Thanks everyone, good advice for me to ponder.

Im at Drysdale area so if you are around give me a call and you can try my little yak and see what we mean about hmm how bad they are

I bought an Aquayak ranger 2nd hand for $400 which is 3.7m long. I don't even have wheels. I simply carry to the waters edge and simply take 2 rods and handline. Travel light on the yak now. Had a PA14 before that and was a great yak. I'd rate the ranger over any 10ft kayak.
If you are going to fish Campbells Cove a basic kayak is enough just don't go short. The offshore winds can be deceiving how strong they are and before you know it you are in serious trouble.

Thanks all,

will definitely take the advice on board - might be best to hold off for a bit to stretch the budget out to a second hand Outback and get it right first time.

cheers

Clint

Agree with above regarding a longer yak in the bay. You could try hunting down one of these, they are becoming harder to find though as they are on clearance.

clintos wrote:Thanks all,

will definitely take the advice on board - might be best to hold off for a bit to stretch the budget out to a second hand Outback and get it right first time.

cheers

Clint

Not a bad idea with the new outback released there should be a few post and many pre 2015 (2015 on came with the vantage seat), look on here, Gumtree and Facebook, but dont be in a hurry and ask lots of questions on what to lookout for.

Anything you find, post it here and get the best advice as to value for money and if it's a good deal good luck

Well the search continues... I've been looking at every pedal kayak on the market in Australia it seems! there are now quite a few options in the $1k - $2.5k range with the hobie mirage drive patent now expired/native clones etc. about. I'm a little tentative to mention any brands outside of Hobie or Native as one thing I've noticed on kayak fishing forums is people are strongly aligned/protective of brands and some of the comments can be quite negative, often without any first or even second hand knowledge/experience of other cheaper brands - makes it hard to really judge.

If I go Hobie I have decided the Compass is the best fit for me - weight is a big factor - if it's a hassle to load each time I know I will be less motivated and not get out there as much as I'd like to after spending so much. I do have concerns that it's such a bare bones yak where I would need to throw in additional $$ to get on the water with it.

Of the comments on this thread I'm still trying to get my head around - the need for large kayaks (over 3.5 meters min) even to only do inshore PPB fishing on calm days...

cheers!

The length isnt for when everything goes right, its for when things go wrong. Weather forecasts can be off and it only takes once.

Heck this happened recently to Reeling on this forum if I remember rightly, he was very relieved he was on his new ski and thought his revo would not be able to handle it (and he has the revo 13 which is pratically 4m long)

Hi Clint and welcome, the reason we suggest the longer kayaks is for a number of reasons, that include comfort and safety, l know myself the difference in handling and stability in my kayaks when I've increased the length, I've found the lenth helps to minimize the rocking and rolling motion when length ways to the swell.

Any of the hobie of whatever brand you choose that are 12 foot or above kayaks will suite ppb, wpb or corio, also offshore, but this all depends an what choice you make, mostly for use already in the sport length is mostly about safety, the make and model are personal preference for the style of fishing we do.

The thing about bays and even inshore lakes is the wavelength (the distance between caps) offshore the wavelength is often 30m+ while inshore it can really chop up with wavelength around 1m, it's this close wavelength that we recommend the longer kayak for safety reasons
Im no expert far from it and im sure others will think of more reasons and even explain it better.

As others have said length is not so important when things are going well (although the speed and efficiency of paddling a longer yak is always a bonus), it’s when things turn to S#!^ that a longer kayak matters. I’ve been caught out in rough weather 3 times now, all of those days were forecast to be <10 knot winds which turned out to be more like 30 knot winds. You can’t fish from a kayak in those conditions and I would have stayed at home if the forecast had been accurate, but it is always good to know that in the event of an unexpected or underestimated change in the weather you have a kayak that is capable of staying upright.


Don’t worry if people get super defensive about they’re favourite brand of kayak, there is no perfect yak and anyone getting too fired up about it is not worth listening to. That said, there are probably some good reasons to avoid the cheap hobie knock-offs. There are plenty of others though that have been making good quality kayaks for a long time like Perception and Jackson, the problem is hobie dominate the market and I haven’t heard from anyone using one of those other brands.

Don’t forget to look into S/H paddle yaks too, they’ll be cheaper and depending on what you’re doing not a huge step down from a peddle yak.