Minimum size kayak for la jolla kelp

[Mahigeer]

Originally Posted by JohnMckroidJr

I agree with Foodgeekfish, It does depend on what your comfortable fishing. Kayak capacity is more important than length. A livewell full of water, a fish bag with ice + tackle -- it all adds up. I prefer a kayak with at least a 450lb capacity. If you have a good day, you might still have to come in early due to capacity issues.

Holy cow, those are some catch under your feet.

[monstahfish]

I prefer a hobie because of the fin drive or a proper paddle kayak for surf launching and would recommend watching a how to video and practicing with no gear before risking flipping and breaking your rods. 12+ feet is a good general rule of thumb and I generally take my outback. That being said, I did take my lynx (11')the other day cause my outback sonar was dead and had no problem fighting and landing some big fish. The benefit of the lynx is it's unsinkable. I did a photoshoot in the passport 10.5 and landed a 20lb white seabass and it did fine. A shorter boat is just a little bit slower and if the current is pulling hard south and you go around the corner into the kelp it can take over an hour of constant pedaling just to get back inside so make sure you're in shape. Just make sure to keep your line from hitting the parting lines on those two piece hulls cause I wasn't ready for a fish to surge and it snapped my braid once and I lost my PB yellowtail.

[JohnMckroidJr]

Originally Posted by Mahigeer

Holy cow, those are some catch under your feet.

Thanks, When I put the tunas in the fish bag, the back end of the kayak became slightly underwater. I had to leave the king on the bow to reduce the stern trim for the peddle to the beach.