Looking for guidance

Pretty close to getting a good bass fishing kayak, just don’t know where to start. Can anyone give me some guidance, willing to spend potentially up to 3-4 grand for right set up.
Here is what I want in the rig and for it to do in no order
1. Big water and skinny water, I live in west Parker county so i have easy access to the brazos as well as PK, granbury, Squaw and Weatherford.
2. Would like to mount electronics eventually
3. Primarily largemouth fish, looking for a set up to hold rods vertically on the back?
4. Easy to transport, have a 1500 truck but it is a short bed

Been looking at natives and old towns but not sure what is considered “good” or “top of the line”

Thank you

I think you are on the the right path with either Old Town or Native.

Old Town 106 or 120 Sportman, paddle, peddle or autopilot.

Native , 10 or 12.5 , Slayer propel, Slayer Max or Titan.

All of these are stable, well built platforms that you can rig many ways.
Weight may be one of the main factors, I have a Sportsman 106 that I haul around in my pickup and really like it.

If you haven't already been I would check them out at Mountain Sports in Arlington, Mariner Sales or Anglers Pro Choice in N.Richland Hills.

These other threads at the top cover most of the topics you need to consider.

Like the Old towns myself. I have a Predator, now the Big Water. Great boat.

Now that is a big boat, unless you are large man you may not need all that.

Those other models mentioned may suit you better. My buddy has a TopWater by Old Town and its really sweet. You wont go wrong with an Old Town.

So the this how you want,,,I dont think a prop style kayak is going to be very good in skinny water. I'm not a pedal kayak guy or a bass guy but I'm of the opinion hobie has the best pedal options for skinny water. The flippers can go almost flat to the hull. The prop style drives require you to pick up the drive thus taking away your hands free propulsion. Hobie you can do real short strokes and still move in the shallows. If it were me and I was fishing the way your asking about I'd get a compass, outback or revolution. There are I'm sure lots of great options out there but that's what I'd look at.

I agree with Christian. I have the Hobie PA and my son has a Hobie Outback. They are not even close to being in the same category but I like them both for different reasons.

All and all, I think the Outback is the best all-around kayak (although I personally prefer the PA). The Outback is like the Leatherman Wave of kayaks (the multitool that all others are measured against).

Native, Old Town, Jackson, and some others also make good kayaks. However, as Christion said, I believe that Hobie makes a good kayak and the best drive system. Not only does it function in shallow/stumpy water, it's the most energy efficient because you "press" vs "cycle". This small energy savings is multiplied by a tens of thousands a day. It adds up and makes a big difference by the end of the day.

However, the brands you mention are like comparing Ford, GM and Dodge... We all have personal preferences, but they all make a good truck.

Even though I had paddled canoes and rubber rafts since I was a kid, I rented kayaks for a year before I ever bought one... tried out everything I could get my hands on in south florida where there were a lot of different brands and a lot of different type waters to fish...from super skinny to the deep blue sea... I wanted one that would work reasonably well in any conditions... I never even considered a hobie. I wanted something I could easily load and unload on a car, that paddled very well, and was less mechanical.. didn’t even want a rudder.

The last thing I wanted was a mechanical breakdown that would leave me stranded. The more I paddled, the more I wanted a performance paddling kayak... kayaks that I rented early on that seemed unstable, were actually very stable after I had more experience in them. To this day, I feel for someone in the under 200 lb range, that a 14 foot kayak, 28 inch beam is the best way to go for all types of fishing. Now you aren’t going to be comfortable trying to stand up in it to fish in anything but calm water, but for getting you home in the worst conditions, its a winner.

I guarantee when you get caught out in shallow water around stumps, in grass, in pads, or in the salt around coral heads and oyster bars, with the winds howling and waves pounding, your butt will want to be as low in the seat as possible. And there will be days that start off nice and end up a lot worse than you would intentionally go out in, or days that require you to go around open water that’s really bad to get to areas that are wind protected. Owning a kayak that caught a lot of wind from high seating position, was a deal breaker for me.

Loading a 70lb kayak is about as much as I want to lift these days... 90 is too much for me. You don’t see many 14’, 70 lb kayaks anymore.. but back when paddling performance was more important, they were everywhere. Lots of used ones still around if you look... Wilderness Systems Tarpon 140... 14 feet 28 inch beam.. Manta Ray 14, same specs.. you find you one of those for about 500 - 600 bucks and you are set for pretty much any kind of waters and conditions in my opinion.. oh, and if you are in the 200 and above weight range.. you might be pushing it for these kayaks with all your gear.










I can paddle right over these with a running start Floating timber too!

keep it simple.. lightweight plastic kayak, upgraded surf to summit seat if you need one, a good paddle, good rack for carrying on car or truck ... shallow water or deep, good conditions or bad... you got all conditions covered with one kayak.



Nothing better than the quiet and glide of a good paddling kayak

I do agree there is nothing better than a nice paddling kayak. I have vikings, wilderness tarpon 160 and a stealth fisha 500, all of those paddle like a dream. I can even stand in my tarpon. The vikings I could my 440 but the others have a sloped cockpit that makes it harder for me to stand. I don't even wanna pee in my stealth. Lol

the market changed when kayak bass fishing became more popular... the first kayak fishing tournaments 20+ years ago were mostly saltwater inshore.. Texas, Florida, and up in the North East..New York/New Jersey (Jamaica Bay)... didnt keep up as much with what was going on in California but they had their own deal going on as well. As there are more fishermen not near the ocean, the kayaks became designed more for fishing lakes and rivers and the kayaks kept getting shorter and fatter , just like the general population today.

I have certainly gotten fatter. Lol.

Whew! ! ! That’s a tough question to answer. And every response so far is spot on. A few questions ya gotta answer. 1. What type of fish do you wanna specifically target. 2. What type of water will you be in. ( you answered that, but as explained that makes it a bit tough as it certainly narrows down the choices.). 3. Do you want a 100% paddle or 100% peddle.

I fish for Crappie 95% of the time. So I got the PA14. A Large platform. I put a trolling motor on it with electronics.

Iconn4 is an absolute fishin’ warrior in his 100% paddle yak.

I Struggled HARD trying to decide between the PA14 and Outback. I wanted the Outback, but also wanted the larger platform. I went with larger.

I like the Titan X 12.5 that Greg Blanchard uses. Look him up on YouTube. If I had it to do all over again, maybe I’d seriously look at the Titan X.

As said before, it ALL comes down to personal preference. If you have availability to try a lot of them, that’s a good thing.

Thanks everyone, lot of good information. Once my newborn gets a little older I’m going to figure out something for the waters around me. Maybe this summer but maybe be this fall, who knows. But thank you!

Everyone has their opinion, as it should be! And all the questions and analysis here is spot on. I have been thinking about keeping the raft I have up for sale (in classifieds) BECAUSE it would carry a grandma I know and a grandkid of the very small variety with a lot of safety and ease. Super stable ... pontoon of the river.

ocean kayak prowler 13 ' 550.00

If that was a 15,,,,I'd jump on that!!! Such a great boat

^^^ what he said^^^ I own two; Jackson Cuda 12', and a Tarpon T130 and these are great because of their width; not too wide. Unfortunately, these new kayaks are heavy and wide for my usage. I think my next purchase will be a used Tarpon 140.

Everyone has their preference. I went through the same situation a couple of years ago when deciding what I wanted. I ended up buying a used 2021 Native Slayer Max 12.5. Last year, my wife decided she wanted a fishing kayak and we ended up getting her a new Hobie PA12 360. Both are great and each has its own set of pros and cons. I dove deep into the weeds when trying to decide on my first rig and made the usual mistakes everyone warned me about. The second go-around went a lot quicker and easier. Here are some suggestions based on what I learned. Hope it helps.

BUYING SUGGESTIONS
1. First, figure out what aspects are most important to you. Fishability/stability vs. ease of transport/storage, simplicity vs. adaptability, budget limits, etc. If you buy a 120-pound kayak that is a nightmare for you to transport and store, you won't use it. If you buy a small, lightweight kayak and try to carry 9 rods, 100 pounds of tackle, and try to rig a ton of electronics on it, you'll hate it and won't use it. If you spend way too much on the kayak and don't leave anything in the budget for rigging, it will look cool in the garage, but you probably won't use it. Figure out what fits your style first before you ever lock in to a certain brand or configuration.

2. Identify the "MUST-HAVE" features you need on your kayak so it fits your style, but try to keep an open mind. I think you should only have one, maybe two "must-have" features on your list. When you first start out, you don't know jack [censored] about fishing kayaks or all of the options out there. But you do know how YOU fish and how YOU are going to use it, but that's all you know. For me, I was 100% sure I wanted a pedal kayak. I wanted the ability to have my hands free while fishing and still be mobile. I was also pretty set on having instant-reverse because I always fish docks and the heaviest cover I can find. I didn't rule out other options, but it was the best solution I found for horsing fish out from under docks, without getting pulled into or under the dock in the process. This narrowed my search tremendously since that only left prop-style drives. I weighed the pros and cons of prop drives and decided it was the way to go. For some reason, I feel the need to carry a lot of gear/tackle with me all the time, no matter what. Not sure why, but that's just how I am. This made weight ratings and good storage options a determining factor as well.

3. Identify all the makes/models that check your "MUST-HAVE" boxes and demo them however you can. Dealer demo days, borrow, rent, whatever. Do what you can to test as many as possible. Pay attention to the little things. Fit and finish, replacement part availability, rigging options/adaptability, maneuverability in situations you will be using it in, etc. It is the hardest thing in the world to make yourself not buy the first one you jump in, but seriously it's worth it. Side note, you aren't going to feel 100% stable in any of them if you've never used a kayak. Just pay attention to how stable each one feels for you, and then try to compare the feel and decide from there. You'll get used to it and more confident in standing up/moving after a while.

4. Once you've figured out which kayak is the one for you, decide whether you want to buy it new or used. Consider the cost of repairs vs. the warranty on a new one and whether you have the patience to wait for a good, used one to become available or not.

5. Congrats! You are now the proud owner of a sweet fishing kayak. Now the fun begins! For the love of all things holy, DO NOT immediately start buying every accessory, gizmo, and gadget that fits on the sweet new revolutionary rail system that's on your new boat. You will waste a lot of money, deal with an unnecessary number of headaches trying to rig EVERYTHING, and end up with a pile of unused stuff. Ask me how I know... Instead, just buy the bare necessities and go fishing! As you use it, make a list of issues you run into that you want to fix or improvements you want to make. Then, explore all the options available that will solve the issue. Make sure each item you're considering works with other items on your rig and that it all fits where you need it to. For example, my Native Landing Gear is handy and is a must-have in most places I fish, but it's ALWAYS in my way. It makes rigging an anchor wizard, storing my paddle, storing rods, using grab handles, storing the kayak, etc. all more difficult, but I have to have it. If you don't NEED something, don't put it on there. (This goes for stickers too. My wife's new nicknames are "Stickers" and "Showboat". ) But seriously, you won't know what you NEED until you've used your new rig enough to figure it out.

Good luck with everything and enjoy it!

Congrats and good luck on the new baby also. Fishing is cool but seeing your kids experience it early on is a pretty amazing feeling. Here’s my oldest son giving his approval of my purchase shortly after I bought my Native.

A fantastic point! I was the baby in a canoe and kayak way early. Started in the early 80's and now I'm old and still love it. I've always been super thankful my dad took me out and showed me how to do it. It's been a lifetime of amazing experiences that can never be replaced. My son also started a few weeks after birth.