I sold my bass boat to a client in 2019 because for 1) I'm scared of speed on the water and a big boat and engine was silly of me and 2) I got tired of all the hassle, etc of getting the boat to the water and everything that goes with. That same year I got REALLY involved in Kayak bass tournaments and love doing it. I even sponsor part of KBF. Wound up repossessing that boat about 2 mos ago so now I have a boat again that I'll probably resell because I have no desire to boat fish anymore.

 

I just took time out of tax season to fish the season opener this past weekend. Tax season is very taxing (no pun intended) and it was a comedy of errors. First off I realized the night before that my license expired on Friday night so I had to reup. I'm exhausted from tax season and over slept. Had unplugged lithiums over winter and plugged them in the night before and forgot to flip the switch to charge. Luckily never went below 12.9V all weekend.

 

Here's where I have to make changes - granted I've really gotten into these tournaments and enjoy it but I've decked this Hobie out to the point that it's starting to become a hassle like a boat. Two big graphs, micro anchor, 8 rods, lots of tackle, trailer because it's too big to lift anymore and just gadgets everywhere. I LOVE kayak fishing and it suits my style of fishing plus I could live in a coccoon and love being in a "pod" with everything at arms length.

 

What I DO NOT like is clutter and hassle and that's what I've created. I'll probably have to fish this next tournament the same and when tax season is over I'm going to step back and severely downgrade and remove a bunch of stuff. Just don't know what yet because I pretty much use everything on it.

I smell what you’re stepping in, everything I use is bare bones. I’ve got two motor boats, one has a hand operated trolling motor and the other has oars and oar locks. My canoe and kayaks have nothing but a paddle and sometimes an anchor. The gadgets and gizmos just ain’t for me 

To each his own.  If I couldn’t have a bass boat that runs fast and has lots of storage I would quit fishing and go back to golf.

I completely understand the desire to simplify.  I used to double up each rod tube and pack so much tackle on my boat that I barely had room for my lunch.  No longer.  Max of 8 rods and I leave more than half the tackle I used to take at home.  It's much more relaxing!  I didn't realize how much I was pressuring myself while fishing.  I'm much less about the "catching is success" and more about the "going fishing is success".  Ironically, I'm definitely catching better fish than I used to.  Maybe a few less (maybe not), but much bigger bass and I've even branched out to other species.  I say go for it.  Cut out the fat.  

I did the kayak fishing for 2 years and find the bass boat much simpler and more efficient.

The heaviest thing I pick up now is.....a fish.

And this is coming from someone who fishes a lot of electric only lakes.

4 hours ago, Jig Man said:

If I couldn’t have a bass boat that runs fast and has lots of storage I would quit fishing and go back to golf.

 

Don't think I'll ever go back to horse billiards and this is coming from a 3 year varsity letter winner that was close to a scratch golfer.

I have mad respect for kayak fishermen. That is hard work. @dickenscpa sometimes simplifying is the answer. Strength to you through the tax season, that's VERY hard work!

 

Good luck with your kayak / boat decisions going forward. 

I have both. I have a 19 foot stratos fish and ski and a 13.5 Native Titan. I fished out of the titan for years until I bought the boat. A boat is easier for me being a disabled vet. after 20 years in and being associated with the military as a contractor, I have too many injuries from serving where it is getting hard to spend a full day on the kayak. I have outfitted my boat to make things as easy as possible to launch and recover my boat. To be honest with you it is much more of a hassle to go fishing with my kayak than it is with a boat. Less expensive yes but alot more hassle. I'll just spend a few extra dollars and take the boat and my body thanks me for it.

43 minutes ago, IYAOYAS said:

I have both. I have a 19 foot stratos fish and ski and a 13.5 Native Titan. I fished out of the titan for years until I bought the boat. A boat is easier for me being a disabled vet. after 20 years in and being associated with the military as a contractor, I have too many injuries from serving where it is getting hard to spend a full day on the kayak. I have outfitted my boat to make things as easy as possible to launch and recover my boat. To be honest with you it is much more of a hassle to go fishing with my kayak than it is with a boat. Less expensive yes but alot more hassle. I'll just spend a few extra dollars and take the boat and my body thanks me for it.

Thank you for your service…

10 hours ago, gim said:

 

Don't think I'll ever go back to horse billiards and this is coming from a 3 year varsity letter winner that was close to a scratch golfer.

Each to his own. I enjoy both and in my neck of the woods some big girls reside on some beautiful golf courses.

Up until last year I kayak fished in rivers, always downhill and have a boat for places I can fish comfortably.  The most rods I took in the kayak were 2 with all my tackle in my PFD.  Launching and retrieving the boat aren't a problem, it's walking to the parking lot and back for me.

I take less rods if I pleasure fish and when I say this I'm not poo pooing on tournaments because I love doing them and part of a great little trail, but when lines in is at 6:30AM and lines out is 2:30PM, it sounds like a long time but if you don't get lucky and just launch on some fish, you spend quite a while looking. I like having different rods ready with different baits. Staring at a screen all day has done no favors for the eyesight so retying as little as possible helps.

 

One thing I'm trying to do this year I've been too reluctant (lazy) to do is change ramps. In prior years I've been reluctant that if I get to a ramp and the water is dead, I wouldn't pack up and move to a different ramp. I'd just slog around catching nothing. Partly because I had so much crap I didn't want to load up just to go somewhere else and unload again.

 

I'm up at 2:30 every morning and hit the gym and at the office by 4ish every day. Sometimes I have trouble sleeping and that happened the other night so I went to the garage and took a lot off the boat and rearranged, we'll see how this goes.

 

I may launch the boat every so often to graph and look for fish before a tournament but I doubt I'll go back to a boat. I'm so leery about a breakdown and scared of speed on the water my range isn't much different between a boat and a kayak. 

I’ve owned many boats from deep v’s, cruisers and sparkley bass boats, then it became too much.  I went boatless for a few years before I decided on getting into kayak fishing. Went all in with an Autopilot 120 rigged to the max's, then it quickly became too much, and I sold it. However I do enjoy fishing in the kayak tournament events…….

 

Now I’m in a 13’ Sportspal canoe with a 55# trolling motor. I started with way too much clutter in the canoe by trying to have everything possible within arms reach like my kayak and too many gear options. Just recently I decided, as you have to go back to minimal fishing, small tackle bag, 4 rods, portable depth finder, motor and of course the paddle.

 

It’s become much more liberating. A little can be a lot, if you let it, or just enough.

I kept my bass boat when I got into kayak fishing back in 2015.  I just got a new BigRig a couple months ago and plan on fishing 6-8 tournaments this year out of it.  I have it rigged pretty much to the max- Newport NK300, Humminbird Explore 10 with MegaLive2 and SI/DI transducer and 10 rod capacity.  I enjoy kayak tournaments and the people much better than the bass boat tournaments with people who take themselves WAY too seriously.  I crappie fish out of my bass boat and when I need to hit a close by big lake, but towing a lightweight kayak trailer is hella cheaper than towing a bass boat long distance.  

On 3/31/2025 at 3:20 PM, TnRiver46 said:

My canoe and kayaks have nothing but a paddle and sometimes an anchor.

 

I don't even bother with an anchor, but you fish more current than me.

 

On 3/31/2025 at 3:20 PM, TnRiver46 said:

The gadgets and gizmos just ain’t for me 

 

We both do pretty well without them, eh?

 

On 3/31/2025 at 1:27 PM, dickenscpa said:

Just don't know what yet because I pretty much use everything on it.

 

If you listed all your gadgets, we'd be better positioned to advise you...IF you're looking for advice. 

 

Regarding electronics, by not looking at a screen, I'm free to see bass chasing bait...and I see a lot of that. 

On 4/4/2025 at 8:46 PM, Swamp Girl said:

 

I don't even bother with an anchor, but you fish more current than me.

 

 

We both do pretty well without them, eh?

 

 

If you listed all your gadgets, we'd be better positioned to advise you...IF you're looking for advice. 

 

Regarding electronics, by not looking at a screen, I'm free to see bass chasing bait...and I see a lot of that. 

Unfortunately the two main lakes we fish around here aren't stellar by any means. I don't see a lot of bait chasing and seeing bedded fish in this chocolate milk is almost impossible. Old Hickory is a big Cumberland River lake that is pretty well known but the Elites never come here anymore.

 

I think the last time the Elites came here was 2008. It was supposed to be in Memphis in the MS River and there was a flood and they moved it to Old Hickory. If I remember correctly like 40#/4 day weight won it. A 2# bass here is a treasure, LOL!

 

As far as gadgets I have a 9" and 7" Garmin in front of my pedals on a Hobie crossbar. To be honest the graphs are pretty much out of the way and the least of my concerns. The wires go into the rod tubes and thru the hull to my Lithium in the hatch under the seat.

 

I have the full size Hobie crate and a Hobie crate jr behind the seat with my Plano boxes and all my tackle fit in those. Each crate has 4 built in rod holders so all my rods are in those as well.

 

On the back I have a Yakgadget anchor pole and the line comes up to the front to a Sidewinder to pull it up and down.

 

I have that Hobie tray on the right H-rail that has my scissors, pliers, a can of reel magic and those scented magic markers. It hangs on the outside of the boat.

 

I have a mount for my Ketch board on the right and the stock rod holder in the hull holds my net and I have a donkey leash connected to the left side.

 

That's about it other than a cup holder.

@dickenscpa: I'm going to defer, advise-wise, to the anglers who paddle from kayaks, other than this: I don't fish with any anchor and do fine. Perhaps you could eliminate your anchor pole.

7 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

@dickenscpa: I'm going to defer, advise-wise, to the anglers who paddle from kayaks, other than this: I don't fish with any anchor and do fine. Perhaps you could eliminate your anchor pole.

I don't use the anchor pole unless I'm in a tournament. So much wind and current here you can't set up on a spot and fish while having to stay on your pedals, etc to hold position. I also leave one crate in the Jeep and only carry 4 rods if I'm fun fishing. Old Hickory has a dam and a steam plant with generators so even if there's no wind there's always a strong pull.

 

One thing I have not done is add a motor. One of the things I like about kayak fishing is the exercise. I probably put 130-150 miles per week on a bicycle and try to do 2 centuries per year (100 miles in one day) so no longer than a tournament is I could go full bore all day and that's only really needed to get to the first spot if it's far and back to the ramp. So I've never seen a need for a motor. If I ever got to the point of a motor on my kayak, I'd probably sell it and go back to my 21' bass boat.