Hobie Mirage??
 

Anybody have one of these Yaks? I am thinking about buying the "Adventure" model and was wondering how folks like the pedal feature and the kayak in general???:tooth:

My friend has 2 & loves them. They bought them in June after seeing them at the RI Show.
Right now he is out of work and is looking to sell 1 of them. I'll check with him and get the price for ya if you want.

Check out the Hobie site, there's a video of a pedal yak dragging a paddled yak backwards. Impressive display of power. If I had the means I'd be all over one.

I have the CD they give prospective buyers already.....but I am looking for first hand experience with the Hobie Mirage line.

Only why to kayak fish in my mind, I have a revolution. I like it a lot but I now wish I got the adventure a little bigger little better mounting options but both great boats. I had a wilderness systems tarpon before which I liked but the hobie is it. Was a little bit of a transition going from paddle to pedel. But if its your first fishing yak you should have no issues. They are stabel boats. The adventure is a little faster.It sure is fun sneaking up on spots that you used to work fron the surf.
Hope this helps

opps, forgot to add if you take the plunge save yourself some time and get the turbo fins and sailing rudder huge difference.

patswin

I bought a Hobie Rev this spring, got it pretty well setup.
Haven't had the water time I as hoping for :-(

What is the advantage of the larger rudde and fins?

Megabyte

rudder/fins
 

Well the main advantage of the fins in my opinion is makes it easier to maintain a nice cruising speed when trying to cross open water also very little effort to maintain trolling speed. The larger rudder much more responsive turning and better drift control esp.. while casting to a shore line or to stucture ya know that big rock you know that cow is hiding behind just waiting for your slug-go.

Larry,
A consideration you need to make is the tradeoff of speed over stability since the Adventure is narrower than the Revolutin and Outback. I have the Outback and I weigh 270 lbs. I know you're a big guy too, and a lot taller than I. Yeah, it's slower but for fishing, speed may not be the number 1 consideration. Trolling speeds are very slow, so you only need speed to get to your areas. Once there, you're not moving too fast. Just my $ 0.02

yeah Larry, make sure you test out anything before buying and at least sit in it and see how it fits, you need to be comfortable or you will be in pain pretty quickly out there. I don't have a hobie, but a lot of the real kayak sharpies around these parts swear by them,

BigBo is gonna let me test his yak! It sucks because I can't get a test drive in a Hobie! Nobody offers that?? If anyone out there has a mirage drive at least 13 feet long and would not mind letting me test drive it....I will toss them a couple plugs for their courtesy??

How is it to land on the beach, do the fins fold in as you approach or something?

Fins lock to the hull.....but I am sure you want to beach it carefully as not to ruin them. The drive can be lifted out of the hull from above easily also so as not to ruin them when beaching it!

I heard the fins make you look even more like a seal...... :uhoh:

what about launching from the beach/surf? do you carry a paddle as well, I guess you have to..

Yeah, you have a paddle also. I pull my drive when I get about 20 ft from shore. You don't want sand grinding into the drive.

That's what i figured..

If I didn't have so much coin into mine I would move over to one, they seem very cool and sweet for casting on the go.

I had a b___d chasing me out at the cement barge off of gooseberry yesterday. Dude was moving.

If I was to purchase a yak, hobie would be it.

Kaskazi Dorado yak. Check it out. It's made in South Africa and is a very fast SOT. FishHawk

Those Yaks are awsome IF you want to paddle. $$$ though for a paddle Yak. It boils down to what you are looking for. For the areas I fish, peddle is the way to go.