i get questions coming in from you guys every day asking me what type of kayak should i buy what do
you think about this kite what do you think about that guy and to be completely honest with you i
haven't even laid eyes on most of the kayaks you guys are thinking about buying but there's
definitely some wisdom to look out for so you don't have dropping a bunch of cash on a piece
of crap that you don't like in a month so i'm gonna skip over begging you for the subs and
likes you know how youtube works and we're gonna jump into the countdown starting with number four
believing bad logic and here's what i mean when i first made the transition from a bank fisherman
to a kayak fisherman i had this thought come to my mind what if i start out with a really cheap kayak
and if i really like the sport i'll buy a more expensive one later and in my opinion that's bad
logic because if you buy a cheap fishing kayak i guarantee you you're not going to like it and
fishing from it's going to be a bear and you'll end up begging someone on facebook marketplace
to buy it but they won't because they already watch this video and you'll be stuck with it
at the end of the day they both might float but there's a reason that one is more expensive than
the other and what will end up happening is that you actually be trading a lot for a little bit of
saved dollars i got four biggies for you here number one is maintenance cost you will end
up spending more on that deal you got because it wasn't quality and you will continually be
shelling over cash about whatever it is that goes wrong in that kayak because it wasn't designed to
last that long number two is cheap materials and what you thought was a little rub on that rock and
the water is actually now a tear in your kayak because it was made with the cheapest materials
possible and that kayak is as thin as possible number three is poor design which really means
poor maneuver building it's gonna take you much more energy in order to get that fishing kayak
where you want it to go why is my kayak tracking like a snake number four is comfort if you haven't
ever fished out of a cheap kayak well let me tell you something it sucks your legs are gonna end up
falling asleep your back's gonna be in knots and your butt's gonna be sore and that may not have
been a big deal for me 10 20 years ago when i was a spring chicken but now i'm a winter chicken i
don't know if that's even a thing but i'm tired now as you can see behind me i have my native
slayer propel 10 which is my fishing kayak and hanging up here i have my aruba 10 sun dolphin
which i honestly don't care a whole lot about as you can tell from this video with my kids
i love being a girl dad are there any other girl dads out there let me know in the comments below
are moving on so back to my point i'm going to start out with something cheaper and then if i
like fishing from it upgrade to something better sounds like a good idea but actually putting
yourself at a disadvantage because fishing from cheap kayaks sucks there i said it moving on to
number three not trying before you buy now i've touched on this in some of my other videos because
the reality is it's very difficult to find a big box store that's going to allow you to try that
kayak before you buy so this piece of advice is going to be a little more difficult to follow so
if you put in the extra work you're going to be much more happier with your purchase
you're not going to be able to try before you buy at your walmart your costco your dick's sporting
goods your big box stores there are some companies like rei that have a pretty liberal return policy
i think their return policy is i don't like it and they'll take it back but you won't get your
money back but you will get a store credit so keep that in mind which really only leaves you
with one final option which are going to be your local shops but this might be a route you want
to take because these local shops are going to be able to give you that one-on-one attention be able
to size you to the kayak share the pros and cons of all the fishing kayaks and most of the time be
able to afford you some type of try before you buy option now if you do ask your local shop and they
say hey we don't have any type of try before you buy my follow-up question would be hey do you have
some type of demo days and if you're lucky there's one actually on the horizon and you'll be able to
try out a smorgasbord of kayaks and get the one that's perfect for you now i was going to touch on
buying used however that's a whole another video i'm creating which is the complete buyer's guide
to purchasing a used fishing kayak so if you want to see that hit that southern bell only
be coming out in a few weeks moving on mistake number two one size does not fit all now the
average size of a fishing kayak is around 10 feet long but just like being sized for a bike
there's a lot of things to take consideration before purchasing a fishing kayak here's some
things to consider number one weight capacity there's a couple different ways to figure this
out but the way that i like is simply find the manufacturer's weight capacity once you find that
number now reduce it by around 30 percent and now add up your kayak all the stuff you're gonna put
on it including yourself and if you come in below that number you're typically good to go now if you
think i don't know what i'm talking about and you think i'm a complete idiot and don't follow this
what you'll end up getting yourself into is you're gonna have a harder time paddling that
kayak it's gonna have horrible maneuverability and stability and like anything if there's too
much weight on something that floats it's gonna be much easier to capsize most fishing kayaks are
anywhere between 10 and 14 feet long man 14 foot or so that's a super long kayak probably super
heavy but they're also around 42 inches wide my native slayer propelled tan has a pontoon
shaped haul which i really appreciate especially because i like to stand a lot which brings me to
stability and your stability has a ton to do with how your hull is shaped there's actually around 10
to 14 different types of hull shapes next before you buy your kayak be thinking about all of your
storage needs is there a place for a behind the seat backpack is there a place for a kayak crate
behind the seat is there room for under the seat storage think through all these options before you
buy it or you might be sorry when you get home next once you bought the thing where are you
actually going to store it outside is a bad idea uv rays will destroy that kayak fade the colors
and actually make the kayak more brittle because uvs break down the structure of the kayak over
time highly recommend storing those indoors out of the sun and as you can see here i actually have a
a hoist so if you're interested in how i did that i actually have a video on it i'll put it in
the description below next is portability you're going to have this fishing kayak on the lake all
the time where you're going to be lifting it and taking it from pond to pond to pond you're
going to be taking it everywhere you go i would invest in some landing gear i know that some of
those 14 foot kayaks fully loaded can be around 120 pounds so think that through as well when
you're purchasing a kayak next you'll probably have to think through whether or not you just
want a paddle powered kayak or a pedal power kayak and to be honest with you i would not do
any more fishing in a paddle-powered kayak guys i was out yesterday doing some spring bass fishing
i got five of them here's a picture of the biggest one i caught and it was so windy i would not have
been able to been out on the water if i had a paddle-powered kayak so if you like fishing
and don't mind a little wind you're going to want to have a hands-free fishing experience
the way that i see it is that you can't be fishing if your hands are on the paddle so you're simply
increasing your chances of catching more fish also you look at it if you plan on modifying it
game out your modifications are you putting a fish finder are you going to have a battery how are you
going to run those lights are you capturing film how are you going to get that all set
up are you going to have the transducer in the hole you're going to have a transducer arm all
things you should be thinking about so you're super happy with your purchase next i think
through your steering obviously if you have a paddle powered you're going to be doing that
yourself but a lot of the higher end phishing kayaks can have steering cables which you have
a little multi-directional handle right off your seat those things are really nice as you can see
one size does not fit also be really good for you to think through this list so you're much happier
with your investment all right if you're tracking with you getting value please tell me i'll hit
that like button and we're going to move into the final kayak fishing buying mistake thinking that
kayaks are a much cheaper alternative to boats guys and girls i was blown away when i started
pricing out fishing kayaks when i got into this years ago my polyethylene native slayer propel
10 if you were to buy it new right now is over 2 000 when you start adding all the fishing gear the
mods the fish finders the trailers some of these bundles on facebook marketplace can run between
four and eight thousand some of your hobie pro anglers are five thousand dollars and that's
just the kayak you can buy a fairly nice bass boat with an engine for that much money so be
prepared for the sticker shock the reason i got a kayak over a boat because i didn't want to mess
with the engine i didn't mess with the gas the oil with the winterization i love fishing where
no boats are able to go and to be honest with you i love kayak fishing because it's a slower way
of fishing and it forces me to fish places that i would never fish otherwise if you like this video
i got another one for you nine iconic fishing mistakes i made and you should avoid right there