michaelb

I use dardevles for pike, and I should probably do that more (I use inline spinners and spinnerbaits instead). I troll them at times on my kayak, and smallies hit spoons too which is usually a surprise. Casting a heavy spoon is a surefire way to learn you have line twist or dig in, as you watch the spoon disappear into the distance though.

The crescent ultralite may be the best light smallish kayak out there? I don't have one, but it looks nice. what you can stand on depends in large part on your size (and skill), and on the wind and waves on any given day. https://www.crescentkayaks.com/product/ultralite-fishing-kayak/ edit: also, the nucanoe f10 is a really interesting pond boat, would be much more stable for standing, and at 62 lbs is still carryable. The crescentlite would dust it in terms of speed on open water, so everything is a tradeoff.

I think these are the best spinnerbaits and the swinging hook is a real difference maker. Believe the hype. they are called "strikeback" spinnerbaits, yes, by megastrike.

How big is this reservoir and how far to fish are you paddling? I like all those boats. My guess is that the SS127 would paddle the "best" out of that bunch, meaning go farther/faster, and the reviews and descriptions over the years describe it as very stable. The nucanoe is a really unique boat in terms of design, and at 41" wide it seems like that would be super stable. It may be that the OT is the smallest of the three boats (and is still a big stable kayak)?

At $1000, that hardly seems like a good deal, unless basically new. Given your height, I would really prefer to see you in a boat over 12', even though the shorter boats are better in your truck bed, I think you can still make 12 or longer foot boats work there with the extender. So the 115 is just a bit short to me. For Wilderness, the Recon 120 is a big big boat at 38" wide. Given your price, you can pick the best paddle options. The big rig is on sale at austin kayak? https://www.austinkayak.com/Wilderness-Systems-ATAK-140-Kayak/ACK22229P.html

I’m thinking pike/musky are going to hit that thing ???

It is heavy and the plastic is thick, you need a good hookset, and so I would rig it with the hook point flush (and maybe work it around a bit to make sure it can move). Is this a belly weighted swimbait hook? that will keep it vertical and the point out of the weeds for the most part. This isn't your question, but I have switched to swimbait jig heads for skinny dippers for most of the time; they work well, are pretty weedless for the most part, and the hookset is instant and hard to miss. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/VMC_Ike_Approved_Swimbait_Jig_Heads/descpage-MVCSBHD.html?from=BASRES

Are using a leader or just a snap swivel? I only use one swivel when i make a leader but most are sold with two, one on each end. I wonder if two good swivels would make a difference. I don’t have twist when i use a leader but i don’t have a rig solely for spinners. I have had twist trolling spoons when they get fouled up.

I don’t know what to call them apparently but i use skinny dippers as linked above. Several colors work but i am currently using white on a swimbait jighead. I also can’t say they are the best since there are so many others out there, but i like them better than the keitechs and they are bigger and more durable. Pike love these too.

The shearwater looks like a nice boat, but it is made overseas and may be slighter cheaper. Like J. Francho, my first thought was the Radar (which has been on the market for several years and may have been one of the very first with this option). The big rig option is also a very good choice. I think the Kaku Zulu is the coolest boat on the market. It may not be the right choice for you and you may not have been thinking of boats like that. If you were at all curious, you could call them and talk to them about it and its 500 lb capacity. There is an aspect to these boats of being able to self rescue, so if you fall off, can you get back on. I have several kayaks and several paddleboards, and I can do that will all of them. But there is a major difference between them, and getting back on a paddleboard is much much easier. So I think getting back on the Zulu (and boats like that) would be significantly easier then getting back on a bathtub shaped boat like a Hobie PA. The difference being exponential, so a 6" side wall vs a 3" is not twice as difficult, but 5x or 10x harder, something like that.

The paddle length can depend on your stroke angle, both that you are comfortable with and that is appropriate for the conditions, so with a high stroke you would use a shorter paddle and with a low stroke a longer paddle. I like werner paddles, so depending on your budget the skagit at $135 or for $315, the camano (low angle) or shuna (high angle); those come in 260-280 adjustable. finding those in stock may be tricky. I just upgraded to an adjustable camano, but haven't used it yet (from the skagit).

I have a boat but it is mostly a money pit that i keep running for my family and relatives. I would much rather fish off one of my kayaks. I have thought about rigging a rack so we could use the boat to haul the kayaks to places to fish. it is more fun and more challenging to fish on the kayak. You are right at the water level. You are alone on the boat. You have to figure out how to catch fish where you are or paddle/peddle yourself to somewhere else. You can haul the kayak to water that doesn’t have a trailer launch and also go to wild lakes that don’t have any motors.

This.

I use the ice extent daily sat image. Does your lake show up as visible there? You need to look on sunny days (today is cloudy). The high country still has snow but most lakes in the daks look clear yesterday. https://ge.ssec.wisc.edu/modis-today/index.php?satellite=t1&product=true_color&date=2021_04_04_094&overlay_sector=false&overlay_state=true&overlay_coastline=true&sector=USA4&resolution=250m

Yes you will. But with your water temps at 68 maybe you should learn to flip first. So go out with just a paddle and pfd and try to flip. Get out on edge, walk and turn around. It may be much harder to flip the boat than you think. once you are in the water you need a plan and you need to practice this. If the boat is turtled you probably need to reach under and grab the other side and pull it to you to get the boat up. Hopefully you can pull yourself back up. If not i think some hobie owners rig a sling to step on. this can be fun and is an essential skill to master.

It seems like this is more complicated than just buying keel weighted hook. So start with a 1/4 and try that. If you want to go light buy a 1/8 or if heavier get 3/8 or 1/2. But you are probably always going to want a 1/4. i like the vmc hooks.

I think for car topping, the weight and size of the kayak really does matter. So while I can do it, getting my 12' 75lb+ kayak on the roof is a challenge (I have a honda element, so have a very high roof though). My smaller and lighter 10' boats are pretty easy. I have a trailer now for my big boats. Given your height and weight, and the places you are thinking of paddling, you can reasonably consider the boats in 10.5 to 11 range. The 12 boats are faster and paddle better, but again, that size and weight makes a very large difference in heaving them around. I like the nucanoe's and think those are cool and useful boats. Another brand to consider is Crescent, so the brand new Venture for example. https://www.crescentkayaks.com/product/ck1-venture/

The boats you are looking at are not that similar, so I am not sure you have narrowed this down. there is a still a lot to think about. How big and tall are you? that matters for looking at the 10ft boats. If the plan is to use a trolling motor, the paddling speed doesn't matter, and you can look at the really fat boats that are super stable but would be terrible for paddling. So the F10 over the flint, as an example, or the F12 too (I know I am spending more $). It seems like stability/standing are a top priority and that makes sense. And not car topping or getting the boat to the lake, where weight/size would matter? How about the perception outlaw 11.5 as an idea? Yakgadget makes trolling motor mounts, that fit lots of boats with powerpole mounts. So that may expand what you are going to consider potentially. https://yakgadget.com/collections/trolling-motor-mounts

I don't have any direct advice, sorry, since I don't have a trolling motor on my kayak. But I have done many canoe camping trips that involving loading boats with gear and weight and paddling those in wind and waves. You have a big kayak with a trimmable seat. In the absence of a reason to do otherwise, I think the default would be to trim the boat as neutral as possible, and slide your seat to adjust if necessary. You are not paddling, so this matters less, but the boat will still run best if the trim is right. Trim "neutral" meaning you want the boat to be floating equally, so without more weight in the front or the back. So I would take your boat to a lake, and mount the motor and your heavy gear, and then figure out the best spot (almost certainly in the front) to put the battery to try to offset the weight of the motor.

This looks cool. What do you use usb for? Where is your phone mount?

I like the 4/0 or 5/0 ewg because the bigger hooks make releasing the fish easier if deeply hooked. I may switch to twist locks though because i do think the senko holds up and lasts longer.

I think 10' kayaks are too small for you and you should be looking at 12' boats. So I am no on the slayer 10 for that reason. The only reason to think about a 10' boat is for moving water on a river, basically running rapids where you need to spin the boat into turns. I have a tarpon 100 that I think is too small for me for open water, and I am 5'9". I would also buy a used boat solely on the boat, and not factor upgrades into that at all (unless that is a nice trolling motor or something worth real money). I don't have a peddle kayak and never tried one, but your original idea of the 120 PDL seems pretty good to me (if you don't want to jump up to a hobie). Natives are really good boats, just think you should be in the larger 12' model.

good choice, awesome boat, looking forward to some fishing pictures.

Yes leave them open and have fun. They drain water off the boat.

Peddling or paddling? I don’t know. Atak 140? Big rig? Nucanoe f12? I like the kaku zulu and that seems very stable. It is hard to trade off all the other qualities of a kayak form just for stability. If u are sitting these boats are going to be extremely stable.