Inexperienced "new guy" needs tips for finding lessons/ yak & gear.

Hell to all NCKA'ers,
   I have been following this site for more than a year, & I must compliment you all for being such conscientious and responsible fishermen (& women). I am extremely eager & enthusiastic about learning all that i can about the sort of kayak fishing, & am posting this to  gain some insight from the extremely knowledgeable regulars on this site. I am 6' 170lbs, and for now am seriously considering an ocean kayak trident 13. Wondering if that would suffice in most practical applications for the bay, ocean, & freshwater? Also, anyone with positive experiences/ info for the lessons, or any other advice for newbies. I don't think I'll have any problems with budget from what i've seen so far, so I pretty much expect it to be pricey at first. just wanna have good stuff that'll last awhile. Especially want to take lessons from the best. don't care about the cost at all. Thanks for all the future advice, & I hope to see you on the water soon!

Take a lesson from Sean at GWKC he will take care of you well and can help you with all aspects  http://www.gwkc.com/

Mike's given you some good advice, mr5900ar.  You're also pretty close to SCAllen down in Santa Cruz and a host of others from this board who will show you the ropes if you hookup on a trip that's posted.  For your size I'm sure a Trident 13 would be a good boat, but you ought to test paddle as many different boats as you can before pulling the trigger.  Personally, I like the ability to be as safe as I can in rough and windy water, so I chose the X-Factor for my go-to boat.  I paddled a Scrambler XT for a few years though, and it was a very sea-worthy craft in its own right.  Good luck, and be sure to report back with your experiences.  Enjoy the therapy and the camaraderie - those aspects of our sport will likely eclipse the thrill of even the biggest fish you'll catch.   

Mr59


I agree.  Try a number of different boats to make your own personal best choice.

Having said that, I'll add the T13 is an awesome boat, fast,stable, tracks well and is more nimble than the T15 due to length.  A bit better turning than the P13 as well (which is another of my favorite boats) thanks to a little hard edge on the chine.

Deck layout and flat footwells are additional improvements that OK included on the T13. Not to mention the Rod Pod and SonarShield, both practical additions.

I am waiting on my new T13 right now, having paddled one last summer, finally getting one now. 

I would be happy to help get you going with Yak fishing 101, as I'm sure Sean would be, thanks for the kind words Abking.  Drop me a pm anytime.

Allen

WELCOME!  You've come to right place. 

I'm still a newb as well but I know Abking's reply here is the way to go.
Try out some kayaks before you buy. Good to try several different ones to see what works for you but definitely test paddle the model you end up getting.

Lessons are a great idea - you learn safety & basic paddling skills hands on, all in one package. You can take classes at some of the kayak shops in the bay area but they're mostly geared toward Sit-Inside Kayaks. The benefit of doing lessons with Sean (SBD) or Allen (scallen) is you learn in a Sit-On-Top kayak - even your own if you buy it first (not that you have to use a Sit-On-Top but most fishing kayaks, like the Trident, are SOTs). Plus, these guys will add the fishing element to the instruction & you'll probably even catch some fish.

Since you're in SF you're almost equal distance from SBD (Mendo Co.) & scallen (Santa Cruz). Personally, I've done a course with SBD, so I can highly recommend him - you can't go wrong (see mickfish's reply for website). I haven't paddled/fished with Scallen myself but he also has an excellent reputation, with a few years experience under his belt! Also, if you're gonna be farther north any time soon, you can contact Hawk (swellrider) at Humboats.com.

I'm in SF as well, feel free to contact me when you get set up & ready to do some fishing.
-Aaron

Thanks everyone.  My 2-day FW101 class is going to be in early May.  You can see more here... [urlhttp://www.greatwhitekayakcompany.com/yakfishuniversity.html][/url]

I wait til May because we swim quite a bit on Day 1 and its nice to have decent weather and reasonable water temps.  We spend most of Day 2 fishing, and we caught quite a nice rack of fish last year.