Yak shopping? Try before you buy

[This piece is one of a series, and first appeared in Texas Sporting Journal.]

In my last column, I said that paddlers these days have plenty of good choices when it comes to finding a boat they’ll enjoy. A quick look at the offerings from five leading U.S. manufacturers of plastic kayaks, and I see something on the order of 40 different models that could credibly be used for fishing.

Most are sit-on-top boats suitable for a wide range of recreational activities. A few are the more traditional decked models, also known as “sit-inside” boats.

Settling on the right boat for you is actually pretty straightforward – go out and paddle one, or two or a dozen. Retailers and manufacturers host “demo days” throughout the warm months in Texas, and most reputable sellers will always let you “try before you buy” any day of the week. Good retailers will insist on it.

Decide how you will use the boat most of the time: do you want to do long trips and carry lots of gear? Or are you more likely to throw the boat into the water on a moment’s notice for an hour or two of fishing?

The rule of thumb is that longer kayaks are generally faster and track straighter. Like all displacement hull forms, a kayak’s top speed is dictated by the length of its waterline.

Boats like the Malibu Extreme, Ocean Kayak’s Prowler 15, the Hobie Mirage Adventure and the Wilderness Systems Tarpon 160i lead the pack.

Shorter boats, especially boats with pronounced “rocker” – the curve in the bottom of the boat from bow to stern – are more agile and often are favored on Texas’ shallow and sometimes narrow streams.

The Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120 and 100 (12- and 10-feet long, respectively) are popular river boats. The Ocean Kayak Frenzy, at 9-feet, is popular with surf anglers who use the easily transportable, nimble boat to paddle baits beyond the third bar. The Scrambler XL and Drifter also are popular, smaller boats.

This spring sees the introduction of Malibu’s “Mini-X,” another 9-footer which has many freshwater anglers reaching for their wallets, judging by recent traffic on the kayak fishing message boards.

Shorter boats also fit better between the gunwale and console of a bay boat.

Many paddlers successfully navigate even the smallest rivers in “big” boats, and you won’t have to look hard to spot a 12- or 13-foot kayak on the coastal flats any given weekend.

For those who don’t want to commit to either end of the spectrum, a range of mid-sized boats – including the Ocean Kayak Prowler 13, Tarpon 140 and Hurricane Phoenix (also 14 feet long) – offer good, all-around functionality, but miss the high notes the longer and shorter boats can hit when used in their respective niches.

Some boats are particularly good for specific pursuits: the Malibu X-Factor, for precisely the reasons one might not want to use it for a 40-mile expedition, is an excellent fly fishing platform. Super stable, you can actually stand on the boat and sight-cast to fish with relative confidence.

Many of the Hobie models come equipped with the company's proprietary "Mirage drive," a pedal-gear-paddle configuration that works something like a penguin's wings. The Mirage drive really works and adds the option of a full-body workout or hands-free maneuverability.

Something else to think about when considering a kayak purchase is volume and weight. The volume of the boat (basically the amount of interior space) makes a difference in how dry you'll be in the seat and how much gear the boat can carry. Larger paddlers should consider higher-volume hulls.

Voume and length both translate into weight, not a big concern when in the water, but can you really lift the boat on and off your vehicle multiple times in a day? What about portages?

Stated weights on nearly all manufacturers’ web sites are for stripped-down hulls in geographic areas of low gravity.

The best advice on choosing a new kayak bears repeating: try before you buy. It won’t take you long to narrow-down your choices.

With so many capable models from which to choose, the differences in performance within a class (shorter boats, touring boats) of boats likely will be small. Take home the one you look best in.