New to the forum and the sport

[oredith]

As the title states, I'm new to both the forum as well as the sport of kayak fishing. I signed up hoping to find find out more about it, and hopefully get my feet wet in the near future.

I live in Long Beach, but grew up in San Jose and fished often with my dad in santa cruz from our little boat. I've been wanting to get a small boat to go fishing in Long Beach, but my house just really doesn't lend itself to storing a boat+trailer in the driveway. I talked with my wife recently about kayaking as exercise and weekend activity, and eventually followed the thread to kayak fishing.

Now I'm reading up as much as I can about kayak fishing, the equipment, etc. there's so many questions.

I'd like to ask the forum for advise on 2 fronts:
1. the equipment
2. how to get started actually fishing

Equipment

• I'm not "independently wealthy", so definitely going to be aiming for something on the used market. Hoping to get something in the "best bang for the buck" category (anything 4 digit is going to be a definite NO from the wife though).
• NOT a tandem. wife was firm about this. she does not want a tandem with me screwing her up.. She isn't as big on fishing though, so I can probably get away with getting her something that just has space for a nice cooler for beer, water, and snacks.
• what length is ideal? I'm hoping to put it on top of the car and drive it to places. some of these kayaks seem extremely long, and would need a trailer?

How to get started
the description on the site indicated that the site has a focus on socal? where are some good places for a beginner to kayak fish?

• would I need to fight current while fishing? do you guys anchor kayaks?
• what happens if you catch a "bigger" fish and it fights? I have this image in my head of hooking a fish and having it roll me over in the boat from the tugging. I remember catching a wolf eel in santa cruz that fought like the devil.
• how do you launch the boat? does everyone wear waders and walk the kayak into the water?
• how hard is it to paddle to places? realistically, how far out can a person in average physical condition go in a kayak? I guess this would also be dependent upon the kayak.

I have a ton more questions rolling around in my head, but figured these are a good start. I'd welcome any and all advice, any links to articles I should read, etc.

thanks,

Jeff