— FIELD JOURNAL · 02 —

Hobie vs LochCast: an honest comparison

From a former Outback owner who switched.

I owned a Hobie Mirage Outback for four seasons. I still own a Hobie pedal kit on my workbench, because the day I sold the Outback I kept the parts I trusted. This is not a hit piece on Hobie. It is a comparison written by someone who paid full retail for both platforms.

What the Hobie does better

The MirageDrive is a beautiful piece of engineering. It is quieter than a propeller in deep, calm water. It tracks in a straight line without thought. The hull resists wind drift in open water better than any inflatable, and the deck-rigid platform is more comfortable for a tournament-length day. If your fishing is primarily large open water — coastal flats, deep lakes, big reservoirs — the Outback remains the platform to beat.

Where the LochCast wins

I sold the Outback because three things stopped me from fishing as often as I wanted to. I had to back the kayak trailer down a launch every trip. I lost storage to a 14-foot hull that could not move from the garage to the truck without help. And in the second half of my forties, the act of loading a 90-pound rigid kayak became its own small obstacle to actually going fishing.

The LochCast Fishhunt C solved each of those. Three duffels in the bed of my F-150. No trailer registration. No marina launch fee. Eight minutes from truck door to first cast. The pedal drive is roughly 90% of the Hobie's efficiency in shallow and medium water — slightly more drag in deep water, slightly more agility in skinny weeds. For my fishing — primarily back-bay redfish in winter and farm pond bass in spring — that trade is invisible.

What you sacrifice

You sacrifice some open-water tracking. You sacrifice the resale-value premium of the Hobie nameplate. You sacrifice the Hobie dealer network if you want hands-on service.

What you gain

You gain $1,600 in your bank account. You gain garage space. You gain access to water no Hobie can reach. And you gain a two-year warranty against the one-year industry standard.

The fish, in my experience, do not notice the difference.