My son is visiting from Utah next Tuesday for halibut fishing at Tamelas Bay. I scouted the water twice but failed to hook any fish. Need some feedback to avoid more skunk day. My experience has been:
1. trolling is nearly impossible, I checked hooks every 5 minutes, weeds were always on them.
2. Should I anchored kayak or slow drafting/pedaling? how do you avoid weed getting on hook if you are drafting?
3. Nice local boater and kayaker pointed to me good spots near Hoag and Tom's Point buoys, but what's the depth I should try jigging or baiting?
4. do you add scent, flasher or plastic squid on frozen bait or live bait to attract fish?

We will have fun just going out on the water, a fish or two will make it more memorable:) thanks for your advice!
Chris

Hi, I am Chris from East Bay area, getting into kayak fishing a year ago with a heavily modified Lifetime Tamarack. I do mostly reservoir fishing but sometimes go crabbing at Bodega shorelines. The tamarack served me fine with a trolling motor except one flipped-over experience showed how unstable it is. I am ready to buy a better (pedal drive) kayak and hoping to take my wife or son with me sometime.
My local REI has Hobie Passport 120 for $1870, West Marine has Oldtown Salty for $1999, I like both models for their lighter portable weight (compared to Oldtown PDL 120) and better maneuverability.  I don't mind to spend more money for OT Topwater model but don't see any adding benefit for my needs. I watched a lot of videos about PDL and Mirage drives and I am leaning toward Hobie Mirage drive for its lighter weight and small footprint ( I am 60, can't handle roof rack so I put kayak in SUV with door latched). I also like passport can add two hatches down the road - Salty just doesn't have any flat area for hull access.

My main concern is safety, I believe either one can handle lake water well, even I flip the boat and get wet I can get home ok. But out in the saltwater with unpredictable wind and tide, I need a kayak that can break wave and take me home if weather condition changed suddenly. I am not sure Hobie Passport will track ocean water as well as Salty? Maybe I saw a lot people had taken Salty out in open sea and testified its capability but I couldn't find much info about Passport in the similar situation. What's your take and experience on these two model? Any comment will be greatly appreciated!!