Is an inflatable fishing kayak a good idea??

[Severn Gary]

Hi Folks,

I'm a new member to this forum, and am planning on getting into kayak fishing. I live in Severn, so the Severn river, Patapsco, and across the Bay Bridge, Eastern Bay are likely target waters I'd like to fish with a kayak.

I don't have a fishing kayak yet, but am planning on buying one, and am interested in getting some ideas on what to buy. I'm not new to kayaking, I've had a 16' sea kayak for years, and I've hit all the local waters and some farther out waters (Tangier Sound/most Eastern Shore rivers/Adirondacks/Florida) with it, but it's too tipsy for serious fishing. I need to get a fishing kayak!

The main issue I am concerned about it weight. I want to get something light for easy loading in/on a vehicle. I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and I have a lot of experience loading my 60 pound sea kayak on the roof rack, and I want to get away from that with the fishing kayak. My back won't take but so much more of that lifting. I don't want to use a trailer either. I've seen a lot of great fishing kayaks, the Hobie brands, and several other brands, but they all seem to start at around 60 pounds or so.

I was thinking that maybe an inflatable fishing kayak would solve this problem. Does anyone know anything about them? Do they exist? Are they any good? Is this a bad idea? Anybody have a better suggestion?

Thanks,

Severn Gary

[clm]

I found one used. I love it.

[mweber02]

I've seen someone use an inflatable kayak once. It looked pretty slow on the water.
I personally wouldn't ever buy one but I don't have the need for something that light or compact.

What about modular kayaks? I've never looked into them but I'd imagine they are a much sturdier and faster option than inflatable.

[Severn Gary]

Thanks Mike and clm. I don't know anything about "modular" kayaks, I'll try to find out something on them. If need be, I'll pursue a regular fishing kayak, and have to come up with some way of dealing with getting it on the roof (I also have a Civic, which I also want to use for longer trips to save on gas $). Clm's "Hulavator" might be an option (although i doubt you could get one to work on a Civic), but that looks pretty pricey too. My thought is I don't want to dismiss an inflatable kayak solution if that is something that would work, because it would be a whole lot easier to load and unload. I have seen people at Tridelphia Reservoir inflating what look like pretty sophisticated kayaks for paddles there. I also know REI sells inflatables, and they tend to carry some pretty good quality stuff, but I haven't seen anyone with an inflatable fishing kayak.

Thanks,

Severn Gary

[Hemingway]

Take a look at the Hurricane line. I demo one last year. They weigh around 40 lbs., and as a result are super fast. There are a couple of things that keep me from pulling the trigger. First there are no drain holes under the seat, so in the bay you are going to be seating in water. Also, the material the boats are constructed with can not be drilled by the consumer for additional rigging, it must be done at the factory. I would say if you fish mostly freshwater, and are comfortable with the existing rigging options (which I believe you can customize if you place an order), they are hard to beat for weigh and preformance.

[J.A. Veil]

As a general rule, every boat is a compromise. You need to prioritize those things that are most important to you. Inflatable kayaks can get you on the water at a light weight.
They collapse for storage if that is an issue for you. They are likely to be more susceptible to pushing by the wind, making it difficult to hold position for casting. You don't want to puncture the skin with a hook point.

There are other small traditional kayaks that are lighter than 60 lbs. I have an excellent Native Manta Ray 11 that I use in the Severn. It weighs 56 lbs, is very comfortable, and is rigged with rod holders for fishing. Native discontinued the Manta Ray line last year, but you can probably find some of them left in dealer inventory at a discounted price. Native also sold the Redfish line, but no longer makes them. These are small and light (the Redfish 10 is 46 lbs) but have fewer features than the Manta Ray line. Some other major manufacturers have small, lightweight kayaks too.

If you really want to go to an extreme, consider the Native Ultimate Tegris. This kayak is no longer made either, but second-hand versions pop up for sale periodically. The Tegris is made of very strong and light bulletproof material. The hull weighs 36-37 lbs.

http://www.kayakfishingmagazine.net/...12-tegris.html.

[Turtle135]

Just a thought. Wilderness Systems no longer manufactures them but you may want to search around for a used Tarpon 120 UltraLite (I believe they weigh like 43 pounds). It is a sit-on-top kayak with the advantages of having scupper holes and I suspect it fishes and tracks just like the regular Tarpon 120 (and it would be faster).

http://www.kayakfishingmagazine.net/...ltralight.html

http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/show...html?prod=2659

[Severn Gary]

Thanks John and Dave. All good ideas, looks like this will take awhile to resolve! Money and budget is an issue too, so I may be looking for a solution on Craig's list, or some other used market. I guess if it was easy, I wouldn't be here looking for help! And it now appears, it won't be easy! Probably the best thing for me to do will be to attend some of the open houses that the kayak dealers offer this spring, and i'll start looking more closely at what is availabe, and what the weights and costs are.

Thaks,

Severn Gary

[hooked again]

I had the same concerns over weight and storage when I first started kayak fishing. So I bought a Sea Eagle inflatable - fortunately it had a 6 month money back feature that I took advantage of and returned it. The inflatable gets blown around a lot, and you wind up sitting very low (basically on the floor at water level) which makes it uncomfortable to fish from and paddle for any length of time. Plus it's a pain in the butt having to completely dry it off before folding and storing it. They tend to mold very easily if folded when wet.

I wound up with a Jackson kayak which wasn't very light. But the thing that worked for me in loading and unloading onto a car roof mount was a product by Thule that was pretty inexpensive. Using their square bar roof rack I added a Thule Outrigger II. Basically it's a bar that slides out of one of the roof rack bars and allows you to lift one end of the kayak onto the bar alongside the car, and then while that end of the kayak is in the air, lift the other side of the kayak onto the roof. It worked really well and allowed me to load and unload my kayak without getting a hernia.

I just looked on the Thule web site and didn't see that product listed, but I bought all my stuff on ebay or craiglist anyway. Ebay has a couple listed for $89 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Thule-847-Ou...e455de&vxp=mtr Good luck.

[Severn Gary]

Thanks Hooked again, that makes a LOT of sense. Great points. I will start looking in another, more conventional direction. The Thule Outrigger II looks really great also.