: My brother, Mike, has finally talked me into building a kayak. Now I need to
: find a design. I'm a fly fisherman, so I want to be able to carry and cast
: my 9' fly rod in my new boat. I'm going to be using it in lakes, moderate
: rivers (the Yakima?), and Puget Sound. I'll also need to be able to keep
: up with him in his Arctic Tern or Putz Walrus when we go out paddling.

: Anybody have any recommendations?

I do some fly fishing also and I am building a kayak simular to Nick's Little Auk and I plan to use it on streams and lakes. Mine is about 12'x28" wide with plenty of freeboard and it looks like it has more storage volume then the 17' sea kayaks. It has a large compit area that will be useful for a messing around boat. I am planning on building storage/flotation compartments next to each side of my hips with water tight hatches for tackle, camera, etc. It wouldn't be fast enough to keep up with the long thin sea kayaks but I think it will be nice for fly fishing and camping. I think the area which will be in back of the seat will take a large fully loaded frame hiking pack. I think I am going to like this boat but it's not proven yet.

John