TexasKayakFisherman.com

Howdy from the Texas Highland Lakes Country. My wife and I recently retired on some property we bought that has a very large pond (a little over an acre.) We like to fish, although we haven't had much time until now. We went to a fly fishing 101 course and got things ready to start fly fishing. One of our longtime customer and friend had a presentation on KAYAK fly fishing at the local fly shop. We were hooked.

A few weeks later we were driving through town and spotted a couple of used fishing kayaks for sale. We stopped and checked them out. They looked to be in good shape and the price was fair, so we picked them up. Funny thing is we found out the previous owner was also one of our customers. So I reached out to him looking for information on the kayaks.

From what he told me these were part of a group of 25 kayaks that were special ordered by a men's outdoor group. They specified the features they wanted on the kayaks. The company that put them together is ADIO KAYAKS. I'm not familiar with them, nor can I find any information about the company. The kayaks feature pedal drive (using the HOBIE design), are 10' long and 30 " wide.

Since then I have been finding parts to update some of the items on the kayaks. For example, the kayaks have nice Pelican seats. They were mounted by using electrical wire to wrap around the seat frame, and through one of the eye bolts on the accessory tracks. I made some clamps using conduit clamps and bolted them to the accessory tracks. I also replaced the side carry handles and bungee cords.

Here are some photos of the kayaks. I would appreciate any information you folks can share. I look forward to learning from the members here.

Welcome to TKF. Are you speaking about Jim Gray?

These kayaks were ordered by the group from Alibaba: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 46c7SyNs4w

I have no idea about the kayaks, but they look great and appear to me to be based off of the Outback, but 30” seems narrow to me.

Thanks for the replies. No, it wasn't Jim Gray. Sorry, I don't know who he might be. I will take a look at the link provided.

I tried measuring the kayak's width, and doing it by my self it looked like 30" at the beam.

I looked at the link for Alibabba, and yes, those are the kayaks. I figured they were a no-name import. But, for the money they seemed a good kayak to start with. As we gain experience and try these out, we can decide if we want to step up to new kayaks.

Thanks

ltcdwb wrote:Thanks for the replies. No, it wasn't Jim Gray. Sorry, I don't know who he might be. I will take a look at the link provided.

I tried measuring the kayak's width, and doing it by my self it looked like 30" at the beam.

If it's the same as the ones in the link (and it appears they are), the link says 31" wide.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

Glad you found the width, I looked all over that link and did not see it listed. My rough eyeball of the tape measure came pretty close when I thought it was 30".

Thanks

With these kayaks being 31" wide, would it be wise to get the outrigger pontoons>? I'm thinking they would be similar to training wheels on a bicycle.

If it is a good idea, which manufacturer?

ltcdwb wrote: ↑Sat Jul 15, 2023 9:05 am With these kayaks being 31" wide, would it be wise to get the outrigger pontoons>? I'm thinking they would be similar to training wheels on a bicycle.

If it is a good idea, which manufacturer?

I think my Hobie Revo is around 28” wide and it is pretty stable. I did turtle once though when a red ran under my yak and I didn’t get my rod tip around because I was fighting a strong current. I think you’ll be fine without the outrigger pontoon things.

Thanks, we will give them a try and see how things go.

What a great find! Everything about these look ideal for your pond! So happy for you both!

Thanks. Hopefully we can get them out soon.