I have been doing a lot of research on different angling kayaks. I originally had the Perception sport access angling edition. It was bulky, bad MOLDED IN back rest,but it could hold a lot of gear, and I fell in love with the idea of being able to stand and fish. Now I am looking for a new kayak to replace it. I need something around 12 ft, decently made, that I can stand in. $600 spending limit. SOT is a must, and I’d enjoy being able to have at least a slight bit of speed vs the bus i was paddling around.
Right now I have found that the Perception sport Striker, or the emotions Mojo kayak to be around what I’m looking for.
Anybody else have any ideas?
P.S. I’ll be using this in lakes and class 2 rivers at best.
Kayak
Your 2 requirements contradict each other. For a kayak to be fast, it needs to be narrower. And if it’s narrower, you won’t be able to stand in it. You need to choose which is more important. I’ve never understood the whole “standing in the kayak thing”.
My most important feature in a fishing kayak is stability.
My best guess…
If your class 2 rivers are shoals rapids and not ledgy rapids, you could probably get away with a OK Trident 13 and put an outrigger on it.
$600 for a new standing kayak is awful slim, unless you have exceptional balance. Outriggers can make a difference, but they can get in the way.
As far as used, even the used Jackson Cudas and Coosas are in the $800+ range. The Yakboard type stuff isn’t real well suited to fishing without a lot of modification. The Diablos are even pricier.
Keep a tight eye on any paddling club classifieds, and good luck.
Also, the advice above is right on target. For fishing, especially standing and fishing, you want HUGE initial stability. To get it, you are generally going to trade off speed. To get speed, you are generally going to trade off initial stability. In a SOT, I don’t know so much as I haven’t paddled many long SOTs. In a SinK, you’ll generally get higher secondary stability as you give up initial stability. So you can have stability and speed, but the stability is secondary stability, and that’s not too likely in an SOT fishing kayak that you can stand up in. Unless you are extremely agile and have velcro foot soles, secondary stability is worthless when you’re standing.
- Big D