A lot has happened since falling off my blog. My American Eagle canoe was sold before I moved to Houston at the end of last summer. I am sad to report I did not fish at all in 2018. It just was not a priority and I did not make any time for it. I made a new years resolution I think will be pretty easy to stick with this year: Fish more. To help me do that I bought a new Hobie Revolution 13 and was able to break it in yesterday.
I went o ut to West Bay in Galveston yesterday, now that I live in Katy, and tried it out fishing some grass flats and bayous. I launched around 10 to super low water, and stayed low the entire time I was out. Picked up 2 rat reds and covered about 6 miles. Thi ng is, with a paddle kayak I wouldn't have been able to do much fishing covering that much water, but with the Hobie I was able to fish nearly the entire time. Both reds were caught on a pink soft-dine over a mud bottom in about 2' of water.
Is the pedal worth the money?
That's the question I had asked myself for the past several years now. Is a pedal kayak really going to be that much more enjoyable, or help my fishing any more than my tarpon? Catching more fish is what it's all about anyways, right? To this, I would say it depends. I love fishing marshes, one of which I frequented a lot is pretty shallow, has a bit of oysters throughout as well as on the way to. It's so shallow more time than not that the fins on the Hobie would be more hassle than help, and would have to stick to the drains around it. Although I have to say, I could get pretty shallow by fluttering the fins, so I would not rule it out for all marshes by any means. Being able to pedal, I could fish the banks and shorelines as I moved locations. I was able to fish some structure and hold my place, and reverse when needed. I see the hobie replacing my tarpon in most situations. If I feel like hitting up some back marshes and dragging something through some mud, tarpon has the advantage. However, the Hobie has opened up a large swath of water that was out of reach with my tarpon, I now have much more range and am eyeing some spots that years ago had thought were too far. I still thoroughly enjoy paddling for the sake of paddling, but the Hobie has without question given me more options, and is a heck of a lot of fun to use. A necessity? Absolutely not. Worth the investment? 100% and then some.
I wanted a pedal kayak that was minimalist, not a ton of storage or bells and whistles i would never use, as well as narrow and easy to paddle if the need arose. The Revo was exactly what I was looking for. I rarely take out more gear than a few things in my crate and 2 or 3 rods. It was surprisingly quick and I was able to go pretty shallow by fluttering the fins. This was another reason I had chosen the mirage drive over some other styles out there. I also chose this Revo because at the time while I was looking at different kayaks, this one popped up brand new for nearly 25% off of retail. That really sealed the deal for me. The mirage drive has been around forever and is tried and true, but I also think that these other manufacturers have had their systems out for a good amount of time and have had time to refine them, cant go wrong with many of them.
Looking forward
Living in Katy, I have a decent spread of water within about an hour and a half from home. I am within reach of anywehre between Matagorda to Trinity Bay. I plan to find some water I really enjoy fishing with good variety of structure and depth, and solely fish that area to learn it well. I believe that is the only way to produce consistent results. My goal this year is to fish more, as well as keep my fishing journal (blog) going. I am looking forward to a productive 2019!
I went o ut to West Bay in Galveston yesterday, now that I live in Katy, and tried it out fishing some grass flats and bayous. I launched around 10 to super low water, and stayed low the entire time I was out. Picked up 2 rat reds and covered about 6 miles. Thi ng is, with a paddle kayak I wouldn't have been able to do much fishing covering that much water, but with the Hobie I was able to fish nearly the entire time. Both reds were caught on a pink soft-dine over a mud bottom in about 2' of water.
Is the pedal worth the money?
That's the question I had asked myself for the past several years now. Is a pedal kayak really going to be that much more enjoyable, or help my fishing any more than my tarpon? Catching more fish is what it's all about anyways, right? To this, I would say it depends. I love fishing marshes, one of which I frequented a lot is pretty shallow, has a bit of oysters throughout as well as on the way to. It's so shallow more time than not that the fins on the Hobie would be more hassle than help, and would have to stick to the drains around it. Although I have to say, I could get pretty shallow by fluttering the fins, so I would not rule it out for all marshes by any means. Being able to pedal, I could fish the banks and shorelines as I moved locations. I was able to fish some structure and hold my place, and reverse when needed. I see the hobie replacing my tarpon in most situations. If I feel like hitting up some back marshes and dragging something through some mud, tarpon has the advantage. However, the Hobie has opened up a large swath of water that was out of reach with my tarpon, I now have much more range and am eyeing some spots that years ago had thought were too far. I still thoroughly enjoy paddling for the sake of paddling, but the Hobie has without question given me more options, and is a heck of a lot of fun to use. A necessity? Absolutely not. Worth the investment? 100% and then some.
I wanted a pedal kayak that was minimalist, not a ton of storage or bells and whistles i would never use, as well as narrow and easy to paddle if the need arose. The Revo was exactly what I was looking for. I rarely take out more gear than a few things in my crate and 2 or 3 rods. It was surprisingly quick and I was able to go pretty shallow by fluttering the fins. This was another reason I had chosen the mirage drive over some other styles out there. I also chose this Revo because at the time while I was looking at different kayaks, this one popped up brand new for nearly 25% off of retail. That really sealed the deal for me. The mirage drive has been around forever and is tried and true, but I also think that these other manufacturers have had their systems out for a good amount of time and have had time to refine them, cant go wrong with many of them.
Looking forward
Living in Katy, I have a decent spread of water within about an hour and a half from home. I am within reach of anywehre between Matagorda to Trinity Bay. I plan to find some water I really enjoy fishing with good variety of structure and depth, and solely fish that area to learn it well. I believe that is the only way to produce consistent results. My goal this year is to fish more, as well as keep my fishing journal (blog) going. I am looking forward to a productive 2019!