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​The Big 3: Choosing The Right Kayak To Hunt Pelagics


Author: Tavis Kagawa

What Makes The Best Offshore Fishing Kayak?


With all the choices in the market today, it is a good time to be a kayak fisherman. While options are definitely a good thing, making the right choices for the right reasons can make your experience on the water a whole lot better.

For today's article I am going to focus on 3 major categories of kayaks styles. Within them there are even more options, but that is something we can talk about later.


What An Offshore Fishing Kayak Should Have


The requirements for a pelagic fishing kayak should include, a rudder system, be the sit-on-top style, and have an adequate amount of space for storage and upgrades. Technically, you can catch anything with any vessel on any given day, but in regards to functionality your kayak is best suited to have the aforementioned features.

Two of the categories involve paddle kayaks, and the third includes those that use a pedal system to propel the kayak.

Categories of Offshore Fishing Kayaks



#1 Plastic Paddle Kayaks 

Easily the most versatile and popular kayaks on the market, they come in all sorts of configurations with lots of options for fishing set-ups. As the industry standard, I really cannot think of any disadvantages to the category. Choosing the specific type of plastic paddle kayak is probably the bigger choice.

Advantages

  • Easy to customize

  • Largest amount of storage

  • Highly durable


#2 Fiberglass Kayaks 


This has always been a standard for water craft. Now that there are companies specializing in kayak fishing there are some great things to look forward to. Some of them include built in fish boxes and bait wells.

Advantages

  • Speed

  • Good modifications

  • Light weight

Disadvantages

  • Less friendly to rock/reef launches

  • Smaller foot well can result in more difficulty when lapping a fish in.


#3 Pedal Kayaks 


These seem to be all the rave today, with many boasting claims on leg muscles being a better muscle group to trek through the ocean over a long day of fishing.

Advantages

  • Mobility is less affected by wind

  • Hands Free fishing

Disadvantages

  • Less storage space than the other options

  • Not as fast as other premium kayaks

  • False sense of skill for beginners.


In the end I prefer a pedal kayak for the the listed advantages. Personally I split my time peddling and paddling throughout the day and I like the idea of having a back-up motor if something should go wrong.

In the end you you really can't go wrong and you should pick the kayak that suits you the best!


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