No dedicated fishing jet ski for now: Yamaha

Yamaha says it has no immediate plans to introduce a jet ski dedicated to the growing fishing market – but insists key changes to the 2019 Yamaha WaveRunner FX Series will appeal to anglers.

Rival Sea-Doo stunned the industry in September when it released the Sea-Doo Fish Pro, a dedicated jet ski fishing platform developed with the help of New Zealander Andrew Hill, who has been converting personal watercraft for fishing expeditions for the past 10 years.

The Fish Pro is based on Sea-Doo’s popular ST3, which is the same hull used on the RXT-X, the GTX Limited, and the Wake Pro.

But it has a new extended deck – 30cm longer, to accommodate a cooler bin and carry spare fuel – and the hull has longer strakes for better stability when standing still on the water.

On the back is a 51-litre cooler bin with two drain holes, a grip mat on the lid and four fishing rod holders. There is also a long list of accessories.

However, despite displaying WaveRunner FX models with large fishing pods at boat shows two years ago, Yamaha said there were no plans for a dedicated fishing model, even though it had trademarked the “Fish Ski” name.

“Really it’s about putting a name to the activity,” said Yamaha general manager of sales, Jason Harris. “There’s been a lot of people over a lot of years fishing off watercraft. What we wanted to do was really call it something, create a community where like-minded individuals can come together no matter what you ride. It’s not about Yamaha, it’s about the activity itself.”

Harris said Yamaha welcomed competition from Sea-Doo in the fishing enthusiast category.

“It is pleasing to see others in the market are introducing a product to support that segment, because it is growing,” said Harris.

The non-supercharged Yamaha WaveRunner FX HO has long been a favourite of ocean fishing enthusiasts because of its long fuel range and large storage areas, and the new model will expand on that.

“The FX HO has really been the craft of choice for most people who want to fish from a watercraft,” said Harris. “In that fishing space it’s all about reliability and fuel-efficiency, so you can cover more distance each trip.”

Yamaha said it had more than one model to appeal to fishing enthusiasts.

“From my perspective, rather than call it one model, Yamaha are fortunate to have a number of models that are suitable for that activity,” said Harris.

As for the two massive side pods and rear brackets displayed on Yamaha WaveRunner FX models at previous boat shows (pictured), they are an aftermarket accessory, not a Yamaha-approved option.

“The pods that you saw at the boat shows are not what we’re terming as ‘Jet Fish’,” said Harris. “It was a concept … to show what’s possible, however a number of dealers also sell these as accessories.”

Yamaha said the new 2019 WaveRunner FX HO and WaveRunner FX SVHO both have the ability to attach extra mounts to easily install fishfinders, GPS trackers, and Bluetooth speakers.

Yamaha has also incorporated adaptor plates on the 2019 WaveRunner FX hulls to make it easier to mount fish-finder transducers.

The changes eliminate the need to drill or glue anything into the hull, making it fishfinder-ready.