Paddle?

[rgharris83]

My new Tarpon 140 gets here Friday and I can't wait to try and learn some fishing spots around here. I went kayak fishing on the Indian River months ago and was HOOKED! I finally ordered mine and I hope to see a few of you guys on the water. Now to my question.... I'm looking to get a good paddle. I've got no clue what to look for. Any paddle suggestions that won't break me? I spent more than I needed to on the yak...

[Nathan]

I'm sure you've already heard this somewhere, but there's two accessories for a kayak that you shouldn't be cheap on. One is a paddle and the second is a seat. I have the older version of the Aqua-Bound Eagleray carbon and like it. It's probably not as nice as some of the higher dollar paddles but is light weight and not priced too bad. You can see it here http://www.rei.com/online/store/Product ... DDLING_TOC
From there you get into the Bending Branches and Werner type paddles that are fairly expensive, but very nice. Onno and Big Spoons also make very nice paddles.

Nathan

[Littoral]

Nathan is right. Look at it this way, one trip will tell you if you got the paddle you wanted. If you didn't you will very quickly so why not save the money you'll waste on a cheaper one and get the paddle you need. It's really not an option. I hated it but dropped $140 on mine.

[eric]

As long as you never use a quality paddle you will never know the difference. Ive been using a $18.00 plastic paddle with aluminum shaft for years but I don't paddle miles and miles to a fishing hole.I usually start fishing close to where I put in. If your going to fish a lot of creeks and oyster bars, get out and bank fish here and there, fish at low, low tide where you my need to push yourself around you need a cheap paddle to push off with. You will probably bust or chip one of those high dollar paddles.

[Littoral]

As long as you never use a quality paddle you will never know the difference.

True enough. Like yesterday, when the waves were 3-5 and the wind was 15-20 when NOAA called for 5-10, I was able to easily paddle the extra half mile to the site I really wanted and catch my only fish of the day, a 29" redfish.
If I hadn't gone I would have never known the difference.

[Littoral]

RG, I was thinking that a good single blade paddle might be less expensive and, evidently, a pretty good choice. I started a topic with a link to the TKF board.

[rgharris83]

Thanks for the input. I needed to hear some input from some experienced yakers. I'm going to pick it up now and make a game time decision on the paddle.