Hobie, "A New Way to Fish!".

Every company seems to building these boats bigger, heavier, wider, and catering to the east coast bass guys. Jackson is a nice boat, but slow and heavy. The guythat designed it is a bass fisherman. The Ride is a nice boat, but slow and heavy. The design behind it was bass too. PA, you know the story. Several other boats made getting bigger and made to fish standing too. All for the bass guys. Someone needs to step up and build a boat built for the ocean only, or one that isnt a barge on lakes. I know you Hobie guys will say you have a great ocean boat, and you do but, plenty of limitations there too. Deck space, weight, kelp, etc. OK Tridents, Prowlers, 4.7-4.3 and Wildy Tarpons are close, but still need improvements , such as water tightness and weight.  These boats move well in the water with less effort than the others with the exception of Hobie which we know moves well. With the trend of more people paddling and wanting an easy stable ride, performance is being put aside. Its like the "jet ski" crowd. Those things used to be fun to ride and maneuver well? now the trend is huge so everyone can ride. Boring to ride those things now. Fast as hell, but boring mostly. I am in no way trying to slam or make any of these kayaks sound better than they are. Just putting out there what I see happening in the industry. Maybe Hobie, OK, Wildy and the others will start getting it right again and build a true fishing platform.
    If Hobie makes a big change in the kayak scene with "a new way to fish" maybe others will follow.

Just speaking my mind.

IMO, to be fair, there is kind of a method to the madness.  Bass fishing is the largest fishing market in the US by far.  Manufacturers must service their biggest market.  The ocean boats came first.  They may not be ideal yet, but they serve the market fairly well.

I'd like to see more hardshell fishing kayaks.  The Eddyline is a start.  And we'll soon see another from Current Designs.  But some good old fiberglass kayaks at a decent price point would be appealing to me.

And actually, as a hull, for the most part Hobies don't move well.  They overcome that with the Mirage Drive.  So if I were Hobie, I'd release some more efficient hulls.  But I'd still also release a standup bass hull.  Gotta service your markets.

-Allen

I agree completely Allen and do understand that marketing strategy. A few more lightweights would be great. If Wildy made something bigger than the 120 ultra light I would be all over it.  Tha Tarpon 120 LightWeight is always over looked by the fiberglass kayak seekers.

Tha Tarpon 120 LightWeight is always over looked by the fiberglass kayak seekers.

Yeah, why is that?  Maybe because the 120 has always been thought of as a small kayak?  The 120 Lite isn't fiberglass though, is it?

-Allen

You got a link to where this "a new way to fish" announcement came from?

You got a link to where this "a new way to fish" announcement came from?

We at KayakFishingMagazine.net heard wind of it, approached Hobie's PR agency, and they confirmed that the only thing they can say is it's "A New Way to Fish".   You heard it here first.     Expect more toward Outdoor Retailer tradeshow in late July.  It traditionally is a show of new product launches in the kayak industry.

-Allen

Man, I might lose sleep over this!  I'm sure whatever it is, its gonna be awesome.  Thanks for putting me on the cutting edge!

I have a feeling "A New Way to Fish" is more than just a kayak and it may include some accessories and the like.  I have no basis for this feeling other than gut.  We may have some more information at iCast in 3 weeks, but again, I don't know that for sure.

-Allen

Tha Tarpon 120 LightWeight is always over looked by the fiberglass kayak seekers.

Yeah, why is that?  Maybe because the 120 has always been thought of as a small kayak?  The 120 Lite isn't fiberglass though, is it?

-Allen

I think it is overlooked because of marketing, or lack of. It weighs less than the Eddyline 12' boat and is the same size. Yes I wish it came in a longer version. A lot of people out there like 12'' boats though. They are a bit pricey at $1300 but it is less than the Eddyline too. It is a composite material. Durable as roto molded yaks supposedly.

I was not trying to push a wildly in my comments earlier by the way.

I think hobie needs to design a better hull. The hulls(revo,adv) are made to go fast on flat water.They lack stability in rougher water. That is worsened by the higher center of gravity caused by having you legs up in the birthing position.I guess that is why i always see guys pedaling them with their training wheels on.I too would like to see them make a boat with a more traditional hull design with some rocker and hard chines. The mirage drive is genius. Now they just need to put it in better hull

Material on the other Wildy composites is called Coremat. Layered with fiberglass. I'm guessing at this point it is the same as the 120 UL.

Material on the other Wildy composites is called Coremat. Layered with fiberglass. I'm guessing at this point it is the same as the 120 UL.

I don't think so.  The quick "Google Research" I just did leads me to believe it is thermoformed ABS.

-Allen

I think hobie needs to design a better hull. The hulls(revo,adv) are made to go fast on flat water.They lack stability in rougher water. That is worsened by the higher center of gravity caused by having you legs up in the birthing position.I guess that is why i always see guys pedaling them with their training wheels on.I too would like to see them make a boat with a more traditional hull design with some rocker and hard chines. The mirage drive is genius. Now they just need to put it in better hull

What is rocker going to do on a pedaled yak other than reduce your tracking?  You're not going to feel much of the benefits of the rocker unless you have a paddle in your hands turning the front of the yak instead of a rudder turning the rear.  Similar question for hard chines.

-Allen

Tha Tarpon 120 LightWeight is always over looked by the fiberglass kayak seekers.

Yeah, why is that?  Maybe because the 120 has always been thought of as a small kayak?  The 120 Lite isn't fiberglass though, is it?

-Allen

I think it is overlooked because of marketing, or lack of. It weighs less than the Eddyline 12' boat and is the same size. Yes I wish it came in a longer version. A lot of people out there like 12'' boats though. They are a bit pricey at $1300 but it is less than the Eddyline too. It is a composite material. Durable as roto molded yaks supposedly.

I was not trying to push a wildly in my comments earlier by the way.

It's not just the length, it's the width.  But then we might be back to the stable bass boat discussion ...

-Allen

Same length and width as the Eddyline. 50 lbs more capacity and about 5lbs lighter. I'm working on finding the materials list. Probably wont know till tomorrow. I will report back.

I don't think it fits as a bigger bass boat at all.

I don't think it fits as a bigger bass boat at all.

My point exactly ...

-Allen