Great New Kayak

[tjulianc]

This kayak reminds me of the Wilderness Systems' Ride 135. With the ride being 2 feet longer and a little wider, I would probably give the Ride the advantage if I was in the market for a wide fishing kayak. I do like the raised seat in the Coosa, but that is something you could add to the Ride, you can't add two feet of length to the Coosa, if you decided you needed more storage space.

[flytyer57]

This kayak reminds me of the Wilderness Systems' Ride 135. With the ride being 2 feet longer and a little wider, I would probably give the Ride the advantage if I was in the market for a wide fishing kayak. I do like the raised seat in the Coosa, but that is something you could add to the Ride, you can't add two feet of length to the Coosa, if you decided you needed more storage space.

I purposely bought the Wilderness Systems Tarpon 140 because it was 3 inches narrower than the Tarpon 120. Since I will be using my yak on Lake Norfork along with the creeks and rivers around here, I felt the narrower width would help with the ease of paddling on the big water and not be too much of a problem being 2 feet longer on the smaller waters.

There's PLENTY of room on this yak for a couple cases of beer.

[Gavin]

Looks like a nice day trip boat but I wouldnt want to camp out of it.

I'm sure your T140 has plenty of room for 2 cases of canned beverages, but where are you gonna put the cooler & the ice ;>)!

[tjulianc]

I purposely bought the Wilderness Systems Tarpon 140 because it was 3 inches narrower than the Tarpon 120. Since I will be using my yak on Lake Norfork along with the creeks and rivers around here, I felt the narrower width would help with the ease of paddling on the big water and not be too much of a problem being 2 feet longer on the smaller waters.

There's PLENTY of room on this yak for a couple cases of beer.

I agree. If I were to actually get a SOT kayak, I would focus on the Tarpon 140 and the Manta Ray 14. They seem like they would be easier to paddle, and quicker on flat water. I'd hate to have to paddle a long distance in a kayak that wide (30" +). But they sure look fun for short floats, or if you wanted to really take your time and fish slow.

[flytyer57]

Looks like a nice day trip boat but I wouldnt want to camp out of it.

I'm sure your T140 has plenty of room for 2 cases of canned beverages, but where are you gonna put the cooler & the ice ;>)!

Put the beer and the ice in the cooler.

[Stoneroller]

here's the big issue i've found with most fishing kayaks in rivers, say the Huzzah, something with a gradient of 5 or more and is relatively tight with frequent root wads and numerous current breaks. my trident 13 and my buddy's tarpon 120, both of which track very straight, have a flaw in swift current. the bow is very pronounced in most of these boats, these two in particular and once it's in the current, you are turning whether you like it or not. the coosa and sit inside 'creek' boats have a bow that sweeps up allowing easy turing in swift water without that tendancy to plow once the swifter water hits that deep bow. and for a river boat a shorter, wider boat would be my preference over a longer narrower one makes manuvering in the current much easier. a boat that doesn't track straight but is really stable would be ideal. fast turning with good primary and secondary stability. an innertube on steriods if you will.

[flytyer57]

here's the big issue i've found with most fishing kayaks in rivers, say the Huzzah, something with a gradient of 5 or more and is relatively tight with frequent root wads and numerous current breaks. my trident 13 and my buddy's tarpon 120, both of which track very straight, have a flaw in swift current. the bow is very pronounced in most of these boats, these two in particular and once it's in the current, you are turning whether you like it or not. the coosa and sit inside 'creek' boats have a bow that sweeps up allowing easy turing in swift water without that tendancy to plow once the swifter water hits that deep bow. and for a river boat a shorter, wider boat would be my preference over a longer narrower one makes manuvering in the current much easier. a boat that doesn't track straight but is really stable would be ideal. fast turning with good primary and secondary stability. an innertube on steriods if you will.

My old yak was about 9' long and about 31" wide.

Very stable but slow, and uncontollable in current or wind.

I'm not planning on taking this new yak down no ditches.

[Al Agnew]

There's no one magic boat. What Stoneroller likes for a boat for narrow, brushy, twisty creeks like the Huzzah will not be very good for bigger streams like the Meramec and Current.

What I've found for myself is that with a craft that tracks fairly well, proper technique will enable you to turn it, but with a boat that turns on a dime, making it track straight and fast when you want to go somewhere, like getting through a mile long pool on the Gasconade, is much, much more difficult. So any craft is a compromise...either it compromises somewhere in the neighborhood of mediocre tracking and mediocre maneuverability, or YOU compromise, getting a boat that works better for one thing but worse for another. Doesn't matter whether it's a canoe, a kayak, or one of the hybrid craft like the original post, it's still the length, width, and shape of the hull below the waterline that determines how it does with a paddle and its primary and secondary stability.

My own personal preference is a boat that compromises by leaning a little toward tracking ability at the expense of maneuverability. Very short creek kayaks are almost useless for fishing, and long, narrow flatwater kayaks are almost useless on creeks.

And I've said this before...the dedicated canoe fishing guys will not be all that impressed with the hybrids like the Jacksons, while the kayak guys will probably love them. In my opinion, the only real advantage of these craft over a solo canoe is that you can more easily stand up in them. I seldom see a need to stand up in my canoes.

I've run rapids comparable with the ones in the video with a fiberglass Oscoda solo canoe, by the way...some of the stuff I ran on the New River in West Virginia last summer with a borrowed Oscoda were about like that but required more maneuvering. And the Oscoda is pretty much a touring solo with marginal natural maneuverability.

[gotmuddy]

I'm not planning on taking this new yak down no ditches.

so your planning a trip down the southfork?

[flytyer57]

so your planning a trip down the southfork?

I said no ditches.

But it could handle most of it just like your canoe.