Paddle or pedal kayak to start kayak fishing in Sydney

[lhan]

Hi raiders,

I'm considering getting a kayak for both recreational and fishing purpose. The main area I'll be using it would be upper Parramatta river (from hen and chicken bay up till Ermington) but I also want to be able to chase some pelagics in the harbour/middle harbour when it's time. The way I'm gonna transport it would be roof racks on my car (also I heard canada bay coucil allows people leave their dinghy near the water without charging a fee? I couldn't find any source but it seems the case last time I went to canada bay boat ramp). I have two questions:

1. What's the optimal length for this purpose? I see there's 2.4m/2.7m/3m/3.6m/4m common options. What would be the best length to remain stable while easy to load/unload.

2. Is pedal kayak always better? I'm a bit worried since areas I usually fish is pretty shallow. Also it seems a bit worrying if I want to leave the kayak near the water if it's a hobie. Also it seems a bit easy to break unless you're a good maintainer.

3. Is it a lot easier to target bigger fish using light gear on yak? I would love to only bring a setup for all if possible. For me it would be a pe0.6/0.8 ideally. But I also have a spheros from shore jigging gear I prob could keep it for pelagics on yak and get a shimano anthem kinda rod.

4. It seems shorter rod are preferred but will a 7'8 ft flats special ultralight rod usable on a kayak?

And thanks @DerekD for your article and many others contribute to the sites. Going thru them already answered many of my questions.

Thanks in advance!

Henry

[dirvin21]

If you plan to fish shallow areas disregard a pedal

Length wise atleast 2.7, probably a 3 or 3.3 to gish you a bit of versatility on the harbour

As for gear, I fish light and medium gear out of a kayak, yes you can land big fish on light geae but you also have limited stopping power and almost no leaverage from a yak

Try and avoid vertical fights with heavy gear as big fish are capable of flipping you

Try and keep rods under 7 foot, long rods are fine until you're trying to land a fish

Get a short handled environet unhook ALL fish in it before putting in yak with you, trust me on how bad trebles fly in a kayak

 

[slothparade]

 

I started on a kayak with a motor setup as I had multiple shoulder injuries, them moved to a Hobie revolution 13ft and recently picked up a Hobie outback as well. My electric motor powered seal mako is up for sale if your interested. 

Overall, would recommend either a kayak with a motor or a pedal kayak as the hands free fishing is so much more convenient. 

I like the Hobie outback, i find it a good compromise for stability and maneuverability. I'd suggest looking for something of those dimensions. The revolution is a bit on the skinny side and not the most stable thing, but is definitely more suited to offshore. Since your in bays, I'd look for something in the 11-12fr range as that will still enable you to fast but also have a good turning circle 

Kayaks aren't the easiest to lift onto a car, but as long as you have a smaller car you should be fine. 

Off the kayak, I use 5'6" rods 10-15kg with Penn slammer 6500 or Penn spinfisher 6500. They handle anything, just dial down the drag. Also the best part they are sealed so they last a while 

Edited July 30 by slothparade

[Restyle]

My first kayak was a baysports pedel pro or something. Decent kayak got the job done and didn’t cost a kidney. I soon after upgraded to a hobie pa 12. Extremely stable and comfortable to fish out of. I’d go the pedal drive for hand free fishing, ease of use. Another good thing with the hobie is you can go real shallow and do 1/4 pedals which keeps the pedal flaps right up against the hull while still moving you 

The biggest downfall with a kayak compared to a boat is in a kayak you generally fish in a area and sort of stuck to it as moving is a solid effort, whist in a boat if you don’t get much you fire up the motor and head somewhere else.

big fish from the kayak is possible. I’ve caught a 104cm Jew from one and there are various posts here about decent fish kayak based. You just need a net deep enough to land it.

Edited July 30 by Restyle

[slothparade]

11 hours ago, Restyle said:

My first kayak was a baysports pedel pro or something. Decent kayak got the job done and didn’t cost a kidney. I soon after upgraded to a hobie pa 12. Extremely stable and comfortable to fish out of. I’d go the pedal drive for hand free fishing, ease of use. Another good thing with the hobie is you can go real shallow and do 1/4 pedals which keeps the pedal flaps right up against the hull while still moving you 

The biggest downfall with a kayak compared to a boat is in a kayak you generally fish in a area and sort of stuck to it as moving is a solid effort, whist in a boat if you don’t get much you fire up the motor and head somewhere else.

big fish from the kayak is possible. I’ve caught a 104cm Jew from one and there are various posts here about decent fish kayak based. You just need a net deep enough to land it.

Great that you mentioned the fact that you can push the pedals forward and the fins tuck up. 

Also on the new hobies, they have these kick up fins that when you bump into something they fold backwards 

[Bennyg78]

17 hours ago, lhan said:

Hi raiders,

I'm considering getting a kayak for both recreational and fishing purpose. The main area I'll be using it would be upper Parramatta river (from hen and chicken bay up till Ermington) but I also want to be able to chase some pelagics in the harbour/middle harbour when it's time. The way I'm gonna transport it would be roof racks on my car (also I heard canada bay coucil allows people leave their dinghy near the water without charging a fee? I couldn't find any source but it seems the case last time I went to canada bay boat ramp). I have two questions:

1. What's the optimal length for this purpose? I see there's 2.4m/2.7m/3m/3.6m/4m common options. What would be the best length to remain stable while easy to load/unload.

2. Is pedal kayak always better? I'm a bit worried since areas I usually fish is pretty shallow. Also it seems a bit worrying if I want to leave the kayak near the water if it's a hobie. Also it seems a bit easy to break unless you're a good maintainer.

3. Is it a lot easier to target bigger fish using light gear on yak? I would love to only bring a setup for all if possible. For me it would be a pe0.6/0.8 ideally. But I also have a spheros from shore jigging gear I prob could keep it for pelagics on yak and get a shimano anthem kinda rod.

4. It seems shorter rod are preferred but will a 7'8 ft flats special ultralight rod usable on a kayak?

And thanks @DerekD for your article and many others contribute to the sites. Going thru them already answered many of my questions.

Thanks in advance!

Henry

1. What's the optimal length for this purpose? I see there's 2.4m/2.7m/3m/3.6m/4m common options. What would be the best length to remain stable while easy to load/unload.

I think 3.5 and over gives you good stability, but width usually matters. I have an outback and can stand and cast in it on calmer days.

2. Is pedal kayak always better? I'm a bit worried since areas I usually fish is pretty shallow. Also it seems a bit worrying if I want to leave the kayak near the water if it's a hobie. Also it seems a bit easy to break unless you're a good maintainer.

Pedal yaks are always better and you can fish shallow on the hobies. They cost more so I wouldn't leave it anywhere, most hobie models are easily car toppable except the Pro angler models and up. They are very sturdy as long as you look after them

3. Is it a lot easier to target bigger fish using light gear on yak? I would love to only bring a setup for all if possible. For me it would be a pe0.6/0.8 ideally. But I also have a spheros from shore jigging gear I prob could keep it for pelagics on yak and get a shimano anthem kinda rod.

I fish the bream comps so have mostly lighter gear on mine, in saying that I have landed a 65 cm salmon on it.

4. It seems shorter rod are preferred but will a 7'8 ft flats special ultralight rod usable on a kayak?

All lengths work, I mostly use rods between 7-8 ft for the comps. Some guys are using 9-10 ft rods for the casting distance.

Happy to talk more over PM