You wouldn’t be caught dead in a 1232 Jon boat in many places that I’ve safely fished from my kayak!

That being said, I’ve heard the same comment from others about your minimalist approach opinion. I bet your fishing with with a technologically advanced line (monofilament, florocarbon, braid) that you’re casting from a technologically advanced reel (spinning, spincast, baitcaster) and from a vessel that you didn’t hand carve out of a log.

The point is that your level of minimalist may not match the next guys but that doesn’t mean that either of you are wrong. Fish with whatever makes you happy and don’t worry about the next guy.

If you choose to fish organized tournaments then use whatever you want that fits within the rules. We have guys paddling simple big box store kayaks with low budget paddles and no electronics in many of the events that I fish. Sometimes those guys win and sometimes they don’t. There’s no doubt that skill vs toys/accessories plays a big part in catching fish. In my opinion you’re wasting your time going the minimalist route in large tournament series though as beating the banks wins less and less tournaments with all of the advancements that we’ve seen over the years when it comes to electronic fish finders, chartplotters, depth finders, etc.

But then again that’s just my opinion and we all know what they say about opinions!