Help me outfit my boat.

Picked up a tarpon 140 in need of replacement hatch covers, plugs, and new deck bungees.  It will definitely be a bit easier for fishing than my touring-style sea kayak.

Looking into rigging it up for fishing/crabbing & eventually spear fishing/freediving. I’ll primarily be in the Napa river (striper), carquinez strait (whatever I can get), and T-bay (crabbing + anything else available seasonally.)

Would love to see some tarpon setups, as I’ve not been fishing long and this is my first fishing kayak.  Mine doesn’t have gear tracks, but I’m assuming they’re easy to add.  I’d also like to add a cheap fish finder in the future, probably in the sub $250 range, so any recommendations would be good.  From what I’ve seen, the Garmin striker 4 plus looks good enough but I’d welcome other suggestions.

I don’t know anything about rigging that kayak (Hobie addict), but I am a big fan of Garmin fishfinders.

+1 on the Striker 4!

I don’t know anything about rigging that kayak (Hobie addict), but I am a big fan of Garmin fishfinders.

I will second this statement.  Garmin Striker is a great little unit - easy to use, cheap, and pretty power efficient.  I like a gear track for mounting, but there are plenty of fixed point mounts too, like Scotty or Yak Attack.  If you don't have a transducer cutout under your hull, I like to mount in the hull with duct seal, and use a cable gland to seal the hull for the wire pass through. 

For a paddle kayak, I like flush mount rod holders kinda behind me, where I can get a good paddle stroke without hitting the rod, while still being reachable.  They are pretty cheap and easy to mount, and I think sturdier than gear track mounted holders.

I don’t know anything about rigging that kayak (Hobie addict), but I am a big fan of Garmin fishfinders.

I will second this statement.  Garmin Striker is a great little unit - easy to use, cheap, and pretty power efficient.  I like a gear track for mounting, but there are plenty of fixed point mounts too, like Scotty or Yak Attack.  If you don't have a transducer cutout under your hull, I like to mount in the hull with duct seal, and use a cable gland to seal the hull for the wire pass through. 

For a paddle kayak, I like flush mount rod holders kinda behind me, where I can get a good paddle stroke without hitting the rod, while still being reachable.  They are pretty cheap and easy to mount, and I think sturdier than gear track mounted holders.

I was looking at a Yakattack cell block battery mount + folding transducer arm that goes over the side of the kayak. Do you think that would work just as well as mounting inside the hull?  My thought was that it would be better than the transducer mount that goes through a scupper hole, because I’d inevitably forget about it during landing and scrape it up.

Also, not sure if I’ll really be able to troll from a kayak, but is that possible with the flush mount rods?

I was looking at a Yakattack cell block battery mount + folding transducer arm that goes over the side of the kayak. Do you think that would work just as well as mounting inside the hull?  My thought was that it would be better than the transducer mount that goes through a scupper hole, because I’d inevitably forget about it during landing and scrape it up.

Also, not sure if I’ll really be able to troll from a kayak, but is that possible with the flush mount rods?

I'd also recommend putting the transducer inside the hull (although I Goop it in place, instead of duct seal). The only diwn side that I've noticed to an in-hull transducer mount is that the water temp can be slightly off, but the convenience factor more than makes up for that, IMHO.

Trolling is the way to go, and if you are paddling, you want the rod holders forward, so you can see them, and they are out of the way.

I was looking at a Yakattack cell block battery mount + folding transducer arm that goes over the side of the kayak. Do you think that would work just as well as mounting inside the hull? 

It's over price and heavy. A friend gave one to me and it sat around for a long long time before I gave it away with a kayak I recently sold. The arm is flimsy and it probably will kick back a lot without support if trolling.

Looking at your gunnle it's curved (not flat) so will definitely take some thinking to mount stuff. I know kayakjack is a big tarpon 140 fan and he may chim in to give you some ideas. Especially doing a BBQ at a sf giants game 

I was looking at a Yakattack cell block battery mount + folding transducer arm that goes over the side of the kayak. Do you think that would work just as well as mounting inside the hull? 

It's over price and heavy. A friend gave one to me and it sat around for a long long time before I gave it away with a kayak I recently sold. The arm is flimsy and it probably will kick back a lot without support if trolling.

Looking at your gunnle it's curved (not flat) so will definitely take some thinking to mount stuff. I know kayakjack is a big tarpon 140 fan and he may chim in to give you some ideas. Especially doing a BBQ at a sf giants game 

I've never used the transducer arm thing, but your account is about what I figured.  Most of the kayaks that have a transducer-ready scupper have a deep recess and sometimes a plate to keep the transducer out of the way when loading/unloading, so you wouldn't need to remove it. If yours doesn't have a recessed scupper specific for that, probably easiest and best to mount it inside the hull.

I don't have a Tarpon, but I mounted my Garmin front and center on my Santa Cruz Raptor. A bit of a reach to get to it, but I don't mess with it much anyway - it's mostly there to tell me how deep I am. 

Fish it a couple times, see how it feels. Some folks don't even use rod holders - just stick the rod butt under one leg and paddle away! Everyone has their own thing, and dialing my gear and setup is a big part of the fun of this sport for me.

I had a couple of tarpon 140s and they worked great. As others mention mounting the transducer inside the hull is the way to go. First time I used Goop and the second time I used plumbers putty. The putty was way easier for me. I was worried it might fall off but it never did even though I transported it upside down. Besides, even if it came off you could just stick it back down. I tied my battery to the posts that run from top to bottom inside and never took it out. I started with a battery box but eventually switched to just covering the connections with silicone caulk and it has been problem free for years. I used a screw type waterproof connector with enough slack for me to reach from the hatch and would connect it to the fish finder or charger when needed.  I mounted my fish finder on a ram ball that I mounted in the cup holder so it was out of the way. I ran the wires through a grommet a bit above the cup holder so they would be out of the water. This worked great for fishing but was not the best for crabbing because the traps would have to lay on top. I just put a bag over the fish finder and pushed it flat when I was pulling in pots and never had a problem. I mounted a scotty holder to the flat part above the fish finder.
I don't have those kayaks anymore but I found an old picture where you can see the ball and scotty mounts if you zoom in. I found another picture that shows how I made racks for crab traps on case you want to do that.

This is the original T160 but on yours it looks like they kept the flat spots both sides behind the seat where you can cut holes and mount flush Scotty rod holders. Only disadvantage is your rear tank well doesnt open to the inside which is how I mounted the hardware

For what you’re doing why bother with a fishfinder Less to screw with and cleaner topsides

Can’t tell if you got one but rudders are nice to have especially in wind

& for trolling

This is the original T160 but on yours it looks like they kept the flat spots both sides behind the seat where you can cut holes and mount flush Scotty rod holders. Only disadvantage is your rear tank well doesnt open to the inside which is how I mounted the hardware

For what you’re doing why bother with a fishfinder Less to screw with and cleaner topsides

This is exactly what I was getting at - pictures help a lot, haha.

I don't have those kayaks anymore but I found an old picture where you can see the ball and scotty mounts if you zoom in. I found another picture that shows how I made racks for crab traps on case you want to do that.

This is exactly what I needed to see. Thank you so much! I had a feeling mounting rod holders and a fish finder might interfere with the hoop nets, but I’m thinking the FF could be mounded a bit lower in the cockpit. My tarpon seems to be a little different than all the other models I’ve seen photos of, but this is giving me plenty of ideas for ways to rig up! Definitely like the PVC hoop net holder. I’ll be making some before November comes around.

This is the original T160 but on yours it looks like they kept the flat spots both sides behind the seat where you can cut holes and mount flush Scotty rod holders. Only disadvantage is your rear tank well doesnt open to the inside which is how I mounted the hardware

For what you’re doing why bother with a fishfinder Less to screw with and cleaner topsides

Honestly, just trying to increase my odds of catching something but also, I’d like to be able to mark wherever I drop hoop nets and identify potential dive sites for when I finally start diving from the kayak. I know it’s not necessary…but why not

If you didn’t already find hatches there’s a guy on the east coast who has a good supply of retro stuff that’s hard to come by. My t160 is the original design and he had hatch seals and other stuff I needed. I also got a better rudder than the stock one which got destroyed landing a big beach break Soon as I remember the name of his business I’ll post

Sounds like you’ll be doing different things different days

I started diving and fishing from a yak (Mulderboard) in 72 and never had anything mounted topside until sometime in the 90s

Up to then I could only mooch salmon and I made a lame attempt at putting a rod holder for trolling but realized I just needed a different yak

That was the first t160 design which as plastic yaks go is pre`tty good. I actually met the people who designed it. Not sure why they eliminated the front and rear hatches they give you a lot more stow space

This is a long way round to saying if you freedive from it you need to keep the topsides as clean and low profile as possible. You probably know that already

My yak setups are defined by all the years I was mixing up fishing and freediving Not that I’m likely to do that anymore but fishing the ocean taking a swim now and then is a given and nothing should be in your way when you climb back on