Kayak vs small boat?

[Cody28]

Hi everyone. I currently own a 14 foot semi v aluminum boat that I’ve converted into a mini bass boat with front deck and trolling motor. Just has a 9 hp on the back. The boat places me in the grey area where I can’t compete in bass boat tournaments or kayak tournaments. Im considering selling to start kayak fishing instead, but would like some opinions, pros, cons etc of each because I do really enjoy my boat. My biggest concern is not being able to navigate while standing for thinks like skipping docks and punching.
 

Can’t afford a bigger boat at the moment or afford to keep both the aluminum boat and kayak. 

[Woody B]

Keep the boat.  Forget the tournaments.  Fish is supposed to be fun,  not some he man mines bigger than your contest.  Multiple times this year Kayak anglers have come up to my boat asking if I had any bass they can take pictures of.  

[Pat Brown]

Id keep the boat in a heartbeat but that's just me.  I like standing up to bass fish a LOT.

[GaryH]

Personal preference. I personally wouldn’t trade in my bass boat for a kayak but I know other who wouldn’t trade their kayak for a bass boat. You have to decide what will work for you.  Good luck on your choice.

[you]

Kayaks are amazing for portability, exercise, stealth, and the ability to access water that others can't. Many sit-on-top kayaks with pedal drives are stable enough to stand on (at least in calm water). Skipping is doable, even in a sit-in, though you lose the leverage needed for punching.

 

It depends on your local hydrology, too. A kayak may be better for areas with many smaller, natural lakes or where ramps and access are limited.

 

Then there's the thought of outboard maintenance...

[Susky River Rat]

Anyone who gives up a boat for a yak is crazy in my opinion

[J._Bricker]

Let me preface this by saying my first boat was a Caddis U-shape tube, waders and a pair of flippers. If you can afford to outfit a kayak like Greg Blanchard’s or some of the other YouTube kayakers, I say do it. If not @Cody28, if it’s possible work as much OT as you can and put that money away until you can afford the boat that allows you to fish what and however you choose. Good luck with your decision.

[Woody B]

Another reason (for me) to have a boat instead of a Yak.  I'm 59.  I have to pee pretty often.   I suspect it's kinda hard to relieve yourself in a Yak.  

[gim]

I’d also vote to keep the boat.

 

I will admit that I’m intrigued by these kayak tournaments though. You could buy a kayak in the future as an option to participate in those tourneys.

[Susky River Rat]

The two happiest days of owning a kayak the day you buy it and the day you sell it. 

[optimator]

I just got my first kayak and there’s no way in hell I’d sell my 1448. I also have a Sundolphin 8.5 that the kayak would go before it would. 

[MediumMouthBass]

I have a very wide jon boat with either a trolling motor or a 2.5hp motor depending on the place being fished, and also several fishing kayaks.

There are days were being on the boat would be better, and days where its the kayak.

If you can afford it i suggest you keep the boat and try to get a nice fishing kayak used for a great price and use it in tournaments if thats what you want to do.

1. For me its better to skip baits and fish under/around docks in a kayak, getting near docks is sometimes difficult in a jon boat even with a trolling motor where the kayak is very simple and quick to just paddle away from the dock or towards it. Plus the kayak can get into very tight and close quarter areas.

2. They both get blown around almost the same by wind or waves.

3. The trolling motor and 2.5hp motor are close in speed but very similar to how fast the kayak can go, main difference is its you doing the work vs the motor. And for longer distances sometimes its much better to have a motor doing it for you (especially in the high heat days of summer).

4. Kayak takes 5 minutes to get to the truck and 5 minutes to fully load with gear at the boat launch, the boat takes around 20-30 minutes because we have to move several vehicles to get the trailer out and then another 10-15 to get everything in it/on it. So the kayaks get used more than the boat recently.

5. The one lake we fish has a limited space parking lot and is usually packed, much better to have a kayak in the back of the truck than a huge trailer in a very tight spot area.

6. The one day the lake i was on had 12-20mph winds, everyone was getting blown around and a bass boat almost got blown into a tree thats in the water (they were trying to fish it and then the wind hit), while most of the people loaded up and left i took my kayak and paddled to a small dirt island and slide the kayak onto it, had a great day and caught several fish. So you can take a kayak almost any where (including over acres and acres of lily pads that most people wont fish).

A boat and a kayak are both great options, if you can afford have both.

[airshot]

Owned both at the same time...each has its advantages !!  Enjoyed my kayak but was much more work ...  The boat was much less work to go fishing or joyriding, but, there were times the kayak was great fun.  Bottom line here.....I still have my boat but the kayak is gone...

[VolFan]

I agree with airship on everything but I still have both. My boat is similar to yours but with a 20 hp. The boat gets way more use.

[Sasquatch]

I’m 6’4 and 290 and can walk up and down on my kayak it’s a nucanoe unlimited. Part of the fun is the competition and kayak tournaments are the simplest and cheapest point of entry. If that’s what you’re after then I’d say sell the boat and buy a premium kayak. There are a ton of them out there I’m partial to nucanoe. These days I trailer it back in and wet launch it with an xi3 and hit anchor and go park the truck and it waits on me. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.  

[Cody28]

5 hours ago, Woody B said:

Keep the boat.  Forget the tournaments.  Fish is supposed to be fun,  not some he man mines bigger than your contest.  Multiple times this year Kayak anglers have come up to my boat asking if I had any bass they can take pictures of.  

Jeez… shame doesn’t seem to be a thing anymore 

[Susky River Rat]

I have a question what are you looking to spend in a kayak?  If you are looking at dumping a whole bunch of money to make a kayak a boat then don’t do it. You could easily wrap up $6000 or more into it. I think the nucanoe someone stated above is $2700. What that that comes with I don’t know. I believe that’s just the hull itself.
 

I see serious fishing kayakers on the river all the time. They have more wrapped up in one sonar unit then I do in two on my boat.  Anytime you put things into a competition  people spend stupid amounts of money to be competitive.

[Cody28]

1 hour ago, Darnold335 said:

I have a question what are you looking to spend in a kayak?  If you are looking at dumping a whole bunch of money to make a kayak a boat then don’t do it. You could easily wrap up $6000 or more into it. I think the nucanoe someone stated above is $2700. What that that comes with I don’t know. I believe that’s just the hull itself.
 

I see serious fishing kayakers on the river all the time. They have more wrapped up in one sonar unit then I do in two on my boat.  Anytime you put things into a competition  people spend stupid amounts of money to be competitive.

I was thinking in the 3500 range when all said and done. Already have my electronics, yak attack rod holders, yak attack landing net, and most other needed accessories I use on the boat. 

[JMac603]

I have both. I have a Old town PDL kayak and love it. Great exercise, very stable, flip the pedal drive up and you have a discreet pee hole, plenty of space for a guy like me who normally brings 2-3 rods only anyway, and space for a crate behind you. Cons for me - takes you a while to get to a spot across the lake and I'm a big fella so I end up being a sail in the wind. I also have a 14' starcraft with a 15hp motor and a trolling motor, live well, and a depth finder. I like being able to bring someone with me, more space to move around and stand, and less workout. Cons for me on this - motor maintenance, registration, trailer maintenance and storage, and charging batteries. 

 

I love em both and am grateful to be able to have each option. 

[Koz]

A kayak is fun, but it's also a lot of work. If you get a kayak, get a pedal drive. It's much easier to fish out of.

 

I love my kayak, but what I find to be the biggest obstacle is the limited range. This becomes even more of an issue on very hot days.

 

An average pedaling speed over longer distances is going to be 2.8 - 3.2 mph. So if you want to fish a spot 3 miles away it's going to take you an hour just to get there, and it may tire you out.

 

I don't know how many times I've cruised around and fished a bunch of spots and either start to get worn out, get an alert of weather moving in, or just decide to wrap it up for the day only to find that I've got a 90+ minute jaunt back to my launch point. And it's all work to pedal back.

[gim]

2 hours ago, Cody28 said:

I was thinking in the 3500 range when all said and done. Already have my electronics, yak attack rod holders, yak attack landing net, and most other needed accessories I use on the boat. 

Being that it sounds like you already have some accessories for the yak, I'd go that route in the future if you want to enter competition.  Its obvious that you aren't going to start fishing in bass tournaments with that boat, so the only way to enter that foray is with a yak.  Keep the boat and buy the yak down the road.  Once you start using the yak, you might find limited or no use for the boat anymore and you could then subsequently sell that.

[casts_by_fly]

I think jmac summed it up best a couple posts up. Then the decision you make depends on your circumstances. If fishing tournaments is important to you then that will send you down one path. If you have fairly big or fairly small lakes then that’s another path. You’ll have to figure out what’s right for you but I can tell you about me.

 

I’m in a big kayak. I’ve posted before here why, but in short my wife didn’t want me to get a boat for some stupid reason so I went kayak and went with about the

’biggest’ one available.  I’m in an autopilot 120, pretty fully rigged. I don’t fish tournaments and have no interest in it but the boat could do it. We have a lot of smaller lakes here.  The two biggest are 2700 and 2200 acres but they aren’t that interesting for me to fish. Next down is 1200 acres and then we have a lot in the <300 acre range. We also have motor restrictions on most, either 9.9 hp or electric only. For the most part, a motorized kayak is great for me.  I’d like it to go faster (top speed 4 mph) for some of the lakes but it’s not critical. 
 

I stand to fish 100% of the time. This kayak is super stable. It will tilt to the side about 10-15 degrees and lock up. I stand to pee and put one foot on the gunwale unless it’s whitecaps. I’ve stood in wake boat waves and stood to motor across big coves at 4 mph. Since it has a motor (with spot lock and cruise control) it makes fishing and moving easy (maybe too easy since I should fish slower).  A pedal kayak would limit that a little but would be just as stable for the right one. 
 

in your budget range you could just about get a used bare bones autopilot.  You have electronics already so that would be alright. For a pedal kayak you have tons of options, new and used.

 

all that said, as much as I love my kayak and it’s really a fishing machine, I would swap to an aluminum if I could. Loading and unloading the kayak every trip gets old.  Not having good dry storage or excess storage is limiting. Sitting and standing are fine in the kayak, but you’re not going to walk around in it. The ideal boat for me would be a decked 15’ aluminum with a rod locker and dry boxes. On the front I’d still have a spot lock motor and on the back I’d have an electric 9.9. I might consider having a bigger tiller like a 35 for the couple lakes I could use it but it wouldn’t be necessary (more like if I found a used boat that had one I would keep it).  I’m not a tournament fisherman so speed isn’t critical but I’d like more than 4 mph. 

[volzfan59]

@Cody28, To each his own brother, do what is right for you. That said, years ago I sold my boats, I had two at the time. Took the money and paid off what debt I had in preparation for my retirement. Bought a yak and hated it, everything about it. I built a motor mount and hung a trolling motor off the back of it. Made a foot controlled cable steer mechanism, electronics, etc, still hated it. Sold it and the trailer and bought another boat, a semi-vee 16' jon that I converted to a bass jon. As I no longer fish tournaments or keep fish, I didn't worry with a live well.

 

If you want to fish tournaments, install a live well in your Jon, it's not complicated. @MN Fisher has an excellent build post about building his jon boat w/ a live well. There are tournaments that will allow you to compete in a jon with a live well.

[WRB]

If you have funds and space to store both your aluminum and kayak keep your boat and buy a kayak.

Tom

[Catt]

My personal preference ?