Kayak, or SDP?

Kayak fishing is incredibly popular, as are stand up paddleboards, known as SUPs. And sure, you can fish from an SUP too. But truth be told these are better suited for paddlers, not casters. For the most part they require more balance, don’t come equipped for fishing, and since you can’t sit comfortably for extended periods on an SUP fishing trips aboard them are very limited in duration. Enter: the SDP, or sit down paddleboard.

The Hobie Lynx may be the first fishing craft that’s park kayak, part SUP, and would be accurately described as a SDP. It has the flat, low profile of a SUP, but it also has one of Hobie’s uber-comfortable kayak seats with mono-mesh fabric, an EVA standing pad, a steerable rudder, bow bungee stowage, and it’s propelled via Hobie’s MirageDrive 180 pedal drive with kick-up fins. Just as important to anglers, the Lynx is fitted with a molded-in track system that accepts accessories ranging from fishing rod holders to fishfinder displays. In fact, Hobie took all of the applicable fishing accouterments into consideration when designing the Lynx and also made it ready for transducer (via an integrated cavity) and even Power Pole mounting.

They Hobie Lynx is built with ACE-TEC construction, which consists of a molded EPS foam core, layers of fiberglass reinforced in high-use and weight-bearing areas, and a thermoformed plastic ASA skin. It results in a strong, stiff, 11-foot long, three-foot wide hull that tips the scales at a mere 45 pounds. Even fully rigged, the Lynx barely breaks 60 pounds.

One of the more interesting features of the Lynx is that it’s stackable. Pull off the seat and any accessories, and you can sit one atop another in the bed of a pickup or even on top of a roof rack. Plus, thanks to that light weight, getting the rig up and down from a roof rack will be easier than just about any other kayak. Is it the world’s easiest-to-handle fishing kayak? Or, is it really a SUP? Nope – we say this is a real SDP. And it could be a sweet little fishing machine, for all sorts of anglers.