VEE was on a Women’s Fly Fishing Weekend (4 Days) recently and saw some folks with Hobie Mirage Drive Kayaks. Much faster and seemingly easier to get around in than her float tube. Any opinions from actual users? Are they worth the money?
Help a stream fisherman out here folks.
REE
I have one. Awesome! Decked it out with rod holders and color fishfinder (thru-hull mounted transducer), also have a handheld GPS mount, haven’t attached it yet.
They are quick! They are stable. They are also somewhat heavy…I think mine, unloaded, weighs around 70 lbs. I use the 2-wheeled cart that plugs into the bottom for getting in and out of boat ramps/canoe launches quickly.
For small shallow streams…might not be the best choice. For deeper streams and rivers with moderate currents, or lakes…or ocean, they work really well.
My advice…try one and see what you think! They aren’t cheap, so make sure it’ll work for you.
I’ve had a Hobie Revolution for about three years now & the more I use it the better I like it. The feature I like the best is the ability to fish & pedal at the same time keeping you fly in the water longer than otherwise would be possible. Going against the wind it’s easy to work a shoreline pedaling as slowly or as fast as you want. Going with the wind I can drift with the wind, steer with the rudder & pedal as needed. I find it has good agility for all but the tightest spots where you might have the get out your paddle. I’m very happy with the speed & stability. I have plenty of space for all the stuff I need for a full day on the water. I’ve been out in 15 - 20 mph winds and the Mirage drive generates plenty of power to go against them at a decent but not fast pace. I don’t think I would go out in stronger winds.
You can only pedal forward so if you need to go backward or sideways a bit you need you use the paddle. If there are emergent weeds in the area you need to pay attention as these can catch on the pedals or rubber. The fins on the Mirage drive are basically self clearing with not much help needed. The rudder is harder to clear but not that much trouble. If some are caught on it I raise it and they drop off. Usually I can avoid trouble by just steering around them & using short, shallow strokes with the Mirage Drive to keep from catching them in the first place.
All in all I think the Revolution in an outstanding kayak for fishing or just plain having fun.
Looks like I may have to find a dealer near here so she can test drive one to see if she really wants one. Heck, I may give one a try myself.
Thanks for the info guys, it’s appreciated.
It’s much cheaper than the last boat she had her eyes on. A 20 foot jet sled for zipping up and down the steelhead rivers. That was a measly $23,000. No, we didn’t actually get one.
REE
You would like that Hobie, but you NEED that jet sled! Probably should get both.
I bought the Outback when it came out. I love it. Everything above is true. You need the jet sleed to transport the Hobies to places that would take to long to paddle to.
REE,
I have seen them in action on my local rivers and they do look like they would be easy to navigate the rivers here. They are like all other crafts in that they do have their disadvantages and their advantages. I have owned and used canoes, flatbottom boats and a Hobie Cat 75 and they all have their place in my fly fishing. I strongly urge you to demo one where you plan to use one before commiting to owning one to make sure it is what you want and need. The only reason I have not been interested in them is: They do not navigate grass and weeds very well, you can only navigate forward so you would still need the paddle on board somewhere and the biggest disavantage, for me, is that at my age, I do not want to be sitting on the bottom with my legs straight out in front of me because, after awhile, it would get to be very unconfortable for me plus I would feel confined to one space and could not move around to get more comfortable. I, also, like to be able to fish from it and you will be restricted to fishing only the water in front of you. It would be difficult to fish water on each side, without twisting around at the waist and fishing that way and you would not be able to fish any water behind you. Now if you only want to use the craft to go up and down a river and get out and wade fish, it would work great. I want to be able to fish from mine, sit like in a chair with your feet on the floor, have the option of a swivel seat so that I can swivel side ways to fish water on each side or turn all the way around and fish water behind me. I can do all of this in my NuCanoe and it is very easy to navigate with it using a double bladed paddle. Trust me, I am not trying to sell you a NuCanoe, I am just trying to explain why I can do more with a NuCanoe than I could with this particular craft and that gives me “more bang for the buck”.
I strongly urge you to demo anything you plan to purchase to make sure it will do all the other things you want to do in it besides go up and down a river or lake. If you do not plan to fish from it from all angles and do not mind sitting on the floor with your legs and feet straight out in front of you for extended periods of time, it will probably work just fine.
I guess I wasn’t really clear here. We would only be using the Hobie(s) on lakes. I’d hate to loose the propulsion system on some of our fast shallow riffles our local rivers are famous for.
I am keeping an open mind on the sled, at my age it’s easier to fire up the jet than pull on drift boat oars. Plus, there’s no shuttle involved with a sled.
REE
WarrenP,
In my earlier post I forgot to mention that you can fish the water to the side of you by turning to the side and dangling your feet in the water. When I’ve been out for several hours this change of position also offers some relief to my knees and back. But if I need more relief I beach my kayak to get out and stretch for a bit. If you’re way out in the ocean or lake this may not be feasible.
I agree with you that Hobie kayaks with the Mirage drive do not navigate weeds and grass very well if the tops come within say, about a foot of the surface. But it does help if you keep the pedals close to the boats hull and use only short strokes so they don’t go deep into the water. Same is true when navigating shallow water.
Although caution is warranted in shallow water you won’t damage the drive without a fairly substantial impact. I’ve bumped the bottom, bumped stumps, got tangled in weeds, etc. without hurting it.
For me the biggest negative of my Revolution is I can’t stand up in it. I can’t see the fish until I’m very close to them.
Ron Eagle Elk,
If you find yourself in a position where it’s no longer possible to use the Mirage drive you can use the paddle. The Revolution paddles fairly well but most people simply don’t paddle except when they have to.
Supposedly, if you put the pontoons on a Hobie, you can stand to cast/fish. I haven’t bothered doing that on either of my Outbacks but I have considered it many times.
For backing up, I carry a short (18", maybe 12"…shortest I could find) wooden paddle. It looks like a really tiny canoe paddle.
I can easily use it one-handed to back up, push away from a dock, etc. It cost maybe twenty bucks I think at a local outdoors store.
I’ve fished from my Outbacks on lakes, ponds, and rivers (with slow current). I know folks that take them in the ocean but for that, I’d want one of the Hobie models that are longer (and thus faster).
I added a simple sailing cleat along the top about as far back as I can comfortably reach. I slip the anchor line into it and can easily pop it out (some cleats are closed on top…I went with one that’s always open). If you get hung up in current or wind, being able to toss your anchor line overboard can be important (on any small watercraft). A float on the winding-end of the line will hopefully let me retrieve it later.
When it’s really shallow or really weedy (small ponds for chasing bass/bluegill), I stow the pedals and just paddle. I’m a big guy and can still skim over the weeds to get to places float-tubers struggle with (their legs dangle too far down into the salad).
I’ve caught fish literally within inches of the side of the kayak so I’m not worried about having to cast while sitting. It’s no more limiting than a float tube. Line management is just as important as in a float tube so you don’t tangle on everything in sight.
Good luck with whatever you end up with.
Native Watercraft also makes a pedal drive boat - more like a canoe than a kayak. It has a different drive system and as a result can go backwards. I have never used either a Native Watercraft or the Hobie. The ability to keep your boat in position while fishing would be great in the windy midwest. Normally you either have to alternate casting and paddling or fiddle with anchors all the time. My biggest problem with these models is the weight. The Hobie Angler weights 88 pounds! The 14.5’ Native Watercraft propel is 68 pounds. I doubt that I could put either on top of a car by myself. For reference my ancient 12’ Old Town plastic canoe and my 17’ Eddyline sea kayak both weight 25 to 45 lbs less and can be cartopped or carried 50’ to the water without too much suffering (or too long healing).
I would love to give one a try sometime and maybe that would convince me that a trailer is justified.
David
I have Ultimate 14.5s and they’re very easy to put on top of a vehicle. No problem at all. I peddled the Native boat before it hit the market. I like the fact that you can peddle in reverse.
Like cycler68 said…I’ve also dangled my legs over the side while fishing, just for a change of position, and the kayak is quite stable like this. I also wish I could stand up in it to fish, for a better “sight-fishing” vantage point… but the floor is not flat in my Outback, so I haven’t even tried standing up in it…yet. Being not a flat floor, but rather curved downward from just above the knees to the foot area, it isn’t uncomfortable to sit in, like sitting on a completely flat floor might be.
Dave, you ought to try a Native Ultimate. You can stand up in one very easily!
If you’re only going to use it on lakes (and, maybe, saltwater), you might consider the Adventure Island. Comes with rudder, outriggers, Mirage drive (the pedals), and a mast with sail. You can do some serious, long distance moving with that one. If you were considering a PWC, the AI is well within your budget.
Is the “Drive” the new one with the pedal and rudder system than can be pulled up suddenly in shallow water? I saw one of those and was very impressed, especially with the weight capacity. That’s a big issue for me
I find Hobie to be cost prohibitive however and I fish from a Perception Caster 12.5. The Mrs./a guest fishes from an Old Towne Vapor 12. The good news is, it’s more versatile if only because of its size and it works well enough for my purposes.
I’ve read that you can get the Hobie drive to go backwards but you have to pop it out and face it the other way. Lots of folks have pictures on their web sites showing a very simple “leash” for the drives so they can’t drop them while doing this on the water. I’ve never needed to back up far enough to bother swapping my drive around.
I love boats. I own 4 kayaks a canoe and a pontoon boat. Last year a bought a MOKAI jet kayak. It is perfect for traveling up the rivers around here for fishing. I don’t have to shuttle or arrange drop offs or pick ups, and I can go out by myself any time. I don’t use it on rivers with lots of bank or wade fishermen where I would be looked on as a pest , but on the large rivers the boat works great. When they are running the generators on the white river tailwaters the current is pretty swift (4 to 5 miles an hour) and in some of the shoales the current is much greater. Using my self propelled kayak I usually wear out after
only about two miles against the current. And to do even that much you have to read the river well and catch back currents whenever possible. You have to always look for the part of the river with the least current. The mokai is not a speed demon. Its top end is maybe 15mph at best. But the jet type engine allows you to boat in shallow water (4 to 6 inches) with no trouble, It has a 6 hp honda engine and is relatively quite. I can stand and flyfish from it or I can sit on the front deck with my feet in the cockpit. For the most part ,however, I use it the get from hole to hole and then wade fish. Now I wouldn’t get rid of my paddle powered kayaks, since there are many situations where I prefer them. But Ireally love the MOKAI. I installed a cheap chinese winch in the back of my pickup and made a ramp with casters that I can hook on the tailgate. Thus with the push of a button I can pull the boat up and into the truck with no effort. (The MOKAI weighs 100 lbs without the motor, which comes out and in easily). I can put the boat in the truck myself without the winch but it is so much easier with it. The only drawback to the MOKAI is that whenever I run into anyone on the river or at a launch site I encounter lots of interest in the thing. I end up having to spend time telling them all about it. (I really don’t mind).