Is my yak good for Lake Tahoe

Greetings, first time poster and not the last. Last year we got 4 kayaks for the family, basic entry level Pelican nxt 100 10’ sit ins. We live in AZ and have been enjoying the flat water lakes here improving our skills. Our summer vacation takes us to Tahoe late June and the yaks are coming with.

My question is are these boats right for a large body of water, we’ve never visited the lake before. We are aware of water temps and keeping close to shore. I just don’t want the lake to overwhelm us if we have the wrong kayaks. Many thanks in advance.

I think Tahoe is one of the most beautiful places in this country and a lot of fun too both winter and summer.
I spent a lot of time there, but I have never paddled the lake so I’ll defer to others on the boats.

Depends on conditions. On a reliably sunny and windless day, I suppose you could float along the near shore shallows (and I mean “near”, like no farther out than 30’). But the lake is generally deep and cold. Even the outfitters who rent kayaks there (and there are not many any more since all the tourists have migrated to SUP’s) won’t allow you to take out a sit inside kayak unless you can demonstrate to them that you can self-rescue. If you can’t, you are limited to renting their sit on tops, which can be more easily climbed back upon in case of a capsize.

Others may argue against my opinion, but having kayaked there, even on a really nice day when the water temp near shore was fairly comfortable, I personally would not take a short recreational kayak with no bulkheads or deck rigging out onto as large a lake as Tahoe. You don’t take a golf cart onto an interstate highway, just sayin…

The boats you have are recreational kayaks. This class of kayak usually can’t be re-entered in deep water should you flip over, so for safety reasons is recommended that you stay close enough to shore that you could swim in should you flip over.

On beautiful days with flat water, you will have a great time. It is a large enough lake to get significant waves, so watch the weather carefully.

Tahoe does have cold water year round. It gets up to low _60_s as the warmest in early fall. Probably 40s right now.

(Edit - added the actual temp to my post. “60” didn’t get typed when I first entered this. Sorry)

We paddled there quite a few years ago and loved it
Just pay attention the weather report and keep off it if the wind is up.
The water is frigid.
There is another lake near Taho called Fallen Leaf Lake and that is smaller and you might like it there also