A lot of us have experienced the joys of fishing out of a canoe with another person, single kayaks have robbed us of some of that interaction with another person while fishing in a small paddle craft. The tandem kayak for fishing can bring that "team" fishing feeling back - it does have it limitations and for some the best choice is still a single kayak or two single kayaks.
The tandem can be the solution for the fisherman who wants to get out and fish alone but also would like to take a friend or family member along. The other option as mentioned is two single kayaks but this is not practical to take out smaller children. One problem is that many of the older tandem kayaks were not made to be fished alone. Over the last few years tandems have been made that can be used, and actually paddle well as a single by way of the center seating position and moving one of the seats into that area. Paddling, as a tandem can be a challenge, throw on some fishing rods and it can become a problem. The best method for fishing a tandem is to have one person do the paddling and the other do the fishing, two people tossing lures at the same time can be awkward, at best. Some of the older tandems were very slow and paddled very poorly, some of the new fleet of tandems are sleeker, paddle better and allow for the center seating position for solo paddling, sitting in the center of the kayak will always give you the best control of the kayak
When fishing as a team, it is best to put the stronger paddler in the rear; he/she will be the one to keep the pace and match the stroke of the front person. The key is working as team and this applies to paddling or fishing. This way of fishing can be very productive as one person fishing can be casting as the other is constantly getting the kayak in the right position. Some of the tandems also have great stability and with one person sitting the other person can pop up to site fish or even fire off a cast. Again, this is total team effort and if done correctly can be a very productive.
The tandem will never have the same performance as the single kayak, it has to be designed to handle the 2 paddlers and therefore has to have plenty weight capacity and freeboard. So if you are going to on longer paddles, getting 2 single kayaks might be the best way to go.
Outfitting a tandem kayak can be tricky, especially if you want to sometimes use it as a single. You must position the rod holders in areas that the front and rear positions as well as when it is being with the center seating position. At KFS we have outfitted tandems and feel that with 4 flush mounts we can cover all seating scenarios. Things like depth finders can present a problem, again because a lot of room is shared with the other paddler and the area that the single paddle position will use. For the same reason there is usually very little on deck storage and any hatches that the can be installed to utilize the internal storage of the kayak is a good idea. Having a paddle keeper system to handle both paddles is a must.
Whether you are going to kayak fish with somebody else in a tandem or in two single kayaks, being able to share the experience with another person is what counts.
We have tested most of the tandems out there and we feel that the one we feature on this site are best suited for fishing. Please visit our Fishing Kayaks Page for our favorite tandems for fishing.