Anyone hunt or fish out of a kayak?

[Roundman]

I'm thinking of buying one for a little exercise and maybe for a little fishing. Anyone have a brand/style they like best? I don't know if I should be looking for a "set in" or "set on top". Tried doing some research on kayak forums and most of them go way overboard on everything.

[BigB]

This isn't exactly a kayak, but it is close.  I have a MoMarsh Fatboy DP and it has been great for me so far.  It has done exactly what I have needed it to do.  I have duck hunted out of it and have bow fished out of it.














I have a wireless trolling motor that moves me around pretty good.  It's not going to be the fastest thing in the water, but it is quiet getting to where you need to get to.  You can paddle it, but I wouldn't want to paddle it for a long ways.  I did paddle it a half mile once, when the battery quit in my remote.  Paddling is something that I will do if I have to, but will rely on the trolling motor to do most of the work.  When bowfishing, the bigger fish don't really drag the boat around too much, but they probably could if you wanted them too.

Holler if you have any questions.

Brian

[Hawks Feather]

There are some people that really like a Kayak and I have only tried them a couple of times, but I like a canoe much better.  I had a Coleman and it was O.K. but not really something that I wanted to use much.  They are about as much of an entry level as you can find and if you can pick up a used one it is all the better to try.  I have a Wenonah that I like pretty well for having fun, but if I were really looking to do much fishing out of one I would probably look more at their Fisherman model  http://www.wenonah.com/products/template/product_detail.php?IID=20&SID=c11581129cfbf76c94364d12857cdf60    If you plan to do casts and normal fishing type movement you want something that will give you some stability.  That being said, if you are talented (I am not) you can do those things from a "normal" canoe.  The Fisherman is not as agile as a narrower canoe, but you are not looking for speed in a fishing canoe. 

I don't know if there are any canoe dealers in your area where you can go and try them out, but if there is, DO IT.  It is remarkable the differences between makes and models.  The only two that I really know of that have more than a dozen or so canoes is Oak Orchard http://www.oakorchardcanoe.com/   and  Jersey Paddler  http://www.jerseypaddler.com/   Neither one is very close to you, but if nothing else you can get some ideas of prices of both new and used canoes. 

There are several decent makes (Bell, Mad River, Old Town, and Wenonah.  They are much like firearms and one person will love one while another doesn't.  I like Wenonah and my cousin loves Old Town - it just depends.  Royalex is the material that I like for a canoe that is going to get into rocks - rivers, etc.  Around here there is so much run-off from the fields that you can't see a rock that is three inches below the surface, but you can find them with a canoe.       The Royalex doesn't cut easily and tends to roll over the rock, in fact you can watch the indent from the rock continue from one end of the canoe to the other.  When the rock is past there is no indent left in the canoe.  Sometimes a scratch on the bottom, but nothing major.   If you want to drop more money and weight is an issue, look at the Kevlar hulls.  I like them too.

If you look at the specs on the canoes you will be able to tell the differences between the different types of canoes (white water {scary stuff to me}, streams and rivers, ocean, etc.  The white water need to be able to turn on a dime, but are more difficult to "control" while the stream models track much better but are slower to respond.  I looked and looked and looked at them and was never able to find "the one" that had everything I wanted.  So, I took the ones that had most of the things I wanted.

Jerry