Questions about river fishing and Mirage drive

Hello everyone,

My name is Brian and I just bought a new PA 14. I should be picking it up Friday and its first use will be heading down the Shenandoah River. I have been reading a ton on these boats and have come across a few post of fishing in shallow areas with rocks and stumps and bending the Mirage drive. The river is definitely shallow and rocky in a few spots but I will pull the drive and either paddle or pull the boat across. I guess my question is how tough are the fins? when there tucked up against the hull can they get damaged? or can the unit be hit if the fins are tucked up? Any advice or help would be appreciated, I just don't want to damage my new boat on its first outing. Most of the time I fish in the Chesapeake bay and Potomac river.

Welcome to the addiction!

My PA14 came with a small shock cord/hook to quickly hold one pedal all the way back. This will keep the fins flat against the hull and is easier than pulling the drive and putting it back in again. If you're in a real rocky area you might be more concerned about the hull than the fins because I'd think the softer rubber of the fins would be more resistant to a hard hit than the rigid bottom of the boat.

The drive is pretty tough and unless you ground with full force on the drive you probably won't bend anything. I always go slower in shallow water or around stumps and kind of feel my way. If there is resistance I quickly back off the pressure of the pedal so I don't apply too much force. I've gone across oyster beds and sandbars easily just using the "flutter" method of pumping a third or half stroke when pedaling. I've had my PA for almost 2 years and only just bent one rod when a wave forced me into shallow water before I could get the drive out.

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PA 14 Dune

Attaching the shock cord when in the shallows will still allow you to peddle but flatten them out by default if you take feet off pedals, and is a good auto thing to do when beaching. I also do this when fishing at anchor to prevent line snagging on fins if it runs under boat

From time to time you will bend the mast posts on grounding or hitting submerged objects. rarely enough to make them inoperable. So just keep checking them as routine. If you measure the distance across the tops of the masts against the distance across the bottoms you will quickly be able to see if they are parallel. Front one usually bends the most. Slight bends will alter the thumbscrew tensioning to the fins.

To straighten remove fins slide a suitable pipe extension over it, place drive on hard surface and lever straight again.

In areas where it is potentially shallow (this is where a sounder helps) you can flutter the drive, ie dont do full strokes, that is not bringing peddles and thus fins up to vertical.

Hitting submerged objects at speed will pivot drive and exert a sudden force on front nib of drive slot, so try to avoid where possible.

It is hard to completely break a drive on hitting things, worst case is usually a snapped mast post, which can be replaced.

Thanks for the replies. I just started getting worried when i saw some threads about bent fins and rocky rivers. I know the river pretty well, so i will just pull the drive and paddle


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You can also protect the leading edge of the fin.....at the end of the shaft by applying a couple layers of Gorilla tape.....trim it to wrap around the end.....it works well to prevent damaging the rubber at the very tip/end.

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

In the type of water you describe, your going to hit something and bend a shaft. It is inevitable. It is also easily fixed (see above post). My fist week out I got her up to 6.5mph with a STRONG wind at my back. It was amazing. Then I hit a stump...and went from 6.5 to 0. Luckily for me the rear fin took the brunt and bent...to tell you the truth I could hardly notice a difference because it did not interfere or overlap with the front fin when peddling.

You will learn from those mistakes... Like how simple it is to straighten a bent shaft. Or preventative measures like Dr.StealHead suggested. (gorilla tape can fix just about anything!). Since that first good bend I have been lucky (or learned) enough to avoid or prevent most other events. As with anything new, after you get a few scrapes on the hull you will learn to relax and to understand how tough this kayak is, and she will become even more fun to fish from.

Congratulations on the new PA...your going to love it!

( BTW - I did build a pretty ridiculous but compact spare parts and tool pack that I keep in the kayak. I have as yet to use a single spare though I feel better knowingly they are there. It is like having insurance...if I did not have it, I would need it...and when I do end up needing a spare, it will probably be that one thing I did not think of! )

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STLKayak
2020 Pro Angler 14 360
St. Louis, Missouri
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005695487937

Another thing to consider when hitting stumps or rocks that bent the metal shaft is damage to the mirage drive hole in the hobie kayak... A jolt that bend to metal shaft will also cause cracks to the drive hole. So be very careful when running in those conditions. I always pull the mirage drive when beaching the yak. if you look real close the fins are lower then the bottom of the yak and can still be bent or damaged when draging your yak up on the land even if you have bunggied the drive up like the instructions request. Just my 2 cents worth. Good Luck

Thank you everyone for the replies. My aim is to keep the mirage drive out until i hit the deep slow sections of the river. I def do not want to bang the boat up on the first trip


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I don't use my Hobie Mirage Drive kayaks on shallow, rocky rivers. Got a Jackson Coosa for that. Too easy to damage the MD on such places like the New River, James and your river the Shendandoah.

Ok so i took it down the river today. And to my absolute amazement it was more than i expected. Stable, easy to stand in, tracked well, and contrary to what i have read it was easy to paddle


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