Native or Hobie ?

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leroycnreds
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Native or Hobie ?

Post by leroycnreds »

Hey yall,

I need some input from you guys. New to kayack fishing and looking at buying one soon. I am a big guy ( 6ft 270 ) with a bad back. I really like the Native Mariner and the Hobie Mirage for alot of reasons but mostly because of the seats. What do yall think about these and or there some others I should look at.
Thanks.
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by Flint River Pirate »

leroycnreds wrote:Hey yall,

I need some input from you guys. New to kayack fishing and looking at buying one soon. I am a big guy ( 6ft 270 ) with a bad back. I really like the Native Mariner and the Hobie Mirage for alot of reasons but mostly because of the seats. What do yall think about these and or there some others I should look at.
Thanks.
The Hobie is MUCH easier to pedal than the Native version from what I hear. I have a Hobie so I might be bias.
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by leroycnreds »

Sorry I mispelled Kayak. Work distracted me.
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by cotton »

I love my Hobie, but when you pedal you sit quite differently than you would in a paddle yak. Your bad back is a great reason to try before you buy. I rented both yaks I was interested in before I purchased my Hobie.
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by skitterwalk »

hobie all the way! i did my research for about a year and everything was pointing to my hobie revolution 8) and when a 14 year old kid buys a hobie revo at that price point thats saying something and had dafinetly surpassed my expectations. :wink: i will sell u mine for 1,700 (2010 model, ivory dune) it is in classfields a while ago. and the only reason im selling it is to get a new one. I liked it to much!
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by Shorewalker »

A similar question is Ford or Chevy? As for the Hobie do you mean Pro Angler (Mirage just means pedal drive)? I ask because the PA has a much different seat. I love my PA and the seat is definitely one of the reasons. The seat sits a couple of inches higher than your feet do - and that relieves some pressure from your lower back. However the weight of the PA is something to consider with a bad back as well. Loading this beast to a car top is an art form to say the least. Also spend the extra for the plugin cart to get from the parking lot to the water. The main selling points for me were Mirage drive and capacity since I'm. 6'8" 300 lbs.

My slightly biased two cents

Crunch mentions a trailer and that is something I was going to add (but trying to post via phone gets laborous so I add it here as an edit.)
Last edited by Shorewalker on Tue Aug 24, 2010 8:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by capncrunch »

Go Hobie and consider purchasing a trailer to lessen the lifting load.
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by no-time »

I'm 6'1" 270 and the Hobie Pro-Angler was my purchase but it takes an effort to put it back on top of my truck after fishing in the heat. Trailer would be the way to go and a cart a most for the PA.
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by RonHarrison »

I'm 6' 1" and 250'ish pounds and can talk about the Hobie Outback, Revolution, and Quest.

I started out with an Outback because I thought it was the way to go with my size and for stability. It is, indeed, as stable as they get, but it is a BARGE to paddle if you take a notion to do so. Even pedaling it can be a chore. Loading it is an even bigger chore.

If it's too much of a chore to load up and take to the water, you simply will not go as often. I go twice as much now that I call a Hobie Quest home. And... ...I am simply not as enamored with the pedals as I once was. I imagine I'll pick up a Revolution one of these days, but I'm in no hurry.

So... ...moral of the story and point I want to make is to NOT just assume that you have to get a barge because you're a big boy. I find that Quest to be MUCH easier to move and provides PLENTY of stability for my big ass. I can throw it in the back of the truck with much less trouble and gear than with the Outback.

DEFINITELY give the Revolution a test-drive before you get either an Outback or a Pro Angler.

Best of luck! Can't wait to hear what you choose!
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by Flatout »

Buying a Kayak is a very personal thing. Go try both and another brand or two. Personally I am 285 lbs and I decided to go with the Pro-Angler just to have more room for my large self and my LARD A@# . The seat is a very big consideration and it was a big decision maker for me in choosing the Pro-Angler, since a friend of mine complains about the "BOB" diasease (boney ole but) I knew the seat was an important part of the decesion. Don't forget to try getting in and out of a Kayak, bad-back may present some problems. With that back, you're probably gonna want a trailer anyway. I hated loading, unloading, loading, then fishing a while (fun), then unloading, loading, and unloading when you get home. For sure the Pro-angler is much more fun to use with a trailer, at this point I would not want to load any of them above waist level. So after all that try several and like choosing your wife, ...... get the one you love!
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by jsuber »

Do you plan on spending more time fishing or loading it. I would guess fishing. You'll figure out how to load it. Get the PA
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by leroycnreds »

Thanks for your input guys. I have been leaning towards the Hobie Pro Angler since I first became interested in Kayak fishing. I will be at sgi labor day weekend trying out a rental before I purchase one.
Who in the area would have the best service and price ? I live in Bama but have been fishing on the forgotten coast since a child so I am familiar with the area west of Apalach.

Fishin story from the seventies. My dad and I would pull our 18 ft wooden boat from our place in pcb to sgi. During this time you could launch your boat from the beach. From there we would go west pass the cut to little sgi,beach the boat and surf fish. We caught the biggest bull reds that I have ever seen to this day. It was great. Just thought I would share. Thanks.
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by RonHarrison »

jsuber wrote:Do you plan on spending more time fishing or loading it. I would guess fishing.
That was kind of the point I was trying to make. Easy loading = more likely to go fishing more often.

That was the case for me, personally.
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by IS2K1 »

When you get old like me, always take someone fishing with you. They will always offer to help load the kayak for the "old man" :D
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Re: Native or Hobie ?

Post by tlhflyfisher »

The "which kayak" question always comes down to your own priorities and circumstances. I own a Hobie revolution and a Native Watercraft tegris. I like both but I use the tegris 9 times out of 10, primarily because the revolution is so difficult to load and unload by myself. I usually fish alone and I fly fish mostly. The tegris is easy to stand up and fish in. The revolution is not.

The revolution is better in rougher conditions because it has scuppers that allow water to enter and then drain out. The tegris is a kayak/canoe hybrid that has no scuppers. The pedals on the revolution can be a big advantage when you spin fish but the whole contraption gets in the way when you fly fish. A trailer would be a huge asset for the revolution. I think a pro angler and a trailer might provide the option of standing and overcome the difficulty of getting a heavy kayak on top of the suv alone.
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