: 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 did some Norther Pike fishing in Georgian Bay last year in my Arctic Tern. OK until you "really" get a nice one. I used the paddle float method for stability and found that it worked. If you catch and release this is fine. If you want to keep them then it gets more complicated.

If I wanted a fishing boat (primary) use I would still look for a reasonably long waterline with a wide beam and rig a paddle float (in front of the cockpit) and maybe a rod holder. Also, a small wet well behind the seat (like a day hatch) might be nice to drop fish in.

I would consider the 14' version of the Great Auk. Also, this has the advantage of being an easy boat to build for a first time builder. It still has a nice waterline length with 25" beam. You should easily be able to keep up with the Tern for all but "workout" speed paddling.

The Small Boat Shop show in Norwalk last weekend had a great sit-on-top boat designed for fishing with rod holders built in. I forget who built it.