Kayak Fishing PFD Buyers Guide

what's going on anybody it's Chris from out west with Chris and I'm standing outside of headwaters kayak here in Lodi California this is a kayak shop that I frequent come here a lot I get a lot of good help from these guys and they have a super knowledgeable staff really good stuff that you can purchase and all that good stuff today I'm on the hope for a new PFD this is the PFD I've been running for gosh two and a half years now and it's done me well but I'm looking to upgrade a little bit I've got some things that I look for in a PFD I want something with good storage options good comfort but the primary thing is I want it to keep me safe in case I ever have a mishap so let's go ahead and go on inside and we'll talk to the crew here at headwaters [Music] come on down how you doing good awesome so yeah this is dan dan is the owner of headwaters kayak here in Lodi and Dan what do you think yeah this number yeah I've been walked to your videos for a while like I like this the path but otherwise I've been kind of excited for this day for you to get any light for me - I like that patch of I switch out patches occasionally right now I've got the I'm your huckleberry so not too many have velcro on them but we can always add that later we can mod the vest so let's go ahead and take a look at some of the purchase options that you guys have here and let's just go through the lineup all right let's do it okay you've quite the collection selection of PFDs yeah especially for kayak fishing I mean it's a big chunk of our business so I like to have at least four different options a few different color options lob sizes okay cool so where are we going to start well I wanted to start with the inner ass chinook PFD because they're a good price point 109 bucks you have a lot of features on them they're very popular life jacket for us so I figured I'd let you try those on talk about the features of it and then we'll kind of work our way up in features and benefits along the way okay sounds great but really you get to play Goldilocks is - but fits most comfortable for you yeah an arrest unit comes in three different colors comes in like the olive green the orange high-visibility and then de gray with lion accents okay cool yeah I like the hive is one that stands out yeah so if you don't run a busy pull flag you're paddling amongst both that's good add some bright the iconic will disappear on the surface of the water but somebody will see that visible flag or that bright cloud lifejacket wave before they'll ever see the kayak even if you use a bright orange pack like yours great that makes sense you feel you got a boat flying up at 70 miles an hour you want the first thing to see you know something high right exactly so these run like you were saying chinook sir 109 109 yeah okay what's up we're gonna try and hide this one just for the reasons it'll be easy for people to see that the features of the pse okay cool on the shownotes all the foam is the same it's just a matter how much strap yeah so the first thing we want to do is you want to clip the bottom buckle and what this does it cinches around your lower rib cage okay and that's what keeps the best from riding out also notice my gut your guy yeah there's a gut so don't eat like you know big greasy breakfast before you go at the water okay that's nice and snug right well you don't want it to ride up I mean if it's too tight and you're uncomfortable obviously you loosen it up to your preference but that's what I'm trying to go for trying to get this lifejacket down around your core not up around your chin there's nothing worse than sitting down in your kayak and half in that PFD why don't you sit down on the cooler there and just see how it rough see if it rides up on you oh no those days yeah that's what happens when you sit down the lifejacket your laps here so it kind of pushes up right and so if you have a big one white jacket in a short torso which I'm not saying you do but some people do it pushes up in your face and we'll talk about that as we get to the snow question if you're smaller paddler gradient sizing so the phone will actually shrink up one thing just that I like about this style I know people have different preferences some people like the inflatables that just come around I really like this kind of more traditional I guess you'd say kayak fishing PFD because of pockets it has storage I don't know how people are without it no I keep my phone in a pocket I have a waterproof phone so I keep my phone in the pocket I keep scissors I keep bobber stops I keep most knives and you know all sorts of pockets so and you got a total shoulder cut out if you look on the back so I turn around really quick and then we'll go over features put look on the back side look at how high that foam sips I mean completely out of the way no matter websites chair you have okay it's super breathable so like I like to go out without a shirt on or maybe just you know I like to have that breathability across my back yeah this is actually the PFD I use mainly because I like the pockets too and let's what we're gonna go over now okay tons of features on this lifejacket we'll start with these the obvious ones and we'll go to the real subtle ones so pockets pockets floor and you've got a retractor in this pocket okay so you could like lashes keys I use my line snips in that way and you've got another retractor here and you can put your plays in here or hemostats clip them off to this and so as you have access to them they're not popping off what's this is the whole thing pops out if you just break this off right it's basically just like a pin okay this comes on it's just a retractor oh that's cool it's just a you know an inexpensive retractor some people upgrade those you know so you don't get line and stuff caught in the coils oh yeah you know honestly if use mine for a long time works very problem yeah and you actually have two spots up here where you can add little retractors so if you're using like you know a little zipper attractors you can clip those right off your hero cool nice thing okay that's one of the more subtle things but check this up so that's actually part of the robbery yeah they're big into fly-fishing in Idaho where interests is based out of and so the idea is you put the bottom of your fly out here and you get velcro it there so you can retie they use these a lot for just wade fishing or fishing and rivers or oops there's way to turn that off it's a real sword so ain't we're in a real stuff so we're gonna have some ringing phones it's not yeah we tried to do this before we open but it's alright so so yeah so you can put your fly rod but right down here and and then that would allow the rod to angle up and you could tie your line pretty cool feature actually yeah that's what it's for I do new and then actually on the back for the same purpose is there's a d-ring like these do for your internet so you're clipping that right to the back that's cool it's just like a standard fly vest right yeah very similar they put took a fly best and put floatation in it this is a spot in the back right here okay where a strobe so if you're launching before light you don't have a busy pole or something oh or you're paddling the bay you could actually put a white light which tells other boaters that hey I'm a non-motorized vessel I'm not getting out of your way pockets pockets and lots more pockets you got two on the each side here oh and they kind of expand out that's cool yep that's neat and it's kind of like almost a mesh right here is that for drainage yeah exactly although if you're in the water you don't want toolboxes yeah just drains right right big one on that side nice and then obviously this is what I keep my cell phone you're a big huge open pocket there's d-rings in there so if you wanted to and I highly recommend if you're using a waterproof phone we should be you know yeah like the great Blanchard have you ever seen his he's got like a forty pound braid that connects his phone to his light jacket I didn't know that yeah so yeah that's plenty of room for the phone and then up in the front and got this little lash tap and that's for clipping on a interest River knife already sort of River Knight would attach back to your gift do you this okay what what distinguishes a knife from the river knife let me go grab one so this is oak ammo a river knife yeah this is what they did a limited edition camo yeah okay so that then which is yeah that's just clips on right to your PFD right here and then you have just a quick access pop this thing out and it's a blunt tip that's what makes it a river knife so as you're using it and say you're in turbulent water or whatever you're out of your boat and you need to trim some fishing lines that got you Cod or whatever it is yeah it's a river rescue knife but it's got a blunt tip a serrated blade here and a real stubby top to it it's really more for cutting out of something in a rescue situation but what I find I use it for all the time this cutting fishing line out of trees when I'm out there fishing and I see oh man somebody snapped off yeah spreading peanut butter and jelly and then it's got a bottle opener right right so that could go either way then up or down or side yeah yeah I could I mean going this way it's a little bit sticks out a little bit too sides I like mine right there yeah but uh okay just play with it I like that they make a pilot and a co-pilot I like the pilot a little stubbier okay days out of the way awesome cool yeah all right so the basics a directioner yeah interaction hook 109 nice and comfortable and it'll keep you alive three colors lots of storage lots of pouches I kind of dig that I like the pouch layout on this one so the next vest I have in the lineup is the stone quest keeper and stole quest is the only company that does gradient sizing what that means is a small medium like that there will literally be a smaller vest the foam in the vest is going to be smaller and more compact than say extra extra large so the interest is just different straps these are actually different pads yeah completely different okay so same amount of flotation it's just how they put the flotation in the back it's a small be a little thicker but a little smaller oh yeah okay pretty cool so they're still rated the same rating yeah sold type-3 Coast Guard approves they're just different different volumes but again saw it's not so so we're gonna hang this one up because I don't think you're a small medium let's try this one on let's try this one alright that's one mistake people they get a lifejacket put it on your kind of sense however yeah what I like to do is start loose get the life jacket where you want which is down kind of below your chest and around your belly and then tighten down the strap so you do the side straps first and then your shoulder straps next okay it's coming together now and then last but not least the stole Chris doesn't have the one that goes under your belly what it houses the chest inch and this goes from your chest all the way down here to your lower back and what that does is you cinch that down especially wet in the water and it keeps it low and around your torso so it helps to keep prevent it from riding up with you okay well you're in your chi let's do the sit test yeah everything's better than when you came in with huh yeah everything is better so I really like this toe push for that reasons they do sit low and they sit around your torso they are very very flush with your body yeah totally not a lot sticking out mm-hmm you know it seems like it's pretty streamlined and it's gonna be easy to find stuff right less pockets and features in the inner s but it's still very well thought out placed for two retractors up here okay again a little spot to clip do your your poll if you're a retying just to keep it from bouncing around you could do a hydration tube right there you totally could really yeah cokie that makes a really cool PFD water bladder clips onto the straps of your life jacket and and yeah fits on the back of your life okay for water oh that's awesome okay so back to the stole quiz um it's the fabric different on this one yeah that's where you get the big upgrade so it's 20 bucks more this one's 129 but it gets heavy-duty Cordura nylon as opposed to the ripstop nylon like you see on the internet so it's gonna okay just be a little bit heavier duty it's better around hooks it's really good in the in the kite fishing world because it's not gonna well it's not gonna rip it's not gonna penetrate quick so let's check out pockets here these pockets are a little different in the fact that they fold over that's that's why fly fisherman I think in general really I come because you have a flat spot to tie if you drop something this sort of is your catch right future put your fly boxes in your could probably hold some nice small fly boxes right yeah you're able to just work off of it you've got a spot right here if you wanted to put your hemostats or your pliers or if you wanted to attach the river knife inside your PFD you can do that as well you got a d-ring here if you wanted to leech in your keys put your keys down inside here but a general it's a little bit more simplified PFD and you kind of build it out how you want it doesn't have specific pockets for specific things Bill's also got spots for zingers to here yeah so like if you're a fly fisherman you know then you have the little retract cords or bone singers and so that's what these tabs here and these tabs here designed well then you can just put that retractor there put your hands down there and they come right out with it and then you've got more down here and you've got D rings down here for additional attachment as well cool so awesome yeah I got pros all around me this is what I love about headwaters you ask a question and you can get your answers so I think we all have different backgrounds to which else builds a fly fishermen the stream fishermen that's came to kayaking and and then we've got BAM on the flip side of that who's a you know tournament bass boat fisherman that also fishes from the kayak yeah and then I come from the paddling background so we all have different backgrounds and different strengths yeah that's awesome so okay this one is to recap 120 and 9 mm-hmm 129 heavy-duty Cordura and gradient sizing is it benefits to this still has a really high back just a matter of how you like the pocket layouts and how do you like the fit gotcha okay and multiple color options in this one right it comes in this orange color it also comes in there because I know all of you guys out there want to look good when you're on the water probably know your style yeah yeah they all have green and black yeah I know lime green accents yeah I like that too yeah the other thing I didn't touch on wood but it isn't important is this uses a gaia foam a little bit softer more squishy foam especially after it breaks in it really kind of molds to your body okay I've got a lot of bumps and stuff like that to mold to so that could be yeah I mean this is basically in essence what I would do with the customer maybe a little bit more detail but yeah try a bunch on talk about the features and benefits it's so much better than just buying it online and saying hey my friend told me this looks good I'm gonna go try it out great cuz the right mind just came as a bundle you know I mean I bought that kayak the paddle which was that's pretty typical it's like here we're gonna give you a great deal and we're gonna throw in a $3 chinese paddle and uh in the life jacket that you got yeah it was good but sure but you got a good deal I don't know no I don't know it wasn't bad right now I guess my point is it uh it's only good deal if it's really the right stuff in right otherwise you're upgrading it later on anyway yeah yeah you upgrade your paddle you upgrade your PFD the good news is you got on the water and exactly any kayak shop can offer that sort of like create a package get you on the water but man if you're gonna be in you know you're gonna be into it it's worth your time to take a little time and get the right stuff right off the bat and save that initial make sense yeah so this is the next best in our lineup this one is the stole quits keeper okay and this one doesn't have the high mesh back on it instead they use a very thin super flexible foam okay and they just lay the foam out differently because some the high seats like a pro angler or super high so and if you have a short course we're something you're gonna be sitting on the phone no matter what so a real thin back works really good and like I said check the phone now that thing is super plush this is the same store so you get the gradient sizing so this one does the gradient yes I'm also equipped jackets to even down to there $69 back life jackets oh yeah best it's more like the D interesting the fact that it has lots of pockets lots of tchotchkes busting space you know still has a good spot for your River knife in fact I like the placement of this lash tab better than all the others right right they're out of the way huh and you could put the little retractors on those too you could you know it's got little spots right here like if you wanted to stick a chapstick or something right yeah as well as here so just you know neoprene bungee kind of stuff oh yeah wait worried sitting the fall out of there if it was any size but something small would work yeah check this so this is my favorite thing slide your hands right there oh how many times are you like out there it is cold in the morning yeah and when you fish with Dean Lim up in Klamath Falls and it's 30 degrees out when you're fishing right you're just sitting out or afterwards you listen to like your your buddy talked about calculation you're like yeah yeah it's nice so total it's like a soft material on the inside it's basically like I am work commitment and you could put like hot hands in there the little hammers yeah boom oh yeah I love that about that that's my favorite things how does how do people say this best does like from feedback in the heat word California the Delta it gets hundred degrees out here mm-hmm summertime so how do people say it does in the heat do they get you sweaty in this type of setup or what's your take on that um you know we've got two guys Josh and James on our fishing team both use this vest and Chris - Chris Sommerfeld actually okay and I think they like the layouts of it I don't know that the heat is definitely a deterrent one way or the other you don't get as much breathability on your back because we're out of that full foam it feels really comfortable that was like so far I really like this when I'm you know looked at the pocket layout or anything it just fuels really comfortable um but that would be kind of my concern is what's going on with this fullback is it getting am I gonna get out and you know I got sweat running down my back you know or what's ya gonna happen you know yeah pockets in the front you got two on each side right here right here you've got mesh on the inside and then another big pocket with d-ring so if you wanted to add lesions and retractor yeah it does have the little slots if you wanted to slide hemostats or small pliers it works for that as well cool and same thing on the other side just a little bit different way out on the inside of the pocket mm-hmm okay nice and big deep pocket right there yeah I really like this vest over the fishermen if you're gonna be using your phone and taking lots of pictures or having your camera in there because it's you less likely to fall out where's this one over here if you open it up you know it kind of opens it up where your phone would flow right out right out okay whereas this one you're gonna have to put your hand in to pull it out right okay where are we at on price point with this guy this one jumps up to $149 so so far is the most expensive lifejacket that we've looked at and again it's because lots more pockets a lot more features and the phone that it's made out of itself is quite a bit more expensive okay and that's because it's a little more plush it's pliable plush and it really will over time mold to your body okay the idea is it just disappears and you don't notice you're wearing it now is this a fedora or a zip stop this actually uses rip stop night as well it felt like it yeah okay and then neoprene on a lot of the spots oh yeah okay neoprene here neoprene mop here does this cool all the way down oh it does okay so that goes in a bit you know one feature I didn't talk about but it is important is if you push if you're going shirtless it's having a paddle on the strap the interaction if does not have that it's just the strap that goes over your shoulders okay both of stole course we looked at have that strap as well as the neck when we look at a backpack right yeah but not that's plus me yeah you don't have as much way no so it's not necessarily a huge deal but it's gonna help you yeah you were a tank top or shirtless it definitely helps with uh with robbing achievement okay cool awesome so 149 same color options basically the boost or you get a couple different options this one gets a couple different options it gets a olive drab color and then this color they don't do a bright orange color in this particular life okay cool so next one on our list is the most expensive the newest and the most comfortable and the cool thing about the Coca tat that I'm not showing it's made right here in our state of California okay cool let's check it out let's do it stepping right into it this one looks pretty awesome yeah this is a new coat a Leviathan this just came out is the first year for it Koby tattooin forever and ever and ever and they have had a few fishing PFDs along the way but I think they kind of fell behind the times and this is their answer saying hey we can still build an incredible PFD and they did if you look at this thing everywhere is breathable mesh all the foam you see how it's got this honeycomb pattern completely perforated so you just breeze right through oh well across your back has that several spots in the backrest so ton of breathability a lot of little features like the Internet like the spot to clip your net and then strobe spot right yep spot for your strobe on either side okay and anyway let's just go right into it okay this one's meant to have a lot of the foam like compacted in the front and you see how the foam is actually contoured it's rounded not just flat panels oh yeah it's contoured to my stomach so another spot for a knife a knife even what's this again spots for retractor similarly if you have just a little loops right here exposed to add those little clip-on retractors lots of pockets this vest has more pockets I think that any other vests look spots for hooks on either side again a little no Hey look at this damn for your patch my patch there you go boom I can do it oh that's awesome or hooks for fly-fishing if you're out flights it yeah or yeah I don't really know too many people that would use this the fish conventional one so that's a cool feature especially if you're into fly fishing which I do a little bit of I dabble in it so that that could be a nice feature and I can also put my patches there so let's keep looking like I said a nice spot for knife yeah copilot would fit right you know snap right in there and again that's a nice kind of position yeah exactly it's out of the way it's not like picking up it's not gonna be in your face at all so I like that okay technically you could do it right here but this is also a spot where you'd put like hemostats your pliers could slide right right in there basically three layers are different pockets on this lifejacket lots of opportunities to put stuff in a pocket I love it I mean you got the little one here yeah bigger one again with a little d-ring lash tab so spot for your phone but for a small tackle box I know whatever you are bringing yeah I forget I think they just thought of hey if we have dead space mines we'll put a zipper on it and make it apart lots of pockets um it feels nice and comfortable I can tell that it's contoured when it's all my body the foam how you mentioned its contour it yeah feel that it feels pretty lightweight I think this yep great breathable I would say yeah this one er the Chinook would be the two most breathable lower profile than the last one you had on sat a little higher yeah I mean it's more like one thing yeah one thing that you know especially for guys at paddle guys a pedal might not be as big of a deal but for paddlers that range of mo movement is important and just for a fisherman in general being able to you know flip and you know not feel like you're you're tight into your vest is is a big deal so I think that this one does a great job of being on you know feel like it's on you right out of the way yeah I agree with that I really I've tried this on at a trade show last September when they first debuted it and I was like that's gonna crush it it is a little more expensive it's one hundred and fifty four dollars okay I was thinking it was gonna be in the $200 range so to get 50 yeah well they want to be competitive I mean Coca tat stuff it is always gonna be a little more expensive again it's based right here out of Arcata California and because of that the prices go up a little bit but the quality you get the warranty you get the service you get after the fact is phenomenal okay cool last feature you gotta stick your hands in there oh yeah every vest should have that now on a vest it's like everything should have that pocket oh it's like felt lined oh yeah so now the big question is I mean each vest we looked at comes in several color options like we talked about they can't have a brighter orange color of this okay but pretty much you got a pleco v often see I felt the best to you and they all feel really good and one one piece of advice we've already touched on it is I really encourage you guys to go into a paddle shop try them on look at stuff feel how it's gonna feel when you're reaching for your phone that's one thing I was kind of thinking about as I'm trying these all on I'm also thinking you know I fish in a ton of different conditions I fish in moving water I fish in the adults of big lakes where it's really cold where it's really hot and something that's versatile that I can almost forget about and ignore is gonna be big now I did really like the last ol puss we looked at even though it was a full vest in a way it didn't feel like it was gonna be overly hot it felt really comfortable actually now I get this one on and it feels like it's already disappeared on me mm-hmm just cuz it's pretty minimal but you also get a ton more storage yeah a lot of pockets on that man and it's got the velcro I think this is probably the one I'm gonna get right guys yeah that's cool yeah can't lose with that one yeah I'm actually excited I've been kind of thinking about what PFD I want on I came into this thinking I was gonna get the NRS Chinook just because I know so many guys that have had good luck with it that really liked it it's nice it's got good layout for your storage options but I felt it a lot more than I do this one yeah I like these pockets no that's the best thing yes especially if you're you're fishing year-round like we do yeah like you will appreciate that so much six months out of the year oh yeah guarantee it that's gonna be great too bad you can't paddle with your hands in your pockets like if you are a puddle guy and you fish some of these uh like Comanche when it's February this is gonna come in clutch right here that's how you're tracking and yeah I just said I think maybe adjust a little bit to title it and that's awesome well I'm glad you get to try them all on I think that's the best advice I can give people is come try them on sit down make sure they're adjusted up to your right you know give them the pool test put your hands on here make sure they're not going to ride up on you if that jacket if you put it on and it goes ooh you know either one you don't have it adjusted right or two it's just not a good fit for your body because not everyone's body type works with every PFD okay cool so before we go and close things out and I go by this I do have a question do you have women's only PFDs you have PFD options for kids we don't need to go through it all right now yeah but you do have those right yeah let's talk about it a little bit so pretty much all the platforms we talked about today the Chinook the fisherman and the Leviathan all come in a recreational option so it'll have less pockets less features okay let me just grab the clear water here just for an example basically the same vest is a Chinook but it's just got two simple pockets high mass breathable back so these are these are this is more for people that are out maybe just photographers or yeah a recreational touring paddlers that type stuff exactly okay I can get a vest like this for 89 bucks same thing with the best you have on if you wanted a ladies recreational vest or something like that same foam same layout just in a non angler best and you know really soft really comfortable and more lighter color like yeah lady type colors that's like totally the wrong way to say it but honesty said feminine colors they're down color so this is actually the first in the only women's specific fishing aft which I think that's huge because there ought to be some women's specific options there's a lot of women that are out kayak fishing and there's no reason that they should be forced to either wear a wrecked jacket or a nice fishing jacket so it's basically it's similar it's not the same it looks like it's identical pot all the difference is this has a shelf cup on the inside okay an all-women's PFDs will have that just left palm you know they've already got enough flotation up there they don't need more bulk right so so it fits snug or to a woman's figure so how much do those run the same amount as yeah three plus okay so the hundred fifty four ish no up charge yeah and it's just depending on I mean jackets range from our cheapest ones or 69 bucks most expensive ones are will the one you have on 100 aft for okay cool yeah any kids and youth obvious that goes without saying we're huge on good families in the water I've got a bunch of kids yeah so anything from infant to child you to extra small adults we've got you covered awesome so huge thank you to Dan thank you for showing me around educating us check out Dan is a YouTube channel I will have a link in the description all this will have a place where you can go find it on the end screen stuff so check it out headwaters kayak coming on anything else no well catch you hanging up and turn it to water okay let's do it alright if you guys have questions or comments leave me the comment section down below hit that thumbs up button subscribe and as always thanks for getting out what did Chris

Channel: Out West with Chris

Views: 82,768

Keywords: nrs chinook, stohlquist fisherman pfd, kayak life vest, life vest, best kayak fishing pfd, kayak fishing, kayak fishing pfd, fishing life jacket, personal flotation device, kayak safety, personal flotation device (vocabulary equivalent topic), nrs chinook pfd, kayak fishing pfd reviews, fishing life vest kayak, nrs chinook vs stohlquist fisherman, kayak fishing life jacket, kokatat, kokatat leviathan pfd, headwaters kayak, headwaters kayak shop, out west with chris

Id: 4g5m5qsjFwY

Length: 32min 3sec (1923 seconds)

Published: Mon May 14 2018