayak for your needs.
Using these steps will give you the confidence in your choice.
1. Skill Level (fishing and kayaking)
Consider this on 3 levels.
- Fishing knowledge vs. boating knowledge vs. fishing on a boat knowledge. If you’ve been fishing all your life, you’re going to be comfortable with a rod in your hand. It’ll feel like it’s just an extension of your own arm. This can be a tremendous advantage to you when you set off for the kayaking adventure.
- Alternatively, if you practically live on the water and have been out on boats weekend after weekend for years on end, the moving water flowing and bobbing under your feet won’t distract you as you focus your new learning pattern on how to cast and retrieve a fishing pole.
- Where the decision becomes tricky for many new adventurers is when they choose to learn to fish and learn to kayak at the same time. There is absolutely no reason on earth that you can’t do it. Never underestimate your ability to learn new skills. Remember, though, that with every new skill comes a learning curve you will have to be patient with. With that in mind, you will benefit from choosing your kayak with your skill level in mind. Reviews will tell you what kayaks are beginner friendly: Easy to reach rod holders, Convenient place for your net, Secure tackle storage, etc.
Other things you may want to think about
- Are you right-handed or left-handed? When you sit in the kayak you’re considering and you reach for your net, is it going to be on the side of your free hand so you’re not fumbling with multiple tools as you wrangle that fish in?
- Do you have long legs or short legs? Believe it or not, even adjustable seats are not always accommodating to every height angler. At 5’5” my Bigfish 120 sitting at its lowest position is still about ¼” too tall for me to comfortably rest my legs while slow reeling for hours on end. Then there’s my Catch 100 which is so short that I have to keep it in its highest position if I will be sitting for long periods of time.
2. Budget
There’s a popular saying in the outdoors market, “Buy now, cry now.”
In many regards, they are quite right. If you have the means to spend $8,000 on your first kayak you may want to choose the best seat with the best pedal drive/motorized system that includes added storage compartments and fully wired electronics…but, if your budget is more conservative you can rest assured, there are still many options available to you. After nearly 20 kayaks I can assure you I’ve developed a little insight into the process of balancing budget with goals. You can buy a basic kayak and add many if not all of the bells and whistles you may want. Some will pay off, some may become oopses that you’ll remove later, and some will be ideas that never turn into reality. No matter what, though, you can always find a kayak that fits your goals and honors your budget.
The big key to remembering your budget is to remember you can always add tools or modify your equipment. You can wire your kayaks for lights, fish finders, and even hands-free motors. You can install anchors, power poles, rod holders, and more.
When it comes to kayaks, always keep your mind open to possibilities.
3. Usage (location, waterways, etc.)
- Do you fish saltwater, brackish/mixed waters, or freshwater exclusively?
- Do you fish in 30 or 100 feet of water or do you navigate through 6 inches of water to get to those shallow honey holes?
- Will you be kayaking in rough ocean waves, around careless jetskiers and judgmental bass boaters, or will the water be slow and still?
First and foremost you must remember, this is a generalization. You can be in the clearest, smoothest water in the world but one random wind gust can change everything about that waterway. This decision is actually just a guideline, an estimate of what you will “normally” be kayaking in.
Ultimately, this is a factor that is usually best determined by reviewing manufacturer specifications. Look at hull design, tracking, stability, and intended water (salt vs fresh). Take, for instance, the Bonafide RVR 119 and the Old Town Sportsman Salty PDL 120. The Bonafide is designed to be lightweight so it can pass through shallow obstacles and an angled hull to track through swift currents common in rivers. Alternatively, the Old Town is flatter and bulkier to handle the ruff waves common when working your way out to sea and heavier to hold up to those rolling waves you’ll battle while hauling in significantly larger fish.
Every kayak has its intended uses. Sit-on-top vs sit-inside, Tri-hull vs dual-hull, 10-foot vs 12-foot. Never buy a kayak expecting it to be perfect for all situations. You’re not going to have the speed and maneuverability in a 13-foot competition kayak that you’re going to get out of a slimmed-down, tight water, creek kayak. A flat-bottom kayak, like the Perception Outlaw, is going to be great for those large open lakes where you want to stand while you cast all day. A sleek, lightweight Pelican Catch 100, on the other hand, is going to let you get back into those narrow and shallow hidden gems type creeks but you’re not going to be standing in the middle of Lake Texoma as a Bass boat speeds by at 30 or 40 miles an hour.
4. Duration
There’s a bit of a divide in the kayaking world. Some purchase a kayak intending for that to be their one and only baby for as long as they will be kayaking. For these people, that decision becomes an almost insurmountable obstacle that almost paralyzes them from ever deciding. Others look at the choice as a stepping stone where this purchase will lead to the next purchase and so on. For you, looking at all the options and features available to the modern kayaker, I don’t want you to fall into either extreme.
The Outdoors Quest is all about taking what you have, what you can afford, and making the best of it.
Kayaking, to a large degree, is the same. When you’re buying your first kayak, you’re not going to know that you prefer a straight, flush-mounted, rod holder over an adjustable track-mounted one. Or a casting deck may seem like an impossibility with your current skill set, but a year from now, you may be chomping at the bit to get up as high as you can reach. When considering the longevity of your choice, don’t limit yourself by what you are currently capable of, but don’t limit yourself to what you think you’re going to want either. DIY techniques and add-on accessories by manufacturers as well as after-market companies will solve a lot of those shortcomings when the time is right for you.
A better way to approach the question is to ask yourself if you see potential (in yourself and in the kayak you’re considering).
Tracks can be added, rod holders can be moved, and storage compartments can be made to fit…if you have the space to work with. It’s much easier to add extras over time than to remove a bunch of bells and whistles later down the road when you discover you bought a kayak with extra gadgets you’ll never have use for.
5. Growth
Now here’s the real kicker when you’re first learning about kayak fishing: As a new kayaker, your skill set is small but even the clumsiest, most cumbersome kayaker will develop skills and techniques over the years to become a stronger kayaker. You may spend your first year of kayaking flipping every other outing. You may spend more time swimming than you do actually kayaking. Or you may develop mad skills that impress even the tournament anglers fishing in the next cove over. With nothing between you and the open water, you’re bound to develop experiences every outing. What you do with those experiences will determine what you do with your kayak. You’ll learn what features you really wish you had, what features you just don’t use at all, and what features you just don’t care about. That is your growth.
Most of the kayaks in today’s market allow for this growth. Pelican, Bonafide, Vibe, and many of the other manufacturers provide a wide assortment of accessories and replacement parts that you can use to change or improve your kayak. YakAttack, RailBlaza, and others are focused exclusively on manufacturing the accessories you’re going to need and want to grow your kayak into your ideal experience. Some things you’ll find ready for purchase (kind of along the lines of the plug-and-play philosophy common with other products on today’s market) while other products you think of will require a bit of ingenuity.
Over the next few months, as fishing season is growing, AJ and I are going to be talking to y’all about the different modifications we’ve done to our various kayaks, the mods were in the process of making, and the ones that are just a distant thought for now. Use our ideas, make them your own, and the kayak adventures will be yours for the conquering!
Whichever route you decide to go down, you’ll want a kayak that allows for that growth with you. As I said before, the more you have to remove, the more cumbersome and difficult the growth process will be for you.
6. Availability
Let me preface this by saying that between AJ and myself, we’ve gone through nearly 20 different kayaks over the years.
With that in mind, I can’t honestly tell you how many times I’ve spent weeks and months researching, studying, and comparing kayaks only to decide on the one perfect choice…that I can’t have…There are 2 significant factors to availability (3 ever since the 2020 worldwide shutdown).
- First is geography. Kayaks are big, bulky, and hard to ship. If there’s not a large demand for a brand or model in a specific geographical area, the manufacturer just won’t waste the finances to ship supplies to an area where the kayak is going to collect dust and take up space. Business is business and they want quick turnover.
- The second issue is timing. Most kayak manufacturers estimate the number of kayaks they expect to sell in a year and produce the bulk of the inventory in one large production run. They’ve turned this into a finely tuned science, so by the time supplies start to run low they’re generally ramping up for a new production run of the next model to be released. Most new kayak models are released in early spring so the further out you get, the less likely you’ll be to find that one, specific, kayak.
- Third is the coronavirus impact. When the world shut down many people found themselves in need of new hobbies. There has been nearly a 70% increase in outdoors participation since 2020.
7. Bite-the-bullet
When all is said and done, look at this realistically. You want a kayak. You want to spend your time on the water, not in the water. You are the one that has to be happy and confident in the choice you make.
Manufacturers will give you the details and technical information you need to know to make an informed decision. Websites like Boater Ed and USCG give you the safety details you need to keep in consideration when narrowing your focus. Many Kayak retailers offer you the opportunity to test-ride kayaks that you are considering purchasing. All these resources are at your fingertips day after day. But don’t let it become too many resources. Don’t become frozen in doubt. Bite the bullet, make an informed decision, and go for it! No kayak is ever going to be 100% perfect. No matter what Joe on your Facebook Kayaking group claims, there will always be little tweaks here and there that an owner would prefer to change. That is where DIY and aftermarket products come into play.
This is going to be your kayak. You can do whatever you want with it. If you work with it, develop your knowledge and skills, and fine-tune your list of needs as well as wants; you can always sell your kayak (often for almost the same price you paid or even more) and get that more “perfect” one in the future. Kayaking, just like fishing and hunting, includes a learning curve that will take you on some of the most exciting adventures of your outdoors experience. Embrace it, enjoy it, learn from it, and grow with your kayak!
A Female Perspective on the Pelican Bass Raider 10E
If you want to learn more about how to put your kayak to use, check out our discussion on hunting with a kayak.
Before you hit the waters, check out our safety recommendations in Know Boating Safety with These Easy Steps.
And if you’re not totally sold on the Kayak concept, another option you may really enjoy is the Pelican Bass Raider 10E.