Pro kayak setups can cost $25K, but a national champion says beginners don't need to spend big
Hammond is a member of the Old Town pro team and fishes out of an AutoPilot 136, a motorized fishing kayak that can be outfitted with sophisticated electronics and plenty of other accessories.
- "You don't need too, too much." Beyond the price tag, Hammond says fishing from a kayak has actually made him a better angler.
- CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE FROM OUTKICK OUTDOORS "I know there's a couple guys out here running $25,000 kayaks," three-time national champion Wyatt Hammond told OutKick OutDoors.
- He won the 2025 Bassmaster Kayak Series National Championship, along with back-to-back Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) National Championships in 2024 and 2025.
Unlike competitors in high-powered bass boats, who can race miles across a lake in search of better fishing, kayak anglers have to be more deliberate about where they spend their time.
But despite competing at the highest level of the sport, Hammond says one of the biggest reasons he chose kayak fishing over traditional bass boat tournaments was actually the cost.
- "I always see everybody talking about it like, 'That looks like a spaceship compared to a kayak.'" And while that might sound ridiculous to the average weekend fisherman, Hammond doesn't see anything particularly unusual about it.
- "The highest-end boats versus the highest-end kayaks are pretty comparable." Watch Wyatt Hammond's full interview with OutKick OutDoors here: Hammond knows a thing or two about competitive kayak fishing.
- So you've got to figure out how all the fish are acting and make the best of the area that you choose." And that's probably the most interesting thing about the rise of high-tech kayak fishing.
- But he insists you don't have to spend anywhere near $25,000 to get started.
- "I went the very expensive route of buying a $200 kayak, and then a $400 kayak, and then a $700 kayak, and then a $2,000 kayak, and then a $5,000 kayak," he laughed.
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