[eatmoretuna]

hey man, I just started yak fishing about four months ago and just went through this thing. go to oex mission bay and demo some boats. roll em, get back in em, fish on em. I started with short and fat cuz i felt stability was really important and tried the malibu stealth 12 and 14and liked em, lots of deck space and storage. Then I checked out some of the narrower boats the ocean kayak prowler 13 and 15 and wilderness systems tarpon 140 and 160. The difference in speed and ease of paddle is dramatic. I hit up la jolla every weekend and will easily paddle 6 miles. It is draining and I can't imagine doing it on a short fat boat. I have yet to pull on anything big but have never felt close to tipping even in heavy swell. I ended up with the tarpon 160 cuz it felt the best for me on the water...my other option was the prowler 15. The hobies offer alot of advantages but were out of my range...i think around $500 more. I thought about used also...my yak was just under $1000 but with paddle and leashes, gaff, mounts, fishfinder/battery, built a bait tube it was probably over $1500 plus a car rack that was like $350. You can probably get most of that gear with a used yak for like $800 (not roof rack or paddle). I chose new cuz a lifetime warranty makes things easy and I wanted to build it up just how I wanted. Do what is best for your needs but you will know so much more once you paddle them.