New to kayaking need recommendations

Hey fellas,

My New years resolution was to increase my time on the water this year and I tend to have to fish solo a lot. I would really like to give kayak fishing a shot, but have no idea where to start. My head spins when I read all the online reviews????

I will be fishing rivers and small lakes with it, I'm 5'9" and 185-200 depending on the time of year

i will be targeting multi-species...including river muskies. Like the idea of standing to fish? Any suggestions on the best model for my interests and what it would take to get it rigged correctly (I know it's a lot of info0

Thanks in advance

MS

There is no easy answer to your question. As you have found out there are a lot of kayaks to chose from. Choosing a kayak is about compromise, there is no perfect kayak. If you want one to stand in you will have a barge, it will be wide, slow and heavy, plus tougher to transport. First off you want an sit on top yak, not a sit in, sot's are a lot safer and self draining, you will get water in the yak. I don't care how dry a ride the salesman claims the yak to be, you will get wet. Now it depends on how much you want to spend, do you want new ?? There are some real good deals used if you take your time looking. For your use a 12 ft'er would be a good chose. I had a tarpon that was a real good yak, also look at the hurricane phoenix, they are the lightest one's out there and glide real nice. There are others that are good also, ocean kayak, manta ray come to mind. Stay away from the pelican's, piece of junk IMO. If you are willing to spend a little more then IMO the best fishing kayak you can get is the hobie revolution, they are very popular here on the east coast for a reason. You can go anywhere with them and no paddling and they are great for trolling. More time spent fishing.
Good luck choosing it ain't easy.