New Kayak

[jrwerner310]

Wanting to upgrade to a new fishing kayak. Want it mainly for fishing but have a couple of weekend camping trips planed. Should I get a pedal drive. Or some kinds of electric powered? What’s your favorite brands and why?

[Dens228]

I was adamant about staying old school and sticking with paddle only.  I was also the last to my spots when fishing tourney's with all the pedal and motor drives out there competing.    I decided to go pedal and was inches away from getting a Coosa FD.  I ended up getting a Vibe Sea Ghost 130 and a Bixby motor as it was less expensive than most decent pedal drives. 

 

If you are going for several days I'd go with pedal so that battery life isn't an issue.  Of course you could get a pedal drive and add a motor to it also.  

 

I don't camp out of mine but storage wise it would seem the best bet would be an open deck style such as the Nucanoe.

[jrwerner310]

I was looking at a nucanoe flint or a bonafide SS127. The nucanoe can get a pedal drive but the bonafide can only get some motorized options. The nucanoe is also much lighter than the bonafide. 

[Dens228]

I kayak fish A LOT, and know a lot of guys that do to.  That being said, I've never even seen a Bonafide in person.  Many of the guys I fish with have Nucanoe's.  

 

[jrwerner310]

10 hours ago, Dens228 said:

I kayak fish A LOT, and know a lot of guys that do to.  That being said, I've never even seen a Bonafide in person.  Many of the guys I fish with have Nucanoe's.  

 

Which nucanoes do that have? Flint? Do they use it for long distance trips or over nights. 

[Brad Reid]

Well, I am not certain about how you plan to use it, water wise, but just know that most pedalers are due major declines in pricing owing to Hobie coming out with one using its superior flipper system at $1399.

 

Look up the Passport. It comes in a 12 footer, too for a few hundred bucks more.

 

Not only will this put pressure on other pedal kayak prices, it already has, these are priced in the general range of the higher quality paddlers. So, I suspect we'll see paddlers decline in price along with the others.

 

Hobie might be taking over the kayak world again with super aggressive price points on the low end, then a rather unmatched offering at the high end of the price scale with its PA 360s in ***.

 

I don't own a Hobie, never have, but it seems inevitable. Ha!

 

Brad

[Fishingmickey]

I currently have a PA14. If I were to do it again I'd look hard at the Hobie Compass. highly modifiable and reasonably priced for the Hobie Mirage drive at 1900. JFranco runs one and can probably add his experience about the Compass.

FM

[J Francho]

The Compass is a fast, stable platform that really suits my style of fishing.  I've added anchor trolley, but everything else attaches to the stock rails, including a Helix 5 or 7, transducer arm, rod holders, and a T-Reigns leash for holding fish I've caught in the water while I get the camera ready.  You can see it in action in the video.  Any questions, ask away.

 

 

[YoTone]

You can always add a trolling motor to a pedal drive. Ive had a Native Slayer 10 Propel for a few years and havent looked to upgrade yet. the weight and the pedal drive is what made me go for it and ive been happy with it.

 

One feature I wish I had that ive seen on the newer Hobie PA is the dual rudder control. if i could switch the rudder control from the left side to the right i would.

[Dens228]

15 hours ago, jrwerner310 said:

Which nucanoes do that have? Flint? Do they use it for long distance trips or over nights. 

Some Flints, at least one Frontier.  The Frontier owner uses a 55 lb thrust trolling motor. 

[jrwerner310]

12 hours ago, Brad Reid said:

Well, I am not certain about how you plan to use it, water wise, but just know that most pedalers are due major declines in pricing owing to Hobie coming out with one using its superior flipper system at $1399.

 

Look up the Passport. It comes in a 12 footer, too for a few hundred bucks more.

 

Not only will this put pressure on other pedal kayak prices, it already has, these are priced in the general range of the higher quality paddlers. So, I suspect we'll see paddlers decline in price along with the others.

 

Hobie might be taking over the kayak world again with super aggressive price points on the low end, then a rather unmatched offering at the high end of the price scale with its PA 360s in ***.

 

I don't own a Hobie, never have, but it seems inevitable. Ha!

 

Brad

[jrwerner310]

Thanks for all the information everyone. I’m mostly go fishing around my local watering holes. But I do have a trip planned next summer that’s a 3 day camping trip. The nucanoe flint is super light and I can buy the pedal drive later on. Not looking to buy any kind of motor tho. Going to stick with the pedal. Don’t have a Hobie dealer close tho. The local dealer has nucanoes. Bonafide. Jackson and few other. 

[jrwerner310]

The biggest thing I’m looking for is that it’s a real good paddler. I’ll use the pedal for fishing then when I go on my few camping trips or just for a cruise down the creeks and small water with my friends, I can paddle with them. No one else has a pedal drive or even a fishing kayak for that matter. 

[Dens228]

10 minutes ago, jrwerner310 said:

The biggest thing I’m looking for is that it’s a real good paddler. I’ll use the pedal for fishing then when I go on my few camping trips or just for a cruise down the creeks and small water with my friends, I can paddle with them. No one else has a pedal drive or even a fishing kayak for that matter. 

I just noticed your signature....off topic but how's Olsen lake for kayaking?  I was just at Pierce last week for just the second time. 

 

[jrwerner310]

22 minutes ago, Dens228 said:

I just noticed your signature....off topic but how's Olsen lake for kayaking?  I was just at Pierce last week for just the second time. 

 

It’s not bad. Nice to get out on and be away from it all. I lonely live about 10 mins from there. 

[Dens228]

I'm about an hour.

 

[Fishingmickey]

Quick question for the Illini here. How's the fishing in Beck and Big bend forest preserve lakes? Do they still exist?

FM

[mhtranger]

Not sure what people’s take on the Feelfree line is but I have a Lure 11.5 and reason I bought it was for the ability to add a pedal drive when money was available. It also accepts a motor unit in the pedal drive. One of the things slowing me down is the stories I hear about their steering setup. 
Other than that it’s a great kayak, stable and plenty of deck space for standing and gear. 

[J Francho]

Feelfree makes a nice boat.

[Dens228]

On 10/15/2019 at 8:18 AM, Fishingmickey said:

Quick question for the Illini here. How's the fishing in Beck and Big bend forest preserve lakes? Do they still exist?

FM

I've gone to Beck a couple of times this year, always catch a few but it's a small lake and not really worth it IMO.

I've never gone to Big Bend. 

[Bird]

I have 2 feelfree boats, Moken 10 and Jonny boat with motor pod.....both well made.

[ctg0311]

Check out an Old Town Topwater PDL. Been loving mine, super stable and can stand with ease. Pretty good price compared to a lot of the other pedal kayaks and a lot of times they come with a nice fish finder included. Black Hall Outfitters usually has them cheaper then anywhere else.