Reccomendations for a newbie

Hey everyone. I browsed back a few pages looking for info, but I didn't find anything that really helped me. Basically I'm looking to get into kayaking this summer, and dont really know what I'm doing. I'm a poor college kid from Vermont, just looking for something to paddle around the lake on, do a little fishing from, and occasionally take down the river. I won't be doing any white water with it. My fear/hope is that I'll be completely hooked by after just a little while and then will need to upgrade to something a lot better.

What would be a good kayak under $500 (preferably like $350 or so) that would be good for the above mentioned uses? Or maybe even something above that range that I could pick up used.

For fishing, paddleing around the lake, and an occasional trip down a river a canoe may be your best option. Unless you are wanting to get into touring.

eh not a huge fan of canoes. They're heavy and cumbersome. I have been kayaking before, just not in many years. I really enjoyed the maneuverability. I'll probably end up getting something cheap from EMS this spring/summer.

I know that you could get a whitewater kayak used in price you want to stay at. I assume if you look hard enough you could probably find what you want for your needs for that as well. We just had a guy go out of business here and sold a lot of lake kayaks dirt cheap and brand new.

http://www.boatertalk.com/gear.php

Filter by Type: Recreational Kayak (Filter options are at the bottom of the page)

www.paddling.net is a site that is more flatwater oriented than Boatertalk and has classifieds also.

Edit: The even have a kayak fishing section:

http://www.paddling.net/guidelines/s...ml?category=25

Thanks for the info:cool:

Thanks for the help guys. I think I've decided on the Aquafusion Breeze, or atleast is at the top of my list.

http://www.paddling.net/buyersguide/...oattype=Kayaks

go for an old town otter they are very, very stable, near impossible to flip. They aren't too bad for playing on whitewater, albeit class II and lower. I think it would be a great starter before hitting up a true whitewater kayak, but I don't have a whitewater kayak.