2010 Fishing Kayak Buyer's Guide
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Advanced Elements
( 3 Articles )
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Aire
( 2 Articles )
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Bic Sport Kayaks
( 4 Articles )
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Chesapeake Light Craft
( 10 Articles )
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ClearWater Design
( 1 Article )
 With a factory located steps from Lake Ontario's bay of Quinte, the owners of Canada's ClearWater Design do their best thinking while on the water. "Our designs are guided by what strikes us when we're out paddling. We like to joke that the water is our boardroom," a company spokesperson says.
A family business, ClearWater Design strives to produce "friendly" boats-fun, accessible, durable and affordable roto-molded kayaks and canoes that accommodate every paddling interest and experience level.
As befits the company's northern latitude, ClearWater's most popular fishing craft is the inuvik, a stable recreational sit-inside offering veritable acres of cockpit room. When it's cold or rough out, paddlers who break out a spray skirt remain warm and cozy.
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Cobra Kayaks
( 11 Articles )
 Based 15 minutes from the beach in Gardena, California, Cobra Kayaks got its start in watersports long before its moniker included the word kayak. Founder Warren Aitken earned his roto-molding chops making boards for the windsurfing craze 35 years ago. When the fad died, he turned his plastics expertise over to kayaks and hasn’t looked back, producing the Cobra’s flagship fishing kayaks, the Fish ‘N Dive, back in the early ‘90s a dozen years before most of us had put the words fish and kayak in the same sentence.
Cobra Kayaks now ships kayaks worldwide from its U.S. and new Zealand factories but maintains the feel of a small, family company with Warren and Glenys Aitken in the cockpit. Anglers appreciate Cobra’s Kayaks’ value, quality, ruggedness and reparability. Every boat is warranted for life. “We are known for excellent customer service and standing behind our product,” says Glenys. For 2009 Cobra introduces a new expedition-worthy fishing kayak, the pro fisherman.
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Crescent Kayaks
( 1 Article )
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Crow Wing Kayaks
( 2 Articles )
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Delta Kayaks
( 1 Article )
 British Columbia-based Delta Kayaks brings a northwest sensibility to its designs. This relative newcomer hit the water in 2005 with a 25-year head start in custom thermoforming. The company’s advanced manufacturing techniques allow for the use of high-impact, lightweight plastics, resulting in boats that are as beautiful to behold at as they are to use, true lookers flashing a gorgeous, high-gloss sheen.
Until now known for dependable, high-volume sea kayaks boasting dry rides, the company will break ground in spring 2009 with the launch of its first fishing model. The intriguing catfish is a cat of another color. Delta’s mark hall calls it “the biggest thing in kayaking to hit the water in a while.” It’s a sit-on-top catamaran designed for stability, speed, and stealth. The twin hull makes it narrower and faster than a traditional sit-on-top, yet stable, with an optional hidden rudder between the hulls and a polycarbonate viewing port.
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Emotion Kayaks
( 4 Articles )
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Feelfree Kayak
( 2 Articles )
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Flatstalker
( 1 Article )
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Freedom Hawk Kayaks
( 2 Articles )
 In the world of fishing kayaks, Freedom Hawk is a standout. Why? The company’s single product, the namesake Freedom 14, is built from the keel up to heighten an angler’s perspective. That’s right, designer Dave Cameron’s boats are some of the first meant specifically for standup-style kayak fishing. They feature a distinctive split tail that transforms quickly into a pair of rigid outriggers, adding tremendous stability. Pull a pair of levers and you’ve got “standable confidence” in the words of company spokesman David Hadden.
Somewhat heavy and expensive when introduced in 2006, freedom hawk has spent the intervening years beefing up the design and improving mechanics, all while shaving pounds and dollars. The resulting one-of-a-kind craft gives anglers the altitude to spot tailing redfish or skittish bonefish in skinny water. As Hadden points out, “it’s easier to catch fish when you can see them.”
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Folbot
( 2 Articles )
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Heritage Kayaks
( 2 Articles )
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Hobie
( 7 Articles )
 The name Hobie conjures up images of sun, sand and surf—in short, the essential elements of fun on the water. Long known for shattering conventional thinking in surfing and sailing, the southern california company devotes the same inventive spirit to its kayak lineup, most famously with the Miragedrive™. First introduced in 1997, the pedal-powered replacement for the paddle revolutionized the sport. with that stroke of genius, anyone comfortable riding a bicycle could hop
right on a hobie and immediately enjoy the on-water experience. Anglers quickly caught on to the advantages of hands-free kayaking. One in particular, NFL Hall of Fame tight end Jackie Smith, suggested adding molded-in rod holders to the then-new outback. Hobie’s clever designers adopted the idea (Smith’s towering stature commands attention), using it as the foundation for a full-fledged series of fishy boats and accessories. Hobie’s contemporary crop of fishing kayaks is so competent, freshwater bass fishing legend Hank Parker gave them his enthusiastic stamp of approval in 2003. Parker says Hobie’s pedal-drive
kayaks are “waking up” fishing, allowing anglers to explore virgin water where “fish have never seen
a lure.”
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Innova
( 1 Article )
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Jackson Kayak
( 1 Article )
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Liquidlogic Kayaks
( 2 Articles )
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Mad River Canoe
( 2 Articles )
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Malibu Kayaks
( 8 Articles )
 Malibu Kayaks has earned worldwide popularity for its quality, performance, and weight capacity. The Pro 2 Tandem, Extreme, Pro Explorer, X-Factor and the Mini-X are the designs that helped build this well deserved reputation. In 2008 the performance-minded X-13 was introduced and for 2009, the Stealth Series is being introduced with the patented “CBTS” hatches. For many years people have asked for a bait tank storage system that is in the middle of the kayak between their legs. This is the first of its kind, a casting platform and a bait tank system that doesn’t require the painful task of priming the pump and you don’t have to strain yourself reaching behind you to get your bait. Products like the CBTS (center bait tank system), Gator Hatch, the X-Wing sliding console, motor mounts, flush mount rod holders, and drop-in bait tanks prove that function is the main motivator in keeping the models unique and custom built. Malibu Kayaks continue to focus on functional design and unique features like more hull space for accessorizing with numerous mounting locations, extra large storage hatches, rod holders positioned conveniently and correctly, extreme weight capacity with extra leg room and not to mention, the kayaks are exceptionally stable and track very well!
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Mission Kayaks
( 2 Articles )
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Native Watercraft
( 20 Articles )
 Flats fisherman Jimbo Meador wanted a special ride, one purpose-built to stalk redfish in no man’s land. “I couldn’t get there in a flats boat, and couldn’t wade from shore without sinking up my armpits in mud,” Meador says.
That led him to Andy Zimmerman and the paddlesports veteran’s new Greensboro, North Carolina, company Native Watercraft, and earned Meador one of the coolest job titles going: vice president of kayak fishing.
Meador says all of Native’s characteristic tunnel hull kayaks are designed with fishing in mind. The engineering and ergonomics are exceptional, highlighted by some of the most comfortable, multi-position seats around. Plug and Play and Adapt-a-Trak accessory outfitting systems enable anglers to easily customize the boats to fit personal tastes.
For 2009, Native introduced another pair of transformative innovations. The Native Ultimate Propel is a pedal-drive with a difference; the prop works in forward and reverse. The volt incorporates a center-mounted trolling motor; for a powered kayak, maneuverability is unmatched.
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Necky Kayaks
( 1 Article )
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NuCanoe
( 4 Articles )
 NuCanoe’s design philosophy can be snappily summed up as “more”: more comfort, more functionality, more paddlers. The Bellingham, Washington–based company’s virtually unsinkable dual-wall kayak/canoe hybrids are designed by sit-on-top guru Tim Niemier, a man whose motto is “a billion butts in boats.”
That goal is expressed in unusually wide (42-inch), elevated floor plans boasting an excess of stability—enough to raise the seats off the deck, and plenty for standing. The result is a car-toppable craft offering big-boat comfort and the kind of confidence that appeals to a wide audience—even people who may not be as spry as they once were.
Built in modular fashion for exceptional versatility, every NuCanoe offers multiple seating configurations—single, tandem or triple—and many ways to move it. row, paddle with a single or dual blade, or add an electric trolling motor.
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Ocean Kayak
( 11 Articles )
 Ocean Kayak was born on the beaches of malibu in 1971 when a sculptor-turned-kayaker yearned to paddle, fish and dive beyond the breakers. Company founder Tim Niemier’s scupper was a new sort of boat, a hybrid merging the best features of the sea kayak and the surfboard, an unswampable and stable sit-on-top. Beachgoers snapped up those first handcrafted models as fast as niemier could make them.
“Even an idiot like me could do the math,” Niemier recalls, so the inventive waterman moved shop to washington state and invested in roto-molding machines that spin out a new ‘yak every hour. Before long his “paddles to the people” philosophy of building and designing easily accessible rides created an industry leader.
Niemier sold Ocean Kayak to Johnson outdoors in 1997, yet the company’s kayaks are as sandy and salty as ever, uniformly sweet paddlers at home in the surf. fishy too, with easily accessorized decks and some of the freshest thinking in the sport. The spirit of innovation lives on in ok’s latest purpose-built fishing kayaks, the trident series, built around the unique elongated rod pod and fishfinder-sheltering sonar shield.
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Old Town
( 5 Articles )
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Pelican_Internationl
( 9 Articles )
 By the company’s account, Pelican International is one of the three largest canoe and kayak manufacturers going. This Quebec, Canada–based family affair produces a vast array of affordable thermoformed plastic products, including toys, utility sleds and padddlecraft, many of which are sold in familiar big box retailers.
This year, Pelican is aiming for the specialty market with the new elite series, kayaks and canoes for paddlers who want more than entry-level performance and features yet insist on a lot of bang for the buck. Anglers get the strike series, built from the company-exclusive, three-layer poly-Xr polyethylene, said to offer improved stiffness and performance.
Pelican representative Kelley Woolsey calls the elite series boats “a great combination of quality, features, performance and price”—a package few other boats can offer for the money.
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Pygmy Boats
( 1 Article )
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Riot Kayaks
( 2 Articles )
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Santa Cruz Kayaks
( 1 Article )
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Sea Eagle
( 2 Articles )
 Whatever the water, be it the ocean, a lake or rapid-studded river, sea eagle has an affordable, high-quality inflatable kayak or canoe to fit. The Long island, new york, company traces its history all the way back to 1968 and the introduction of the pyrana, a classic design that largely lives on in today’s sea eagle 330.
Sea Eagle’s inflatable kayaks were the first to feature self-bailing drain valves. modular, dual- floor construction was introduced for the company’s durable explorer series. Robust, lightweight and easily stored, Sea Eagle inflatables are known for versatility. Depending on the model, they can be rowed, sailed, paddled or even motorized. Most accommodate multiple seating configurations, switching from single to a tandem in minutes.
Sea Eagle touts these as serious craft—a reality company president cecil hoge has lived: “I’ve been out in just about every imaginable condition, floated more than 100 whitewater rivers. I’ve even been out in 10-foot surf, well, just before i met my doom. Fortunately Long Island beaches are graced with sand, not rocks.”
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Shakespeare Kayaks
( 3 Articles )
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Tributary
( 3 Articles )
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Walker Bay Boats
( 1 Article )
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Wavewalk
( 2 Articles )
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Wilderness Systems
( 8 Articles )
 Wilderness Systems has come a long way since it was founded, as the story goes, in an adrenaline-addicted whitewater kayaker's garage in 1986. Company pioneers Andy Zimmerman and John Sheppard quickly outgrew their humble beginnings, and so touring boats and roto-molded recreational craft with broad appeal joined the company's original high-performance composite river runner.
Zimmerman and Sheppard have since moved on, but the performance-oriented tradition they founded continues in rides such as the tarpon. The first of these time-tested fish hunters debuted in 2001, featuring a hull inspired by the fast and sleek sea kayak rather than the more common surfboard school of design.
Matching the rapid development of the sport, the tarpon line has evolved over the years to its current level of top-shelf sophistication. the 2009 offerings are refined in every detail, most notably for improved fishablity via versatile, adaptable deck plans and boosted storage space. Meanwhile, company designers enhanced the line's speed and glide while adding volume for a drier ride.
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