Best fishing kayak under $1,000?

[Jake51823]

Hey all. I’ve been fishing for some time now with my Jon boat and a trailer. I’m getting sick of having to have a designated spot just to fish because of the bigger boat and the trailer process. I want to invest in a good fishing kayak. 
 

I’ve fished on a kayak before and I really like how easy it was to move around. So my question is what’s the best all around fishing kayak under $1,000? If possible to get some loaded ones like ones with included rod holders or track systems. I’m not too knowledgeable about how to add accessories and such. What kayak would you recommend? Also I heard many pros about adding a trolling motor to your kayak and many cons to it as well. What are y’all suggestions? Hoping to get more of lighter weight one!

 

Thanks for taking the time to answer!  

[J Francho]

A loaded new kayak of decent quality is going to run you at least $1500, more like $2000 all said and done.  I would look at the used market, as there is about to be a flood of boats from people that bought them during the pandemic.  You want a hybrid or sit on top that is at least 12' and has an elevated seat.  Keep your eyes peeled, and I think you can find something really nice for around a thou.

[Bird]

I've not seen any self propelled Kayak under a $1000 but many options for paddle only.

 

Google best fishing kayak under $1000.

 

I currently own 2 fishing yaks and can tell you an elevated seat is an absolute must for casting and visual. 

 

This is my latest boat for $899 with lots of dry storage and tracks all over the place for add-ons. 

 

Vibe seaghost 110.

 

[Jake51823]

3 minutes ago, Bird said:

I've not seen any self propelled Kayak under a $1000 but many options for paddle only.

 

Google best fishing kayak under $1000.

 

I currently own 2 fishing yaks and can tell you an elevated seat is an absolute must for casting and visual. 

 

This is my latest boat for $899 with lots of dry storage and tracks all over the place for add-ons. 

 

Vibe seaghost 110.

 

I would add the trolling motor later! And definitely looking for a sit on top. How do you like the sea ghost? I’ve heard good things about their kayaks. 

20 minutes ago, J Francho said:

A loaded new kayak of decent quality is going to run you at least $1500, more like $2000 all said and done.  I would look at the used market, as there is about to be a flood of boats from people that bought them during the pandemic.  You want a hybrid or sit on top that is at least 12' and has an elevated seat.  Keep your eyes peeled, and I think you can find something really nice for around a thou.

Thank you for the suggestion. I’ve been looking around just waiting for one to pop up one of these times. Any suggestions of good fishing kayaks off the top of your head? 

[Bird]

It's very well made, solid. 

 

Came with a rudder but I removed it, it tracks well. 

You can watch video where others have mounted a trolling motor where the rudder is.

 

I mainly use this boat in rivers and small lakes while camping......yes, like it.

[Hook2Jaw]

I fish from an Old Town Predator PDL 2020, and previously from a 2017 Hobie PA14...before that, a 2010 Hobie Outback.  My little brother wanted to get into fishing and he's been loving his Feelfree Moken 12.5 V2.  His friend also bought one and I am highly impressed with both their boats.

 

They paddle well, track beautifully, and are pretty stable.  Both of them can stand to fish.

 

If you want another good boat under a g, take a look at thd Crescent Litetackle.  It won't be as fast as the Moken, but it will be a bit more stable.

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, Jake51823 said:

Also I heard many pros about adding a trolling motor to your kayak and many cons to it as well. What are y’all suggestions? Hoping to get more of lighter weight one!

These two things are a contradiction.  If you want to add all the weight that comes with a battery and TM, you're going to have to look at big boy boats.  About the only truly light boats that can do this, aren't really all that light, and come in at at least 85 lbs.  It would be easier to find a lighter, used pedal drive boat.

[Bird]

Yes, once you add the motor and a deep cycle battery you got yourself a tank.

 

This boat fishes great and everything is in front, foot throttle and steering but takes a while at the boat ramp removing battery and motor pod......it's over 100 lbs.

[michaelb]

If you are paddling, and not peddling, I think there are a lot of great kayaks for under $1000. But I am not sure there is one "best" because there are many different considerations about what you want and trade offs and compromises in design. What kind of water are you fishing, how about wind and waves and surf and tide? How many miles do you need to paddle/peddle to fish? Rivers? standing vs sitting? Trolling? How are you carrying the boat, so car top or trailer and do you need to be able to lift it?

 

I like many kayaks and wish I had more, even though I have 5. I am particularly attracted to the trend that merges paddleboards and kayaks since paddleboarding is fun. I have a kaku wahoo 12.5 as my fishing kayak, I think it is great and one of the best choices, but particularly if you need to prioritize the actual paddling part, so it paddles well and is not a barge. But the larger/wider kayak barges may fish "better" ie be more stable with even more room. I would love kaku's new zulu too. I like the look of the ATAK 140, the moken 12.5, the bonafides. I like the Jackson Bite, but their new YuPik is the first new designed kayak that almost looks better than the Kaku (but the YuPik is $1299).

 

[Smalls]

The only "right" answer to this question is go do some reading,  figure out what you want in a kayak, and then go demo. If you can't find a local dealer with what you want, get in touch with guys fishing the local trails, there's a good chance someone is fishing off a boat you're interested in, and nice enough to let you take it out for a test ride. 

[GTN-NY]

Guy on YouTube compares under $1000, under 1500 and under 2000 fishing kayaks. Search around there for help. 
last Sept I bought a used Jackson big rig for $1000. I love it! Stand all day. Paddles decent once you get it moving. I just added a bow mount trolling motor to it. Even better now

[Bankc]

The best value in a new fishing kayak is probably going to be the Lifetime Teton Pro and Yukon.  I have the Yukon.  It's just under 12' long, tracks well, is fairly stable, has a good seat, and is well built.  It comes with two side track mounts, two rear, flush mount rod holders, adjustable foot braces, and paddle holders on the sides.  It also has a covered storage in the front, and you can fit shorter rods down into it, that run inside the kayak, along the sides.  It's about 85lbs, so it's not very light, but it's about the average weight for a kayak in it's class.  I find it to be a good balance between stability, speed, and maneuverability. 

 

It's definitely not the best you can buy.  But, it's probably the best you can buy for the money, unless you buy used.  And even then, the full setup would still likely be outside of your budget.  I probably spent around $1,500 on it, all told.  And that includes the kayak, paddle, PFD, trolling motor, battery, anchor and anchor trolley, fish finder, ceiling host to store it, kayak dolly to transport it, tie downs, and various other little gadgets and gizmos.  The cost of the kayak itself was less than a third of the total bill.  So your best bet would be to find a used one that's fully decked out.  Either way, make out a list of everything you're going to need ahead of time and see how all of that fits into your budget.  It's really easy to nickel and dimed to death on kayak by not planning out for all of the other stuff ahead of time too. 

[Boomstick]

With a $1000 limit, I would look at an Old Town Sportsman or Topwater (same thing, they renamed them to the Sportsman and upgraded the seat a little). The 12' model is right around $1000, comes with 3 rod holders (one is to change lures but you can't really paddle using it) and 2 cup holders so pretty well equipped out of the box. They track decently and they are very stable, I'm 6'3" and 300lbs and I have no trouble standing in my kids' 12' Topwater at all.

 

What you will need additionally:

YakAttack BlackPak or similar to hold tackle and 3+ more rods. $130 or so

YakAttack Leverloc Anchor Trolley HD - $45

5lb mushroom anchor - $20

A paddle. I'd probably spend at least $160 on a paddle

A PFD - $20 - 130.

 

All in all, that will run closer to $1500 or so, but you're basically ready to fish at this point.

[Jake51823]

Thank you all for the suggestions. I decided as most of you were saying that around $1,500 would be a better budget. So I saved up another paycheck and I’ve been thinking of going for a crescent lite tackle and add the accessories I want to it. Any thoughts on the lite tackle?Or do y’all think I could get a better kayak for the money? 

[michaelb]

2 hours ago, Jake51823 said:

Thank you all for the suggestions. I decided as most of you were saying that around $1,500 would be a better budget. So I saved up another paycheck and I’ve been thinking of going for a crescent lite tackle and add the accessories I want to it. Any thoughts on the lite tackle?Or do y’all think I could get a better kayak for the money? 

Is that boat local for you so you can see it? I haven't looked at that boat before. At a glance, it looks like a pretty nicely designed boat, so I like the stadium seat (but would like you to get to sit in it) and the open deck and the gear tracks. At 12' 4 and 34" wide it is a lake boat and not a river boat, but otherwise that seems reasonable. It shares a lot of similarities to other kayaks mentioned here, so my kaku wahoo or the jackson bite. The Bite seat itself is on gear track, so you can adjust the seat and therefor the trim forward and back; and that could be a useful feature (but most folks probably never do that; so that is something you would want to do if you are loading it for camping, or carrying a puppy, etc).

 

I don't see an obvious way to mount a trolling motor. Is that important. If you look at the back of the wahoo, that kayak and many others have "power pole mounts" built in, and there are trolling motor mounts that can bolt there, in order to mount the motor. Some other boats have pods that can hold a trolling motor too.

[Jake51823]

26 minutes ago, michaelb said:

Is that boat local for you so you can see it? I haven't looked at that boat before. At a glance, it looks like a pretty nicely designed boat, so I like the stadium seat (but would like you to get to sit in it) and the open deck and the gear tracks. At 12' 4 and 34" wide it is a lake boat and not a river boat, but otherwise that seems reasonable. It shares a lot of similarities to other kayaks mentioned here, so my kaku wahoo or the jackson bite. The Bite seat itself is on gear track, so you can adjust the seat and therefor the trim forward and back; and that could be a useful feature (but most folks probably never do that; so that is something you would want to do if you are loading it for camping, or carrying a puppy, etc).

 

I don't see an obvious way to mount a trolling motor. Is that important. If you look at the back of the wahoo, that kayak and many others have "power pole mounts" built in, and there are trolling motor mounts that can bolt there, in order to mount the motor. Some other boats have pods that can hold a trolling motor too.

I watched a video of a guy who mounted a trolling right to the back of the kayak, sense it doesn’t come to a point in the back it’s more rectangular. No gear was used and it just clamped right to the boat. Also sadly I was looking and it doesn’t look like many shops near me have really any fishing kayaks and all online it looks like the crescent lite tackle is sold out. I live in upstate NY. 

[Jake51823]

Just looking for something I can throw into any water (besides ocean).   It looks like shops near me don’t have many crescent kayaks. 

[Kayak Fishin]

Something to consider... My bonafide ss107 was $1299. Currently rigged with "essentials" I'm at about $3,000. No motor. But it does have a power pole. 

[Hook2Jaw]

I think you'll be pleased with the Crescent.

[cpaterso]

Just feedback on the Vibe.  It's a decent Kayak, just heavy.  I'm selling mine.  After using it 10-15 times, it's just too hard on my back.  I'm going to look into a peddle kayak if I get another.  Looking at the Native but they are pricey.

 

Anyway, my advice is go as light as possible.

[Jake51823]

1 hour ago, cpaterso said:

Just feedback on the Vibe.  It's a decent Kayak, just heavy.  I'm selling mine.  After using it 10-15 times, it's just too hard on my back.  I'm going to look into a peddle kayak if I get another.  Looking at the Native but they are pricey.

 

Anyway, my advice is go as light as possible.

How much does yours weigh? The crescent I’m looking at is around 75lbs. 

The one thing I really like about the lite tackle is how you can store your rods in the hatch. It’s 8ft long. I haven’t see any other kayaks that you can do that with. 

[Smalls]

1 hour ago, Jake51823 said:

I really like about the lite tackle is how you can store your rods in the hatch. It’s 8ft long. I haven’t see any other kayaks that you can do that with. 

There's a bunch that have this. Feelfree, boneafide, native, etc. 

[Jake51823]

10 minutes ago, Smalls said:

There's a bunch that have this. Feelfree, boneafide, native, etc. 

any links? Personally I haven’t seen any for some reason. 

[ACGOG]

As someone who was an avid kayaker before integrating fishing into it, a couple of notes:

 

1. Peddle kayaks are awesome but you're not going to find one under $1,000. Even used will be difficult.

2. I bought my first kayak, an Eagle Talon sit-on-top for I think $450 during a Black Friday sale. We're right around the corner from it and I'd highly recommend waiting.

3. If you buy a kayak that doesn't have all the bells and whistles you want you can add a lot of that stuff later. Really just need capacity and determine whether or not you want to stand on it as those are the two things you can't really change (you can stand on anything with outriggers, though getting up you might have to add your own strap or something). I supposed peddles would be in there too.

4. If you choose to add stuff to it, 90% of the time you can make your own version of whatever someone is charging an arm and a leg for. My kayak originally had a sit in seat and I have since added my own version of an elevated seat I made with PVC pipe and a stadium seat thingie from Dicks.

5. If you're not opposed to used, you'll find way better value via Craigslist, FB Marketplace, etc. Main things to look for used are where it was stored. If it's older, stay away from anything that was sitting outside. You can generally tell how much and often it was used by the scrapes on the bottom.

6. Figure out where you're primarily going to be using it. Personally, my next yak is going to be a Jackson Coosa HD. I'm not getting the FD (pedal version) because it's exponentially more expensive, but I primarily do in-shore fishing in a lot of very shallow rivers and the Coosa is a little wider so it doesn't sit as low in the water and can handle it better.

7. You can buy little wheels to transport your kayak to and from the water that make it easier if you wind up getting a heavier one. Would recommend it as one of your first upgrades.

 

Again, to reiterate, you don't have to deck out your kayak with everything right away, and when you do there are a metric ton of videos on YouTube on how to do a lot of it yourself, like a milk carton storage rack and rod holder that takes care of the vast majority of add-ons.

 

Good luck!

[Jake51823]

43 minutes ago, ACGOG said:

As someone who was an avid kayaker before integrating fishing into it, a couple of notes:

 

1. Peddle kayaks are awesome but you're not going to find one under $1,000. Even used will be difficult.

2. I bought my first kayak, an Eagle Talon sit-on-top for I think $450 during a Black Friday sale. We're right around the corner from it and I'd highly recommend waiting.

3. If you buy a kayak that doesn't have all the bells and whistles you want you can add a lot of that stuff later. Really just need capacity and determine whether or not you want to stand on it as those are the two things you can't really change (you can stand on anything with outriggers, though getting up you might have to add your own strap or something). I supposed peddles would be in there too.

4. If you choose to add stuff to it, 90% of the time you can make your own version of whatever someone is charging an arm and a leg for. My kayak originally had a sit in seat and I have since added my own version of an elevated seat I made with PVC pipe and a stadium seat thingie from Dicks.

5. If you're not opposed to used, you'll find way better value via Craigslist, FB Marketplace, etc. Main things to look for used are where it was stored. If it's older, stay away from anything that was sitting outside. You can generally tell how much and often it was used by the scrapes on the bottom.

6. Figure out where you're primarily going to be using it. Personally, my next yak is going to be a Jackson Coosa HD. I'm not getting the FD (pedal version) because it's exponentially more expensive, but I primarily do in-shore fishing in a lot of very shallow rivers and the Coosa is a little wider so it doesn't sit as low in the water and can handle it better.

7. You can buy little wheels to transport your kayak to and from the water that make it easier if you wind up getting a heavier one. Would recommend it as one of your first upgrades.

 

Again, to reiterate, you don't have to deck out your kayak with everything right away, and when you do there are a metric ton of videos on YouTube on how to do a lot of it yourself, like a milk carton storage rack and rod holder that takes care of the vast majority of add-ons.

 

Good luck!

Thank you for all the tips and suggestions. Definitely waiting for Black Friday and see what pops up there. And I already had in mind that after I get a kayak the dolly to transport it comes next! 
 

I’ve been looking for a kayak that sits a little above so it can handle water better. Kinda just looking for a Jack of all trades for any water I throw it in. Besides ocean.