Seafury

My vote is no. But it depends on what you need it for or what you want to do with it. Every brand is very heavy and awkward to move yourself. I almost went with the 133x until I looked at other brands and decided to save up for those instead. Ascend are heavy, not as stable, spongy floors, weak easily worn away plastic hulls. I went with the old town 120 pdl which has its strong points (the pdl drive) but many other issues for its cost. I wish I had gone with nucanoe unlimited but there pdl drive is not a great design and it costs even more. A good kayak is a huge rip off cost wise. A cheap kayak is just a waste of money. Best to test or at least look at several brands in person before deciding, also YouTube reviews help (sometimes). Good luck and let us know what you decide.

Your right about that. I hate where I live but I am stuck here atm. I just don't like cities, I grew up in the shadow of DC so they have nothing that I value these days except work unfortunately lol i have never had any luck on the Shenandoah, but I need to try the Potomac this year now that I have a kayak. Hopefully it gets warmer and stable soon.

Things to know about a fishing kayak I have not seen mentioned much yet. 1) They are heavy. If you are middle aged and/or out of shape they will kick your ass. Loading, unloading, using it all day, then reloading into the truck bed, then unloading at home. I use my truck bed. No way in hell would I even consider trying to hoist this beast on anything higher, or a rack of any kind, or roof of any car. If you ever worked in home construction and tried to man handle 3/4in floor plywood yourself, it's like that. Long, heavy, and awkward. 25 years ago as a late teen sure, I could do some of that, for a little while. 2) How tall/heavy are you? They ALL feel very tippy to me. I'm 6'1" 255lbs. Plus all kinds of gear, tackle, water, couple rods, cameras, batteries, ropes, 9in fish finder etc. I don't get how anyone stands on these things, scares the crap outa me and I have been riding bikes and motorcycles my whole life and have (what I always thought) is great balance. Added seat risers to mine now it's even more unstable but way more comfortable. 3) Peddling will kick your ass if your middle age and/or out of shape. It is also stiffer then you think it would be to peddle. People saying they are doing 9miles+ or in wind over 10mph are crazy. 2 miles peddling plus all the loading/unloading will wreck you physically unless your in real good shape. 3) If you got a kayak because you wanted a bass boat but it was not possible for logistical reasons (not financial reasons, good fishing kayaks cost as much or more then a cheap bass boat) then you most likely want a trolling motor type kayak, I wish I had, but then it would be less useful in creeks and up river sections. This will depend on the water you plan to fish with it most. 4) What is your storage situation? I have to lug mine up and down a hill out back of my townhouse into the basement. This makes it super miserable for me and if its muddy from rain when I want to go fish it's almost a deal breaker to even get the kayak out. I will and have slipped and fallen on the hill when its damp. I just HAD to get off the bank to fish any still waters I have access to. They are all so pressured bank fishing is a waste of time. I spent last summer wading the upper rivers and that's awesome but it's also physically draining and you can't get very far sometimes. I got the OT 120 PDL last Oct. After 4 trips It's great, and I regret it. I should have gone with the Nucanoe Unlimited. Way more stable, higher seat, 360 swivel, way wider. Built right to add any kind of propulsion you want later as you need or budget allows. No other good fishing kayak seems to be like that, it's either paddle, peddle, or motor. Any changing requires customization and drilling your warranties away. Price and availability kept me locked on the OT 120 PDL and as soon as I found 2022 in stock I drove 3hr+ to buy it. If anyone reading this is built like me, or has my situation, or is concerned about stability, and future options, go look and research the Nucanoe line, then compare it to anything else and unless you need a bunch of in-hull storage you will see it's clearly way better then everything else. I hope this helps someone.

That's awesome! But you are around 100miles south of me, the weather up here has been terrible, I tried some of my upper rivers like the Rappahannock and Rapidan with almost zero luck ( I don't fish the lower slower non rapid eastern sections, yet) I use my local Bull Run Creek as a gauge for water level and fish bite. It sucks as of this past Tuesday the last day I went and wade fished it. Snagged 1 bluegill in the back, that's it, no other bites at all. Fished all water types, saw some fish, but they were not hungry and holding tight to cover and spooked with any bait tossed nearby. Nothing in any of the spots they should be in, or I have ever found them in. I need to get down and fish the upper James in Richmond but don't like cities and don't want to risk my truck (catalytic converters especially) in that sketchy cesspool of a city. I also wanna do the upper Potomac this season but it is very pressured also. Hopefully it will warm up in the next 2 weeks and things will pickup for me. I am also looking forward to fishing down 28 towards Lynchburg. I saw a ton of nice looking creeks when I drove down there back in Oct to get my kayak. Gotta go rural to get decent fishing up here in NoVa.

Weather in Va continues to be shity and erratic. I have yet to find any real bite anywhere and I am itching for my creeks and rivers to come back to life! Currently 3 days of rain, with lower temps and wind to follow the next several days, after days of cold and high wind before the rain /sigh. This spring sucks so far, but it will eventually end, and things will get better

I live in this god forsaken town. This formerly public lake was taken from the public after 9-11 due to "terrorist concerns" ? This is the cities drinking water after all ? Then the rich private gated community that was built on one side lobbied to keep it private and our corrupt city government caved. Last I heard we have one or two city council members that are pushing to reopen it, but they are out voted by democrats of course. Now the only access is by bank fishing only for those rich ****** in the gated community, and the lucky few land owners on the other side. I have heard there is one land owner that lets people fish from his land, and launch kayaks, but the police water patrol will throw you out if caught out on the water. Yes, there are some nice fish in this lake, it's basically been unfished since 2011. I have never even had the pleasure of fishing there. Are you local to the area, or just intrigued by what you discovered? Full disclosure, I am looking for a fishing pal for Sunday excursions within 1.5hrs or so of Manassas. Mostly south and west areas, all the local suburban fishing here sucks.

I hope to do this with my new OT 120 pdl at some point this season. Only been out on it 3 times since buying it in the fall. Caught several small Strippers in Occoquan River at old town Occoquan and once on Burke lake got skunked. A couple of things: 1) Where exactly are you looking to go on the south fork? 2) Are you floating down river, or somehow going upriver then floating back to the truck? If your floating down, how are you doing transportation? I have a 5.5ft bed full size pickup for my kayak, but no one to help with the drop off and pickup if floating down river. 3) It is raining all day today and the reporting shows more the next 2 days. The river will likely be to flooded, stained, and dangerous this weekend. 4) I have yet to get any Smallies from the Bullrun creek by my house. Aside from a random unexpected 2lber last week. I have wade fished it several times in the last 2 weeks at every type of location, deep, shallow, current, slack, bends, beside the bank, they are just not here yet. I did finally see and hook some sunfish the other day so times coming soon. Normally in the summer I can get 6-10 in a couple hours largemouth and smallies. 5) I only got 1 tiny smallie bank fishing at Kelly's Ford the other day. This is on the upper Rappahannock River and one of my favorite Smallie waters aside from the Rapidan river which is the best in the area. 6) We had to many cold spells recently and it's still not warm, plus the rain now, the smallies just aren't around and biting in numbers yet Hopefully in the next couple weeks depending on what the weather does. I have never had any luck fishing the Shenandoah River from the bank or wading around the public access spots near Front Royal. I am really trying to kayak fish both the upper Rapidan/Rappahannock this year but portage alone is tough. Still not sure how paddling and peddling upriver from the put in will work or if it's even possible. Last year wading fishing I tore them up all summer, was awesome but a lot of work and can't cover much water. I do need a fishing buddy for Sundays when my father and brother are busy. I am in the Manassas area.

Thanks for the good advice. I think I will keep the 120 PDL for at least the next season. I might get close to what I paid for it, but at $2500 losing even a little will hurt lol. I may add a rear trolling motor, we will see. Spotlock sure would be nice, but to be honest I don't know if I will be on big enough water often enough to be worth the expense. The rear motor I know I would use fairly often. Yea One Objective makes mounts I think I looked at them already. We will see what I end up doing this next season.

Maybe, I drove 2.75 hrs each way to southern Va to get mine lol. They are available now and more are coming from the manufacturer every day. Doubt I can get what I paid, but maybe close, maybe. I can pedal for a mile, but it's less than fun, (especially in winter gear, waders and boots) being exhausted after a day's fishing due to all the peddling is worse than wading fishing all day because at the end instead of changing to dry clothes and driving away, I have to unload the kayak and then haul and load it into my truck bed, then unload all that crap and the kayak at home. I absolutely do need to the exercise overall, which is partly why I bought this, but the pedal drive is stiffer than expected, or maybe just turning it in the water is, there is nothing wrong with it and I know it will get easier over time. I just need to suck it up buttercup lol. I think if I do the motor it will go in the back powerpole spot, or I will mod the PDL drive well block off plate to except a bixpy type motor setup and steer with the rudder. Anyway, enough of this, until someone comes out with a nice mod for adding motors to the PDL drive well hole, this is just going in circles.

Thanks. It's not that bad. The only boats with more weight rating are Nucanoe, every other brand else is about the same as my 120 PDL. If I add the trolling motor, I will be near the max limit rated. I have seen people heavier with more gear in these same kayaks.

Lol. It's not technically overloaded yet. But it sure is heavy due mostly to me.....

I try hard to put a lot of thought and research into my purchases also. Sometimes I fail and second guess myself. Oh well life goes on, right Yea I already knew I could mount a motor to that spot, it's just that it is off center and that really bothers me. Plus, the bolt pattern is angled away from center which will make it visually even worse. At the end of the day, that might be the way to go. I can also maybe offset that side weight to the side weight of my Garmin 93sv and Yakkattack switchblade. Then again, the big lithium battery for a motor will provide counterbalance weight to place somewhere just right. I just have a thing for things being symmetrical lol. I think maybe I will look into motors and mounts for the rear powerpole offset mount.

Thank you for that advice. I am not familiar on this setup. Can you give me a pic for reference? Whatever I end up doing for a powered motor, it needs to be light weight as even my new Garmin 93sv and Yakattack switchblade make this kayak list to that side lol. Touche! Yea my 120 pdl does have the predrill holes like this one for the micro powerpole. Idk why in this pic they drilled into the other side of the kayak instead though? I already swapped out that right rear rod holder hole for a tiny bolt on gear track for my camera I was considering using that predrilled area for a rear motor but being off to the side I wonder how that will handle at speed and turning etc... Thanks for the advice I don't really do social media, but we will see......I know FB marketplace, and groups, are very handy. Also, yea I might drill this thing after all, but how does it affect resale? Will people still pay top dollar for a kayak that's been drilled?

Think I read we want 2AH charger for lifepo4. However, I am unsure if the charge rate is related to the battery capacity ie: 10AH, 18AH etc. With my RC Li ion batteries, the max charge rate depends on the capacity and rating. Fast charging any type of lithium shortens it's life though. I am still new to these specific batteries myself, although we do use some in RC airplanes nowadays. Anyone know for sure the proper charge rate for lifepo4 batteries?

Yes and no. I was reading those on Amazon. The cheaper models do not mention lifepo4, just SLA AGM and Gel. The $100 models do mention lifepo4. At $100, just get a cheaper lifepo4 charger, unless you need a charger for other batteries also. Hell from $100-200 you can get a high-end RC battery charger these days that can charge anything lithium in record time with full digital control and battery stats on display. Gotta do your homework to find the right fit at the right price Yes, "modern lithium's" means all the modern lithium type batteries. They say lifepo4 are safer than the li ions I use in my RC models, but idk about that. We use some of those lifepo4 batteries now in some RC models. I guess they are slightly safer, but lithium's in general are more dangerous than SLA AGM GEL. At the end of the day, ALL batteries are dangerous if not properly cared for and handled. We as a society take these for granted all the time. Just follow the safety rec's and use decent gear and you will be fine. They are TOTALLY worth the better power, and much lighter weight.

It varies tbh. I follow fairly safe battery practices from flying RC planes, but even I don't do everything you are supposed to. Never had an issue yet, but cheap batteries can be dangerous sometimes. Most batteries like everything else are made in a handful of the same factories. The main points are NEVER leave batteries charging when not home, and don't leave charging batteries unattended for long periods of time. I am either working in the room while charging, or coming into that room ever 20-30mins to check on things. The other thing is you are supposed to charge the battery while it's in a fire safe bag, which is a huge pita and I have rarely ever done. Lifepo4 is somewhat safer than the li ion batteries in my model airplanes though. Mine are smaller and more volatile and have fast discharge and charge rates. Modern lithium's are a little more dangerous then nicads and SLA's and AGM's, because they will burst into flames if something goes wrong.

That's something I had not considered. Very good point there. It's just that boats in general are not designed to be pulled, but pushed. So I would think pulling the bow, which rides low from the weight of these things makes the hull dig in and drag much more then pushing from midship, let alone the rear. That is the other brand I was looking at, but both Motorguide and Minnkota want like $1200 for their cheapest ipilot system it seems like. Hopefully in the coming years they will have some cheaper competition. Because we all know our money won't ever be worth more lol.

That's a great charger if you want to run a weak heavy traditional battery. You're better off with a Lifepo4 charger. Lithium is way cheaper now, your much better off with a lighter battery with more usable capacity. Weight is the enemy of everything, including boats. Amazon is full of options, just search for whatever AH rating your looking for. Amazon.com : 10ah lifepo4 battery Then lifepo4 chargers. Amazon.com : lifepo4 battery charger The 10AH Lifepo4 I got will run the 73sv for around 8hours based on this chart. Garmin® | Amped Outdoors I rarely even consider traditional SLA or even AGM batteries for most things anymore. No, not a good idea. You need a charger specifically designed for lipo batteries, specifically Lifepo4, which is 4 cell 14.6v fully charged. Regular chargers can work, but it's risky and they won't charge the Lifepo4 to full charge. Why risk burning down your house? Just get a decent Lifepo4 and a Lifepo4 charger, they are not expensive unless money is super tight.

Not sure I follow you? Normal stick steer motor is an option I am considering also, but........ The OT 120 PDL does NOT have rear tracks to mount stuff to ?, so once again I have to drill my new kayak to install those, then mount a rod system for a side mounted stick steer motor. Maybe I really did screw up buying this particular kayak .......... The original point was I wanted the ipilot type motor with spot lock feature, from any brand really, in the PDL drive well hole. I don't think you can side mount those motors that are normally bow mounted. It would probably not know which way is forward unless you can reprogram that but idk. It seems unlikely to accommodate that as everyone mounts them on the bow, maybe they can be reprogrammed to know which way is forward? If so, and I had rear track mounts, that might in an interesting idea for using the bow mount type motors that are for sale. Me and the other guy were complaining that Oldtown/Minnkota will NOT sell the Minnkota ipilot motor setup in their Oldtown Autopilot kayak separately, not even parts for it. You have to own that kayak and have registered it with them or they won't even talk to you about that motor setup. REALLY stupid of them as they could sell that to every kayaker with a through hull PDL drive kayak. But I guess they think that would cannibalize their Autopilot kayak sales to much. I suppose that's valid, but it still sucks.

I knew I wasn't alone or crazy, thanks! And I'm sorry lol. I am debating on doing just a normal motor in the PDL drive well also so I don't have to kill myself peddling all day. I don't want to mess with the rudder so I can still pedal or paddle if I want to on certain water. The removeable PDL drive, or a removeable motor assembly in that drive well hole is the way to go imho, that way it's easy to configure the yak for whatever water I am doing that trip. Block off plate for creeks and some shallow rivers. PDL drive for small lakes and some rivers. Powered motor for real lakes, Res, big Rivers. I do really want the spot lock, but not at the cost of bolting that thing to the front of my kayak for reasons already stated. Why does Oldtown/Minn kota have to be such a pita about this lol. They could make SO much more money, and give life to so many kayak brands this way. Damnit, maybe I should have gone with my gut and bought the Nucanoe Unlimited with better seating, weight capacity, stability, and factory add on's for PDL and powered motors. That would have costed much more, and I would have to had bought it in pieces over time, kayak, then PDL, then later powered motor. But it is designed for all those things by Nucanoe, whereas Oldtown is still one-dimensional thinking. Oh well. Why can't it be summer so I can be out fishing instead of stupid ass winter locked indoors, got me wasting time thinking about bs and 2nd guessing myself lol.

The current Oldtown 120 PDL pricing is for 2022, bought my 2022 model a month or so ago at a registered distributor here in southern Va. It was VERY hard to find, one of the newest delivered 2022 models, everything 2021 has been sold out for months. Prices went up from 2021 model year. 2021 I believe was $2149 or $2199 2022 pricing that I and everyone else will now pay is $2349 With tax I was right at $2500 out the door. I also have a 3 waters Bigfish 120 paddle kayak I am trying to sell. Those go for $900-1100 with better stability and higher weight capacity. But no pedal drive I essentially paid $1500 for a bicycle crank with a chain to a prop. That's not even the whole bicycle lol. I doubt there is a technical limitation reason why no one has done this mod. It might be a lot of work, but it's far from impossible imho. If they can put a pedal drive in that hole, we can put a powered motor there instead just as easily with some engineering effort. I bet a torqeedo type motor would be even better than a prop, but either should fit. The tricky part is how big is the deck mount drive part of the ipilot motors (to fit on the block off plate that covers the PDL drive hole) and then once you shorten the shaft, how do you make the assembly pivot forward like the PDL drive does to pull it up when shallow. The Autopilot model does this, so we can to with some ingenuity and effort Dam I just remembered. The ipilots only come in 55lb thrust. I heard, those won't fit in the PDL drive well hole. You have to use a smaller motor. I guess that explains why nobody has done this since you will also have to convert the 55lb motor down to a 36lb or 40 something, with the powerdrive/ipilot features. Damnit, if Minnkota would just sell the frigen autopilot drive to the public I could make it work with the block off plate in the PDL. Oh well, maybe I just screwed up and need to buy the Autopilot 120 someday. Live and learn, the hard way.

LOL. Thanks, but I'd rather buy a real bass boat. Talk about overpriced nonsense. I'd have to kick my own ass if I bought a Hobie, no offense. They are nice boats, but they are beyond insane price wise, downright delusional. Also, in my experience, they are just as tough to peddle as the prop one's like my OT PDL. I just want to be able to add an Autopilot/ipilot (any brand) unit to my PDL drive well, not the bow of my kayak. I really did search all over the internet, youtube ect, and can find no one who has tried this, and posted it online. Very surprised. Maybe I will have to be the first one lol.

All you probably need is a 10AH Lifepo4 battery. I am using this one from Amazon. It was $50 but no charger. I run a Garmin Echomap 93sv with GT54 UHD Transducer. Amazon.com: 12V 10Ah Lithium LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Battery, 2000+ Cycles Rechargeable Battery, Maintenance-Free Battery for Solar/Wind Power, Lighting, Power Wheels, Fish Finder and More, Built-in BMS : Health & Household I fly RC airplanes so I already have badass digital Lithium battery chargers that can charge pretty much any type of battery. I also had my wife buy me this 18AH battery for Christmas for those really long day trips. For $150 it includes a no brainer Lifepo4 charger. 12v 18ah Lithium Battery (LiFePO4) | Amped Outdoors This website is nice, they also have a cool chart in the middle of this listing that shows the popular fish finder brands/models and what size/type of battery will give you what run time. Made the decision super easy. By the way, if you mount this on the same side, and use the Yakattack switchblade mount for the transducer like I did, your Yak will list to that side lol. I am debating putting the screen on one side and the Transducer on the other and running the lines across behind me or something to make it level again. Battery is always centered in the kayak.

Hello everyone, I recently lost my mind and paid the ridiculous price for a new Oldtown 120 PDL kayak to fish. Now I am having buyer's remorse and almost* wish I had bought the Autopilot 120 instead. I mainly fish creeks and shallow rivers but also the occasional lake, res, and large river, (especially in the winter) and peddling even 1 mile loaded up with gear is some serious bs lol. Of course, minn kota will not sell you the Autopilot trolling motor unit, or even parts for it, unless you own the Oldtown Autopilot kayak itself. Has anyone tried to make ANY brand autopilot trolling motor work in the Oldtown PDL drive well hole, like by using the block off plate and mod skills? I can totally see this being very possible, except how to make the assembly pivot forward out of the water like the PDL drive does. No, I do not want to bolt all that crap onto the front of my kayak (Looks awful), and I am NOT about to drill holes in my new $2500 PDL kayak voiding the warranty. I can't believe nobody else has done this yet, and everyone just drills holes in their kayak and mounts those monstrosities to the front of their kayaks. It just looks so god-awful, like a bloated Rhino, and it must do wonders for the kayaks balance way up front like that. Also, it can't possibly be efficient mounted on the front edge of a kayak like that. I can source a modern Minn kota Powerdrive and the ipilot add on kit for less than the cost of the cheapest ipilot trolling motor so I am debating trying to do this, but would rather follow someone else's tracks as I have limited money and workspace where I live. I just don't want to go through the trouble of selling my brand new 120 PDL at a loss, then saving up another $2k and buying the Autopilot 120. Imho the PDL is just WAY too much effort to go any usable distance loaded with gear. What do you all think? Has anyone done this yet? Am I being crazy?

The Northern Snakehead amphibian has been here over a decade now. If their was going to be a negative impact, we would very likely know by now. In fact the bass population exploded in the years after they were introduced, now things have leveled off somewhat. This is what I have read in local stories and fish and game articles over and over. Yes, we essentially dodged a bullet and got lucky, but I would consider it a win at this point. The reasons for this are fairly simple to understand from what I have read. 1) They spawn 3 times per year, and have 10k to 40k fry per spawn. Our game fish eat the hell out of these fry, giving a food boost to our native game fish. Where our native fish spawn once per year. This increases the available food supply tremendously for our native fish. 2) The adult ones do not seem keen to eat our game fish as our fish are fast and tough, where as the snakeheads have fairly tender skin and are easily torn up by our game fish. They also seem to prefer other amphibians instead of other fish for food. 3) They are not as aggressive or dangerous as we have been lead to believe.....unless you are a frog that is lol. Yes they have scary teeth, but like pike and musky are just not that bloodthirsty. If they were, we would have a problem. 4) They are not able to migrate on land, this is a myth. Yes, they can sorta of wiggle around, but there is no documented case of them walking to a new area. They breath air, and can survive out of water for about 48 hours if they can stay moist, that's it. This is probably an adaptation to survive dry seasons, and low oxygen environments in SE Asia where they came from. 5) Asian immigrants brought them here to eat, and they probably stocked them in some local waters thinking they would die in the winter, but somehow they can survive by going into a sort of hibernation. Then people also had them as pets, and some one released them into other waters for various reasons, and they are unstoppable breeders. Florida is full of invasive fish from all over the world, so far, the native fishery world has not ended there either. 6) They prefer warm, dirty, dark, muddy, low oxygen, and shallow water. I don't see them getting much further up the Potomac, or surviving in any of our more pristine waters inland. This means our Smallmouth are safe, and definitely our trout. I have not heard of much if any as far north as point of rocks MD, let alone any further norther or inland other then a few muddy lakes and ponds where some one stocked them. At the end of the day, they are an illegal immigrant fish, but they are here to stay now, no way to stop them all due to their rapid breeding, and luckily they have not caused any negative effects to our native fisheries, and have instead provided extra fun, and food for our citizens to enjoy. They should never have gotten loose here, but it seems now we just have to make the best of it. Considering in 40 years fishing this area I have never even seen a pike or musky let alone caught one, I welcome the chance at a toothy fresh water fish lol.