HenryR

pretty clear there's a few ways to come at this problem and, not surprising, clear too that you're talking here, to the converted. i've got a small sit in kayak. have had it since this Christmas. II love it! Most people go sit-on but I want to fish through winter, nights in winter, actually. Sit-in is decidedly the warmer way to go. My boat's paddle powered too - I don;t mind that at all. So far, i've been exploring the Hawkesbury. mostly the quieter, often very, very small bits of water. A little boat is good for this. But, when conditions aren't too rough (wind and chop seem to be the big issue) getting out into Broken Bay has been fine. There's is a lot of info already out there in the intereweb. So, just a few things I didn't hear mentioned before I bought: Paddling gets you wet. I'm happy paddling, I kinda like it actually. But, I guess one of the really nice things about a Hobies and other peddle boats must be not throwing water up in to the air as you move around. If the wind's blowing the wrong way, you can get pretty damp on a long paddle. It is possible to be careful and not throw too much water around but if you like to paddle any distance, water is hard to avoid. You can read a lot online about how comfy seats are. I would say, if possible, a few seating options is a great thing. I sit in and out (as in on top of the boat, feet on the seat) of the cockpit of my boat, and I have a foam pad that raises the seat that I can also put on top of the boat as well . Gives me a range of different sits. I've yet to feel I needed to go ashore for a break from sitting. A good percent of the people I have talked to tell me that after a few hours they tend to go ashore for a bit of a break. When you try out boats, sit in, on and all around them, try crossing you legs, etc, etc... also really good is the option to stand up. In fact, it's a really, really, really good thing. Standing-casting is much nicer than sitting-casting. Especially if you're doing it all day. Some fishing - things like sandflats and working topwater lures - are massively improved by a decent view. I would add, I don't think your boat has to be super stable for this. Of course, this depends a lot on your balance, etc. I've fallen out once already. In summer, this was not a problem, as the weather cools, I'm being a bit more circumspect about choppy conditions and standing up! You really need to try a boat on the water to know how you're going to feel standing in it. Even then, you won't know exactly. My yak felt tippy when I first started standing in it, now, in calmer conditions, it's become very a comfortable, second-nature thing to do. Stability is good BUT so too is how well your boat travels. If you incline to exercise and/or exploring, I will bet you come up against the problem of how far, with how much effort, your boat will travel in how long. I don't fully understand it but, I think, kayaks have a kind of optimal cruising speed - easy to get your boat up to that speed but going beyond that requires exponentially more and more effort. It's like a speed cap. Short boats are slower, wide boats are slower, stable boats are wider ...... speed comes at the expense of stability but you want both. if you can, test paddle some boats and when you do, push them, paddle hard for a few minutes to find out just how much they resist. Following on from the above: if go for a paddle-powered boat and you don't mind exercise, a quality paddle is a very worthwhile investment. After an hour, the good behavior of a quality paddle adds up in to something very substantial. I think, also, if you're new to paddling, a paddle that allows both length and offset adjustments is the best way to go. The odds of getting a right size paddle, with optimum offset when you've never paddled before are slim. There's considerable interplay between how you paddle, offset and length. I've been experimenting since I got my boat - at least once a week for the last 4 months and I'm still figuring out a best combination for general paddling. On top of that, I find, in any one outing, I vary the length of my paddle by 4-5cms and the offset by 10-15deg, depending on how I'm sitting, weather, etc..... this probably is of little relevance but, if you're considering a sit in kayak, I think the cockpit size matters hugely. cockpit sizes differ plenty. The cockpit in my yak is extra large and so it works nicely for gear, rods, & me etc..... I think a small cockpit could be very awkward. I do wonder if the general preference for sit on comes as much from cockpit size

oop - and I meant to say the Lane Cove is relatively powerboat free and has enough bends to offer a good degree of wind protection. Both are nice things anytime but especially good when you're trying to concentrate on figuring other stuff out

totally agree with Krause, flathead are a great uncomplicated start. I'd add, generally (in my limited experience, that is), sandflats fish best on a runout tide. Depending on where you live: the Lane Cove River is an okay place to start hunting bream. Not Sydney's most glorious water but between Burns Bay Rd and Delhi Rd, they're not too hard to find Just don't eat anything fished from there, ick!

ahhh, 3km cool. what W4z said then. Alpaca make great little boats. They are light and super durable. Most of their models are matched to person size. They're made with white water in mind and ideally you should fit the boats you get a little bit like shoe. handle better if the person in them fits. Lots of info online. If you get tempted to take it down rapids or fast moving water of any sort, be aware that rapids are deceptively dangerous things. People die, very easily. Not recommended without instruction and practice first.

I agree with Bass assasin. Inflatables are great for small water - small, protected water. Better than hard boats in a lot of places because, as well as packing down, they can be awesomely light. You can lock them in the boot and leave them in the car too! If 3000m is not a typo (did you mean 3km, not 300m???), a hard plastic boat, even a light one, is going to be a real hassle if you have to carry it. You could trolley a hard boat 3km.... If you get a good inflatable, I don't think you need to worry overly about punctures. I've fished a lot from a raft, never had any leaks that weren't caused by dragging the boat over rocks on dry ground. Put all your gear in a dry bag and seal it with a lot of air to make sure it floats, carry a life jacket, and if something does happen to go wrong, you can rescue the situation well enough. Inflatables do not need to be a hassle to blow up. If you have the right sort of valve - screw on, or fixed - rafts, kayaks, lilos, etc... can be blown up with ease, in a matter of minutes using an open ended bag - search online for inflation bag, or pump bag. That said, inflatables are no good in wind, at least not the light ones. I gave up on trying to fish even slightly open water in an inflatable. Easier to sit on the shore. And, inflatables are painfully slow to paddle. Even if you have storage and carrying issues, I'd recommend thinking seriously about a short, light kayak for anything but very protected water. I have similar issues - almost no storage space. I ended up getting a 10', 18kg boat. I carry it up one flight of stairs and stow on top of some shelves in the house without too much trouble. It's great. I still use the raft for some stuff and much as it would be nice to have a longer, faster, more capable boat, 10foot of hard plastic is my storage limit, just going that far has opened 100 times the terrain I could access by raft. I'll pm you the couple of short light boats I came across while looking and a few thoughts on the one I bought

Hey 4wd, I see now you wrote Sunday. A lazy reader I am, I read Saturday, sorry. I would have been good for Sunday. Only, now, my car's broken down. Happened yesterday, with kayak on the roof. It's a whole new level of break down inconvenience. Car needed to go one direction (gear box, NRMA couldn't fix), the kayak another! Anyway, I'm carless for Easter When my car's better, I'm still keen to get out there before the season closes on bass. .... I pm'd you one of the spots I've been curious to go have a look at. Hope you have a great Easter.

you mean above the marina? I don't know about jewfish up there but you shouldn't have much trouble narrowing down spots to try. Most of that end of the river is very shallow.

Easter Sat - 27th? I can go then. If that's good, pm me and we'll work out details

Hey 4wd, Last week's next weekend obviously now out of the question (hope you managed to get out there) but if you're interested in chasing bass on some future next weekends, I'd be keen. Bought myself a kayak for Xmas, have been having great fun chasing bream and flathead around various Hawkesbury backwaters, all on my own. I've done some bass fishing in the past but very backcoutry stuff - multi-day walk ins - never from a kayak. I have been pondering a few kayaky bass possibilities. It'd be great to have some company.