another woman’s view
From what Kathy is saying, she really likes speed/glide of her 17’ carbon boat. You will be totally disappointed from a paddling perspective with what is available on the market. I had a Scupper Pro for my first kayak it was great fun and was rigged for fishing. It was an pretty good paddling boat for a plastic SOT. The problem from my and most women’s perspective is the weight of these boats for transporting and even for paddling long distances it becomes tiring they are not very efficient. For your weight try to test ride the lightest SOT you can find, I think Phoenix was mentioned as a possibility. Another girlfriend I have uses a Necky Spike and that is pretty light weight and paddles reasonably well for a 12’ kayak but limited in storage area.
I have a QCC touring kayak and use it for fishing also as I have yet to find an SOT that I like to fish out of AND paddle. So presently fish from a Bell Merlin 2 solo canoe as my dedicated fishing boat. Used to own a Wenonah Vagabond solo canoe and these are very lightweight and paddled like kayaks if you add the footbraces and use a kayak paddle about 230-240cm long.