I talked to a guy at FTU today who fishes yak tourneys who told me that at a recent tourney on the Bend that at least 6 guys were live scoping and more than 1 cut a check......crazy.....that is completely next level

I was on toledo when those guys were practicing and I know one said he had a good pattern going using it and a I know one other had it. I guess I would have to have it if I was them too

Some of them are using a spotlock TM off the bow to hold position then have a separate side rail PVC livescope transducer mount they can manually rotate.

Pretty slick setup I'm sure. I would think it's not hard to have a $15k Kayak setup these days. Probably higher.

A few I saw probably had that much. One guy had about 3k in big swimbaits. They were traveling miles during the day and one I saw did have a motor guide on it but they could only use manual power during the tournament. They all mentioned they were practicing accordingly. The ones I saw were all really cool guys, no tight lipped stay off my spot stuff you get from a lot of the people I meet in boats.

It can get pretty expensive rather quickly depending on how you want your yak rigged. I sold my bass boat a few years ago and although I still fish with friends on boats, I’ve taken up kayak fishing. Mine won’t be anywhere near the 15k mark or even half, but it’s possible for sure. A Hobie Pro Angler Ike edition is close to 6k I think. Add 3500 for LiveScope, 1k for Power Pole, maybe 1500 for the MotorGuide and mounting hardware, up to 1k for Lithium batteries, 3k for some trailers, and that puts you at 16k. Still tons of other mods people do, so it could get out of hand.

Met an out of state kayak fisherman on Martin Creek a few weeks ago. He fishes all over the country on Hobie Tour and some other tournament trails, his wife too! She wasn't there that day.. she was fishing or prefishing another big tournament trail that he didn't get entered in on time.. 200 entrants and he was on waiting list if anyone dropped out. Had trolling motor, probably spot lock, I didn't ask.. I was looking at his two big graphs, one a live scope. Carrying 8 or 10 rods, never saw so many on a "kayak" in my life.