hawk45

I was able to get to a local shop today and look at a few kayaks and sit in them. No place to demo them though. I asked about demoing them and they said they haven't done a demo day in several months and none planned. I looked at the WS Ride 115X, Old Town Predator MX and a few others, but the Ride 115X is the one I'm leaning towards due to features and price. No final decisions made yet though.

Thanks everyone.. I'll check out the Columbia gear since ya'lls seem to like the quality.

Hi everyone. Been doing some kayak fishing trips with a few buddies recently and borrowing a kayak. I'm borrowing a Emotion Angler 11 sit-on-top. While I'm gracious my buddy lets me use his spare, it doesn't track at all and wears me out as I have to constantly be paddling. This also limits my fishing time as it's always going into spins as we drift. Short story long, I"m looking to invest in one of my own. Almost all of our trips are on small rivers that can get very shallow in spots, so the kayak has to be agile and buoyant with my 230lb 6'4" body plus gear (cooler, tackle, tent, spare clothes). We do long day trips that may cover 12-15 miles over a 10 hour day. The current kayak I'm using is killing me. I'd love to say I have $1200 to throw down on a kayak, but that would be a big stretch. I am a believer in buy once, cry once, so based on recommendations, I may have to wait to purchase something. I wish I could get out more, but I'd estimate 6 times this summer would probably be a stretch, just due to time. I've been on ACK but not sure what can fill all my needs for capacity, weight, comfort and maneuverability in shallow/windy rivers. Thanks for your assistance.

Hi guys, Got out on my first kayak fishing trip this weekend. My clothing choices sucked (t-shirts and cargos). Between paddling and wading my pants were pretty much wet all the time, even after being in direct sun large parts of the day. I know, cotton was the wrong choice here so need to get some nylon. Also need get a boonie and loose the baseball hat. Probably go with some SPF fabric b/c I did get some light sunburn on my chest that came through my cotton T-shirt. What do you guys prefer to wear when out on the water in mostly sun but when you are going to be wet most the day? Any brands you found you really like? Thanks, Hawk

Thanks everyone! Getting some gear together.. two spinning setups and a caster. Should get me going fairly well. Now on to kayak hunting..

Thanks brother. Yeah, this is freshwater Ohio/Indiana river/creek/lake fishing. If I win the lottery and get a second house on the ocean I'll get some dedicated saltwater gear.

Sweet! Thanks for the heads-up. I went ahead and picked up a 30 as a backup. Ordered a back-up MF Fenwick HMG 2 piece as a backup rod. I should be all set for the season. Much appreciated everyone.

Thanks everyone. I pulled the trigger on the Supreme over the XT. I'm going to use the extra money to put towards a backup setup.

I guess I should ask, is the XT worth the extra $30? I guess it's not that big a jump and quality gear is quality gear.

5:2:1 with retrieve rate of 25.2

Yep, it does.

Got out today with a buddy and got me all setup with tackle. I was able to try out a few rods/reels and am pretty set on a Pflueger which will be matched with a Fenwick HMG ML/F 6'9" rod for smallmouth bass. I plan on going with a 30, but want a 6:2:1 ratio, which rules out the standard President. This leaves me with the Supreme and President LE in the sub $100 price range . I can get the LE and standard Supreme for the same price since Pflueger has a $20 rebate for any reel over $99. The XT is nice too but $30 more, and not sure I'll see the benefits. It is good looking though. Which would you choose? Thanks for your input, loving all the references on here.

Looking at a few reels. Some have sealed drags and are more expensive. Is this something desired in a fresh water reel?

Ha! No, but that's the reason I have so little funds for fishing. :-)

Hi all, Always been a big outdoor guy but haven't done any fishing in a long time. I a big hunting/shooting guys and make knives for a hobby. A few of my buddies a big into fresh water fishing and feel like I've been missing out on good times. One guy does a few weekend kayak fishing trips on the smaller rivers here in Ohio as well as some shoreline lake/river fishing. The other guys is mostly a shoreline river/lake guy, who just moved into a house on a small lake. So I'm hear to get learned and to figure out what gear to pickup. Both of my buddies have given their input on gear. One guy is a "Shimano only" guy. The other guy is less into gear and just said pickup anything on the rack over $30. I've always been a gear guy, even though I know its the person on the end controlling the gear, I still know it's better to buy once and cry once than have 8 pieces of junk you regret getting. While I don't mind spending a bit of money, being new I don't want to drop $500 on a rod/reel, but maybe $200 - $250 combined. As I get experience I can always add/upgrade down the line and still have a nice, reliable backup rig. Anyway.. off to read more. Cheers, John