Start up gear/safety gear. Need recommendations

Hi fellow fishermen,

I recently purchased my first kayak (pa14) and am in need of finding out what gear is a must before I head out on the water.

What are good brands, and what items are a must?

life vest?
wet suit?
compass?
radio?
gps?

what is needed and where can I find these for a good price?

Thanks everyone!

#1 most important piece of gear you need is a good quality life vest, or PFD (personal flotation device).  Skimp on other gear and spend more money on this piece if needed.  Kokatat is an awesome brand and is very popular among kayak fishermen.  Other brands to look at are Stohlquist and NRS.

After that, look for some kind of an immersion clothing system.  A wetsuit will work and is very safe, but can be a bit uncomfortable on the water.  A drysuit is an ideal option.  A good pair of breathable waders and a dry top is a great option and fairly inexpensive. Make sure to wear a wading belt if you wear waders.  There's lots more to consider, but that should keep you busy for now.

Hi fellow fishermen,

I recently purchased my first kayak (pa14) and am in need of finding out what gear is a must before I head out on the water.

What are good brands, and what items are a must?

life vest?
wet suit?
compass?
radio?
gps?

what is needed and where can I find these for a good price?

Thanks everyone!

Congrats on the purchase!  There's a ton of info in this forums archives that deal with exactly what you are asking about. Do some digging and it'll be there! 

Knowledge is a must have item in this endeavor. Good luck and play safe!!

Warning: go slow unless you have the budget for it.Or as those of us with depression era parents were taught, buy the best you can afford and make it hurt just a bit. Then take care of it.

PFD Stohlquist, MTI, Astral, or even NRS. While not absolutely the most expensive they will all do you right. 

Immersion gear, Kokotat, Stohlquist, NRS all are good. Decide if you want to go full union suit type dry suit or dry top and pants route.

Compass 1st, GPS 2nd ( debatable)

How good is your paddle? Since you have a PA maybe a good quality Sawyer is in order instead of the stock Hobie one.

All Safety gear 1st including the repair kit Hobie sells for on the water  emergencies

Where do you plan to kayak and fish?  There is some gear which is important for ocean kayak fishing which is not necessary for fishing in inland lakes and rivers.

You definitely need a good PFD (life vest).  If you are going to kayak in cold water, a dry suit is very important item of safety gear.  Dry suits are expensive, but will allow you to kayak in comfort in a wide range of weather conditions, and can save your life if you end up in the water. I think wet suits are nasty and uncomfortable, and suggest that you spend your money on a dry suit.  Get a dry suit which is large enough for a number of layers of clothing under it; you definitely should not be looking for a trim stylish look.  Get a dry suit with a diagonal front entry zipper; You'll need assistance from a friend to get in and out of most dry suits with a zipper across their shoulders (rear entry suits).  Get a dry suit with a pee zipper; or you will be very very sorry if your get a dry suit without a pee zipper.  Get a dry suit with dry socks rather than ankle gaskets; your feet will spend a lot of time in the water when kayak fishing, and dry sock will keep your feet warm and dry.  You can layer up warm fuzzy socks under the dry socks.  The footgear you wear over the dry socks should fit loosely, so it doesn't constrict your feet and make them cold; I get footgear with is about two sizes larger than my street shoes, so I can layer up a couple pairs of socks when the weather is cold. 

You'll need an assortment of outdoor clothing and hats which will keep you warm and comfortable in a variety of weather, and even if you get wet.  None of this clothing should contain any cotton whatsoever, as cotton soaks up large amounts of water, dries very slowly, and will suck heat from your body at a dangerous rate. The clothing should be made of polypro, acrylic, nylon, and perhaps some wool.

You may go a long time without flipping your Pro Angler or falling into the water, but it's going to happen eventually.  And when it happens, it'll probably happen in bad weather, wind, and waves.  Learn how to right your Pro Angler and get back in it, and get good at doing both of them, so you won't need to figure out how to do it in an emergency. You can find plenty of instructional videos on YouTube or elsewhere on the internet.  Find a pool or some other safe place to practice these skills in water which is too deep to stand up in.  If you don't have a couple friends along in kayaks, tie your Pro Angler to a dock by a boat ramp with twenty feet of rope, so if you have trouble righting the kayak and/or climbing back onto it, you can tow it over to the boat ramp and turn it upright.

Since no one else mentioned my first three safety items I will,
1. Common sense to know your limit on water conditions.
b. If in the salt water another kayaker, safety in numbers.
3. Float plan, let at least 1 person not going know who, what, when,where,how long.
That's my first 3 rules

Since no one else mentioned my first three safety items I will,
1. Common sense to know your limit on water conditions.
b. If in the salt water another kayaker, safety in numbers.
3. Float plan, let at least 1 person not going know who, what, when,where,how long.
That's my first 3 rules

Hey, you stole those from me nearly word for word from the last safety thread. It's ok though, we can share.

Since no one else mentioned my first three safety items I will,
1. Common sense to know your limit on water conditions.
b. If in the salt water another kayaker, safety in numbers.
3. Float plan, let at least 1 person not going know who, what, when,where,how long.
That's my first 3 rules

Hey, you stole those from me nearly word for word from the last safety thread. It's ok though, we can share.

Guess it goes to show that I pay attention to you even though I don't realize it but it's a true statement.

A PFD IS MANDATORY. Everytime, everywhere.

Everything else depends on what water, where, and when.

Limit yourself to lakes and you don't need a compass or gps(but there are non-safety uses),

Limit yourself to water and air above 70, and you don't need immersion gear.

If you are hitting cold water, or big water at any temperature, you need drysuit or wetsuit. Drysuit ia more comfortable. Wetsuit is cheaper. Both will keep you alive. The drysuit has a larger envelope of conditions, the wetsuit is more forgiving of error or equipment failure.

Searching through the archives will give you a more in depth and complete picture of how to gear up for safety, but the answers here are good, albeit condensed.

Common sense is the single most important thing to have.  Mojo Jojo's blatant rip-off of INSAYN's list couldn't be more important, and I'm going to add a fourth item to the list:

4) Get experience before you hit the ocean.

Different waters do have different MINIMUM requirements.  You don't need a VHF Marine radio in freshwater.  A GPS unit is optional in any water.  A good PFD is mandatory everywhere.  Immersion gear is mandatory everywhere - hypothermia starts when the body's core temperature reaches 95-degrees and being stuck in 70-degree water will kill you, too (it just takes a bit longer).

There are members here who prefer a wetsuit to a drysuit, and although I believe a drysuit with base layers is more adaptable to a wider range of water and weather conditions, a proper wetsuit will protect you in a survival situation.

Do a search in the forum.  There's a lot of information from a lot of folks with years of experience in all kinds of water and all kinds of conditions.

Hi fellow fishermen,

P.S.  We have a lot of very smart and experienced Fisherwomen in the forum.  Good idea to listen to their advice, too.     

wow! Thanks for all the awesome feed back! A 2 piece dry suit is a lot closer to my budget. Are 2 pieces still good quality?

I use a wetsuit and find it comfortable to paddle, peddle, and fish with. 

wow! Thanks for all the awesome feed back! A 2 piece dry suit is a lot closer to my budget. Are 2 pieces still good quality?

Sure, they'll work. Look at outdoorplay.com, kayakacademy.com, alki paddle sports,  mountains2sound outfitters, nrsweb.com, etc. Hell even REI sells them.  We have elder members who have used them to circumnavigate puget sound and Vancouver island. Sea kayakers use them more than we do for the most part, but, the short answer, yes.

A 2 piece dry suit is a lot closer to my budget. Are 2 pieces still good quality?

A 2 piece dry suit will keep you warm and dry in the rain, but it won't keep you dry if you end up in the water.  They leak.  A 1 piece dry suit will keep you dry if you end up in the water, and if you have an appropriate amount of clothing layered up under it, it'll keep you warm in the water.  Invest your money on a one-piece drysuit, not a two-piece dry suit.

I have used two-piece dry suits extensively when whitewater kayaking, including multi-day trips.  But I only use two-piece dry suits on whitewater trips where it is unlikely that I could take a swim.  If a trip is difficult enough that there is a risk that I might take a swim, I'll definitely wear a one-piece dry suit.  I'm more likely to end up in the water when kayak fishing than when whitewater kayaking, because I can't roll a sit-on-top kayak.  In addition to fishing in a one-piece dry suit, I snorkel and speargun in a drysuit in cold water in Montana.  At the end of a day of spearfishing, I can drive home in the clothing I was wearing under my drysuit. 

wow! Thanks for all the awesome feed back! A 2 piece dry suit is a lot closer to my budget. Are 2 pieces still good quality?

Again, it depends on where you're going...  I wouldn't use dry pants/dry top in the ocean - or for a large river or lake, either.  I took a round-about path to a drysuit, starting with a wetsuit, later adding dry pants and a semi-dry top to solve some issues I had with wet neoprene, and ended up with a drysuit.  I still use the dry pants/semi-dry top in freshwater to save wear and tear on the drysuit.

Your immersion gear and your PFD are probably the two most critical survival items you'll own.  I feel your pain and budgetary restraints, but the immersion gear is not the place to cut corners.

Go back, check the archives for lively discussions of wetsuits.  They do work.  They aren't terribly comfortable on me, but your mileage - and your waistline - may vary.