re: school me on marine radios for kayak fishing

Look at some GMRS radios. They're a step above a standard walkie talkie. You may need an FCC license for use (no test, just a payment and registration that lasts for 10 years).

As others have said, the baofeng's are pretty powerful for the price and I think you can program them to regular FRS frequencies (which is what regular walkie talkie's use). The good thing about the baofeng would be that you have access to a lot of other bands that wouldn't be available through a standard handheld so if you needed to you could talk on regular HAM bands - you don't need a license to transmit if it's an emergency. There are several aftermarket antennas like Nagoya that will also extend your range. Like others have said though, they're not waterproof, so that's something to take into consideration.