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Spearfishing Kayak Help Needed

4928 Views 26 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  Dodge, 
J
Hi,
My name is Jesse and i was put onto this forum after some suggested that i need more info before buying a kayak.

I am 80kg, 175cm and looking to take out about 10kg of gear and take home 20kg of fish (on a very good day). I will be useing my kayak to spearfish from. I am looking to spear reefs around the sunny coast upto about 3km's out from shore so i need a good fast kayak that is easy to punch through chop and can surf OK. I would like to be able to strap to spearguns to the side, and have a place to put fish, crays, fins mask etc.

I am looking for something less than 4m in lenght otherwise i will have problems with transportation. I have about 1000 to spend but could spend about 1500 if need be. I want a bright yellow or orange one

I have been out in a kayak about a half a dozen times on camps and at family properties in fresh water but never salt.

So any information about what type of kayak would best suit my needs would be appreciated. I was looking at a viking tempo but i have been now told that they are a bit slow for the ocean. I am now looking espri having looked at all the forum material.

Any advice would be great on what to get.

Cheers

Jesse
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J
I live in ipswich :( but i am moving to caloundra in march and spend every second weekend in marochidoore (however you spell that) cause my fiance live there. So yeah i basically live in ipswich/ brisbane are and travel to the sunny coast. I did have a look at the viking outlet at kawana but that was a while ago. The guy there suggested that i get a tempo but i read here that they are slow and not much good for the ocean.

Cheers
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J
redphoenix said:
G'day Jesse, welcome to the forum!

The Espri isn't too bad a kayak for spearing from ......it's quite capable of going out in the open water for the distances you mention on a reasonably calm day, and it certainly surfs well.

From a negative perspective:
* There are plenty of other kayaks that are quite a bit faster.
* It's not all that great at punching through the chop. There are other yaks out there that will cope better with a crappy weather day.
The Perception Swing might be worth investigating (though it's close to your 4m, and price limit), and as Polar said, the fish & dive seems to be pretty good.

What species are you targetting?

Red.
Click to expand...
Firstly thanks for all the replys the espri is looking tempting ATM but i am a little concerned with swell handleing capabilities. What is considered "bad" weather and what is considered a "reasonably calm day". More than likely if a situation looks iffy I still go out. How would the espri (or any other kayak) handle coming back into shore (2-3km) with a 1m ground swell and the typical 15knt wind in the arvo? Would the swing be any better at going through chop and swell. I don't mind how wet i get so don't factor this in cause i jump of the kayak to fish :)

I am an adventourous bugger and don't always wait for the handful of nice days a year I sometimes go out when it's borderline and i am have no fish in the freezer. The Stupidest so far is going to Nine Mile reef (22 NM round trip) off the tweed coast in my dad's 4m 25hp tinnie with no GPS or epirb to jump into 35m of water to chase wahoo with my brother :D So yeah i wouldn't mind a capable craft.

What fish do i target. The general response to that is tasty ones; I mainly hunt reefies in 10-15m of water. I am very selective and i always try to shoot heaps bigger than the size limit. I would rather take out 1 big parrot (4kg) than 4 little ones, plus ther is more sport in hunting bigger fish. Some people my disagree with taking bigger ones cause they breed but if you take all the little one how are you ever going to get a big one. I also take the odd pelagic if it swims by but i don't useually target them specifically. My favorite fish to hunt are Jacks and blue-bar parrot. Crays are nice too when you get them.

Cheers

Jesse
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J
Hi,
The 4m max lenght was because i have a dual cab ute with ladder racks and didn't want to fit out another roof rack. But I just did some cals and had a tape and i figure I will have to put another rack on anyhow inorder to be safewith highway speeds. So yeah scrap the 4m max requirement.

Also the budget of 1000 and max of 1500. I am supposed to be saving up for a honeymoon and a wedding so I trying to be tight. But there is no point buying a 1000 Kayak only to buy a 2000 dollar on the next year I guess :? But I still don't want to spend much as i will have to fit out with a sounder.

I looked at all the Kayak shown by redphenoix and i have to say they look nice. The Kayaks that looked like they would suit me were the Prowler Elite 4.5, the prowler 15 , Viking Predator and possibly the hobie adventure if you could get it without the drive system (I paddle all day with fin, the last thing i want to do is paddle all the way back).

I know the viking Predator is about 1500 and Hobbie's are 2350 with drive system. How much are prowlers worth?

Plus which do you think is better a predator, prowler or hobbie?

More plus do you really need a rudder?

Cheers

Jesse
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J
Well I have decided to get a Viking predator .....in the long run. ATM my bank balance (and the soon to be Mrs) tells me to get a kayak off ebay for 500. Then when I upgrade I will have two kayaks and can take my gorgeous wife out with me on the weekends aswell or another dive buddy.

I call shotgun on the following kayak, so please don't bid other wise i will have to spend more :(

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/VIKING-ESPRI-kay ... dZViewItem

This one i don't know about this one and i havn't heard much about them but it looks OK but the viking 10year hull warrany is looking good. Any opinions would be great on it.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/invader-kayak-br ... dZViewItem

BTW I don't spear on scuba as this is unethical as it is no sport shooting fish on scuba. I breathhold spearfish, Most would agree that this takes more skill shooting a fish in 15 of water in a single breath. I currently can only hunt in 15m but by the end of the yeah i am hoping to dive 20m.

Thankyou once again for all your help guys (girls if there were any). It has been invaluable and I will keep on this forum and show you the results of my hard work :)

Cheers

Jesse
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J
Yes many thanks hornet,

The reason I was offering you so little was cause I didn't want to spend much and i didn't want a blue one as i would loose it too easy. I was at hutchies once with a mate and i could see his 8m blue Boat..... It was not good at all. But i got a 14kg kingy so it wasn't all bad and heaps of parrot.

Once again sorry i couldn't buy your kayak. But at least now i won't be stuck with a slow Kayak not designed for the ocean. :). I will eventually get a bigger one than an espri but we will see how this one goes. I won't quite be able to get the inner gneerings but maybey thats a good thing until i get a bit more experience under my belt.

BTW you said you were upgrading, What are you going to get?

Cheers
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J
Spooled fair point on the surf chaos but i don' think they make a hatch big enought to put spearguns in. I will just put a peice of rubber over the point when i go out then the problem will be solved.. No sharp points.

The speargun that i most offen take out is a 1.2m gun and it has a 1.7m spear in it so the practicalites of putting it in a hatch would be hard, worse would be trying to take the thing out in a bumpy ocean. I use proper top of the line spearguns which are vastly differnt to the ones you see in Amart; those ones would fit. Each of the guns i own is worth about $450 and are quite accurate....i can hit the spine of a slow moving fish at max range. That way they are put out of their misery in about 1/2 a second plus you don't wreak the fillets :)

Cheers

Jesse
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J
Well i got the Viking Espri of ebay for 475 :)

So i will rig her up and let you know how i go in a few weeks :)

I soon will have on of those "best fish" on the bottom of my profile :)

Cheers for the help
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