Kayak fishing usually brings to mind a small plastic boat, a paddle and a quiet day trying to catch bass. But some professional anglers now fish from kayaks equipped with motors, advanced electronics and accessories that can push the price toward $25,000.
Three-time national champion Wyatt Hammond says he has seen competitors with setups that look more like spacecraft than kayaks. To him, though, the high-end rigs aren’t so different from expensive cars or bass boats fitted with several depth finders.
Hammond has plenty of experience at the top of the sport. He won the Bassmaster Kayak Series National Championship in 2025 and claimed back-to-back Kayak Bass Fishing national titles in 2024 and 2025. Last month, he came within two inches of defending his Bassmaster crown at Lake Murray in South Carolina.
Still, one reason he chose kayak tournaments over traditional bass-boat competition was the lower cost. Hammond once owned a bass boat, but the fuel and upkeep eventually became too much. Its 36-gallon tank could cost about $150 to fill, before accounting for tires and other maintenance.
“I couldn’t tell you the last time I put gas in my kayak,” he joked.
His own current setup is far from bare-bones. Hammond, who is part of the Old Town pro team, fishes from an AutoPilot 136, a motorized kayak that can carry sophisticated electronics and other gear. But he says newcomers don’t need to spend thousands to get started.
In fact, Hammond says he made things more expensive for himself by gradually upgrading, moving from a $200 kayak to models costing $400, $700, $2,000 and eventually $5,000. In hindsight, he thinks it would have made more sense to buy a decent pedal-drive kayak earlier.
A pedal drive gives anglers more mobility and leaves their hands free to cast, change lures or use their electronics. Even so, Hammond says a modest setup can be enough to compete. He used an older kayak at a national championship on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville last year—and paddled it.
Fishing from a kayak has also changed how Hammond approaches the water. Unlike anglers in powerful bass boats, kayak fishermen can’t quickly cover long distances whenever they want to try a new spot.
That limitation, he says, can help anglers become more thoughtful. They have to study the water they’re in, work out how the fish are behaving and make the most of the area they’ve chosen.
So while some competitors may spend the price of a used car on a high-tech kayak, the sport still comes down to finding fish and making good decisions. And you don’t need a $25,000 setup to do that.
