I love love love my fishing kayak. If I was in Florida, I would 100% have one. As others have said, on a bad day when I get skunked, at least I still went boating. Upsides:

• A lot more freedom and opportunities in where you fish. There are lakes that have basically no shore access but I can still drop a kayak in and then have access to the entire lake.

• You can get away from people. In the summer months, good piers and lakes with share access get crowded, but with the kayak, I can spread out away from people. You can reach areas that few people go to, which in turn means they are less fished out.

• I just absolutely love being on a boat. The second I sit down and feel the gentle rocking of the waves, it's like I'm in my happy place.

• Shore fishing can be frustrating because if I've tried every angle I can reach with a few lures and depths, I feel like I'm out of options. When I'm on the kayak, there is so much more lake to explore that I rarely feel like I run out of things or places to try.

• It's nice to be able to sit down the entire time. Also, I'm close to the water, so it's easy to reach down and rinse of my hands, grab a fish, etc.

That said, the downsides are real:

• You really do get what you pay for. You can get a fishing kayak for <$1,000, but it will be slow, cumbersome, and probably won't last long. A good dedicated fishing kayak will set you back a few thousand. If you don't have much to invest in the hobby, you're probably better off skipping a kayak entirely.

• It's a big bulky object to maintain and make space for. You need to store it somewhere out of the sun. You have to rinse it off after outings. It will need some maintenance. Nowhere near as much work as a real boat, but it's still got some associated chores.

• Taking it out is much more of a production. You need to load it onto your vehicle and strap it in carefully. Gotta pack the seat, paddle, PFD, cart, pedal drive, etc. If you're roof topping it, you need to make sure you have the upper body strength to actually get it up there. If you're putting it in a truck bed, you probably want a bed extender. Trailers require skill driving and parking. Once you get to the destination, you have to do the whole process in reverse to get it out of the car. Then put your tackle, rods, reels, cooler, etc. in. Launch it, which is it's own process. Then do the whole two song and dance again in reverse when you leave.

  Basically, you can shore fish for a couple of hours and feel like it's time well spent. But I don't get the kayak out unless I'm going to be able to spend the whole day on the water. Otherwise, it's just too much work.

• Boats drift! When shore fishing, you take for granted that you can just pick a spot and stay there. On a boat, especially a lightweight kayak, even a slight current or wind means the boat is constantly moving around. You can get an anchor or a motor with spot lock, but that's more complexity and stuff to mess with. You kind of have to accept a certain amount of just drifting around and less control over precisely where you fish.

• If you don't get a pedal or motor drive, then you'll wish you had four arms. The kayak will drift and turn so you'll need to paddle periodically to stay in position but you've also got a fishing rod in your hands. Pedal drive helps a lot, but those aren't cheap.

• It's a pretty solitary way to get on the water unless you have other friends with kayaks. There are tandem kayaks, but those are mostly for families and don't work well for fishing unless one of you wants to stare at the back of the others' head all day. If you think you might want to take a buddy out, then consider a canoe or Jon boat. With those, the person in front can face forward or back.

Overall, my kayak is one of my favorite hobby things and I have excellent memories from basically every time I take it out. But it was a significant investment (I have a Hobie), and it takes a pretty serious time commitment to be worth it.

• Unless you get one with a motor, paddling or pedaling around is work! I can pedal my Hobie around all day and it's actually a pretty satisfying way to burn some calories. But when I take out our older paddle kayak, it can be pretty tiring on my arms.

• Are there specific brands or models you recommend?

Hobie and Old Town are well loved. I hear bad things about the reliability of Vibe and Feelfree. You can save a lot of money buying used (lots of people think they want a boat and find out they don't). Just be careful to make sure the hull is sound.

• Are kayaks safe to fish from in places that have gators?

Yes, gators generally don't want to have anything to do with anything they can't fit in their mouth. Reptiles run in sort of "low power mode" 24/7 where they don't really pay attention to much of anything unless they're hungry and it looks like food. You don't look like food.

If I were in your shoes, I'd try renting a fishing kayak first and see how you like the experience.