News

Hobie BOS to Allow Motors in 2024

With motors being allowed in competition now at every national trail series what will the kayaks looks like in 2024? 

Hobie BOS Director AJ MacWhorter announced during a podcast this week that Hobie BOS will allow trolling motors at most of the events in 2024. This news has been rumored for a long time but most anglers were still caught off guard with the announcement with some mixed reactions across social media groups.

Hobie BOS rules were very strict with regards to motorizing kayaks in the beginning including during the official practice periods. In 2023 Hobie BOS relaxed the rules and started allowing motors during official practice. This change was seen as a crack in the anti-motor armor when announced and some speculated that it was only a matter of time before motors would be allowed in the events themselves.

What this new change will do to the participation of the Hobie BOS events is unknown. Initially it would appear that increases would be expected with more anglers who were excluded in the past with their motorized plastic boats. However, some anti-motor folks are militant in their stance so there could be a little blowback. We’ll have to wait and see which side of the topic prevails.

Cory Dreyer, the Southeast Sales Representative for Hobie commented “I’m excited about this move personally, the sport of tournament fishing has evolved. It was time!”

When pressed on whether it was good for Hobie in general he stated “One thing that we can do at Hobie is showcase how well our boats perform - motorized too - amongst the competition.”

Strangely they decided to leave 2 events motor free instead of just going all in on the change.

Here is the list of events and which will allow motors:

Date	Lake	Motors
Jan 27-28	Harris Chain	Yes
Feb 10-11	Sam Rayburn	Yes
Mar 9-10	Logan Martin	Yes
Apr 6-7	Lake Norman	No
May 4-5	Wright Patman	No
Jun 1-2	Lake Cayuga	Yes
Aug 10-11	Saginaw River and Bay	Yes
Sep 21-22	Lake Chickamauga	Yes
TOC	Santee Cooper	Yes

More Room Splitters

Of course this isn’t the only hot button topic on social media in regards to what should be allowed in competition. The forward facing sonar (FFS) craze has split what was once a solidified group of people with a passion for bass fishing. There is even rumors of a new national glitter boat trail that excludes it from competition to try and seize on the disgruntled bunch that feverishly opine on the subject. (See any Randy Blaukat video in the last 2 years for an example)

The kayak bass fishing anglers could be put into 3 groups (at least for simplicity)

• Purists - like to keep everything simple and limited
• Joneses - want all the bells and whistles and have the cash for it
• Competitors - don’t care about all the nuance and just love competitive bass fishing

They all come with their own personal spin offs of course. Some purists don’t want motors, but are fine with 3 12” screens of technological wonder.

Some competitors would like to see a more even playing field with electronics restrictions but are fine with motors and vice versa.

Some Joneses would like limitation on practice time because they need to work 2 jobs to afford their rigs and have no time left..

The only consistency about kayak anglers is that they are don’t agree on everything and have no problem voicing their opinions. (Not too different from glitter boat anglers)

So why not just buy a boat?

If you haven’t seen this phrase in the kayak world you must not be on social media, or out on a public lake for that matter. Although the attitude noticed from most glitter boat anglers have changed from thinking of kayak anglers as an annoyance to now being impressed by the intuitive nature of the sport and its anglers.

2-3 electronic screens and spot lock causes some to scream that tired phrase still. Fishing out of a kayak is such an enjoyable experience because of the solitude and challenging nature it brings. If you want to get down the absolute pureness of it all - its about the tug and not the tech.