Hobie Outback Ideal for me? Advice please!

Hey guys,

Brand new to the forum and kayak world. Just introduced myself tonight and I've put in alot of research on what I want in a kayak and demo'd a few.
I'm leaning towards a hobie outback (mirage drive seems like a huge plus for the style of fishing I'm going to be doing) and due to the storage space and stability, it seems pretty forgiving while I figure out exactly what I need. I will mostly be fishing lakes up here in redding area or shorter drives (Shasta, Whiskeytown, Siskiyou, Oroville, etc.)

However, once I spend enough time getting the hang of all this, I would love to go out and fish for rockfish out of Trinidad/humboldt bay. I end up there at least a couple times a month so getting a kayak that would also work in open water kind of seems like a no brainer.

I know the outback is a shorter kayak, but can ya'll tell me from experience if it's a good or bad call to take an outback out over in humboldt?

I can think of one member here who catches tons of fish out of Humbolt in any and all reasonable weather.

Thanks! I just wanted to make sure I get something (while I know it isn't going to perfectly ideal) that can I can safely fish from in big water as well as my local areas.

I go offshore on my Outback and catch pacific halibut up to 60lbs.  The Outback is fine for all kinds of fishing and species.  The Outback handles just fine in the ocean.  I have taken it through the bar out of Humboldt bay, Trinidad, Cape Mendocino, and Shelter Cove and it handles just fine.  Just watch the tides and forecast especially if you go out of Humboldt Bay.  YOU DONT WANT TO DO THIS

A lot of us are running outbacks out of Trinidad. No problems going 5 miles out in descent weather/swell. I can't imaging having any less deck space than that but some guys do it with the revo. See you otw

Wow!! I fish the north and south jetty almost every other weekend from the bank and can't imagine running out through the mouth with nothing less than glass calm conditions. Running through the bar in that kind of weather looks scary as hell even with the coast guard cutter right on ya!

I always watch the tides and weather reports and under good conditions I'm glad to hear that the outback works fine for ya'll. I cant imagine running more than a mile or two offshore being the newbie that I am but Im glad to hear that some of you do it. It looks the outback is up my alley!

The Outback is my choice, I do the same thing you have your eyes on (Shasta, Whiskeytown, Siskiyou, Sac River, Baum, and a few coast trips per year)...to me the storage space and ability to stand up is huge.  You're more than welcome to try out my boat any time.

The Outback is great for any type of lake and under class 2 rivers, we float them down the sac all the time. We also take them in the salt out of Trinidad, just gotta watch the weather and surf reports. If you want to you can come into Headwaters in Redding and check one out, we also do demos if you are interested.