nucanoe

[greg916]

Opinions please. Looking for a fishing kayak. Right now I am considering either a Nucanoe, Molken12, or a Coleman Menace Angler. Stability is more important than speed. It must have a capacity of over 300 lbs. It will be used on lakes and saltwater flats.

[lakota]

I dont know about any of those but I can say stay away from the Pelican Castaway sit on top. I had one very briefly.(Less than 24 hrs before I took that sucker backto the store and went home to my solo canoe and promised to never stray again!) It had all the stability of a floating log.

[LunaticFringeInc]

Have you owned a Kayak before or is this the first one?

You also mention the need for stability...are you attempting to stand in your Yak while you fish?

Without any more information, I am also going to chime in and not recommend any of the Pelican series Yaks.  They have poorly shaped hull designs and are barges to paddle and on a Lake or Marsh flat unless its glass smooth you are going to take spray over the bow as they have very little if any "rocker" to them.  Granted Yakking is kind of a wet sport but I dispise the wet butt syndrome for hours on end fishing.  I also hate bailing the thing out all the time too.  I would also suggest sticking with the standard models as opposed to getting the "angler editions".  If your the least bit handy and have some power tools you can do a much better job yourself in most cases and end up with a more functional fishing platform in the process.

[greg916]

I have never owned or even paddled a kayak. All my paddling has been in a canoe. I do not intend to stand, just want the stability . I fully expect to get wet, but like you, prefer to be dry! It will be used almost exclusively in Salem Lake (when it reopens), and the Basin below Fort Fisher, Both in NC.

[bilmac]

When I was working in Alaska we did some duck surveys by paddling around small lakes in canoes. We got the boats to the lakes by tying them on the struts of a supercub [airplane]. Consequently they had to be very narrow boats. We had locally built "rat boats" for the purpose. These were I guess canoes, they were open tops, but the hull was a lot more kayak like.

They were the most miserable boats I have ever been in. I guess I was quite a bit heavier than the natives who built them, but they had almost no freeboard. Any chop on the water an you would get wet. And of course they were tippy. I used to joke that if you turned you hat side ways it would unbalance the boat and capsize it. Actually that wasn't far from the truth.

All this to say that you should be sure this is what you want to do before you spend the dough. I would think that a day fishing in a tippy boat is not exactly a relaxing thing. Paddling one of our boats was an exhausting experience. If you're young and full of vinegar then more power to you, but most of us old guys fish to rest.

[squirrellluck]

Check out the moccasin pirogue. Its a lot like the kayak but is a open cockpit. More room and is stable. Easy to paddle and I really enjoy fishing in it.

[243dave]

Greg, where your paddling at it seems like you will be fighting the wind and a bit of current during tide changes.  I've paddled around Fort Fisher a time or two and the salt marshes around Bear Island and several different lakes and it can be a lot of work in the wrong boat.  Of course a long kayak is much easier to paddle and tracks staight in open water.  Shorter kayaks is easier in tight places and easy to manuver.  A flat, wide bottom is stabile but the wind will blow you around like a leaf, while a bottom with more of a V will cut the water making it easier to paddle and allow straight-line tracking.  You need something in between.  Don't get nothing less than 12ft long, longer is better.  Don't get nothing to narrow or it may be tippy.  A 12ft kayak is much more stable than a 12ft canoe(if their widths are similar) for the fact you are sitting on the floor of the of the kayak while your sitting close to 8in higher than that in the canoe.  Go to some of the kayak rental/dealers ask questions and take them for a test drive.  You might realize a kayak is a bit more stabile than you thought and those sit on top kayaks are tough to paddle far in the wind but they are very stabile, it just all depends on what you want but definately go to some of the kayak shops, get advice and test drive before spending your money.   
Dave     

[LunaticFringeInc]

beating around in a yak is a lot like riding a bike with no training wheels.  It will be tippy as all get out and you will swear your going to turtle any minute.  But once you got a couple of laps around the bay in it you will find that its really easy to maintain balance and not tip over.  BTW...I have been Yaking for 5 years and I have yet to turtle, came close once or twice but still aint had my cherry popped.  My personal best in fresh water has been a 38 pound Blue Cat caught on a night float with some buddies.  Got a great tour of the marina but never came close to tipping over.

I think most new Yakers put way too much in to initial stability at the sacrifice of a lot of other qualities.  With such a yak you will have a lot of stability but once you lean it over good there will be little if any warning before you flip over.  With the narrower yaks, you will learn that you can tilt them over really far before loosing it and you will get plenty of warning before you do allowing you to quickly correct your balance before reaching the point of no return.  Longer narrower touring type yaks with some rocker (banana shaped is the best way to describe rocker...compare a Pelican SOT to a Prowler 13s hull to see what I mean) will likely suit you much more so than a shorter wider beamed yak.  A yak with a 31 inch beam doesnt sound all that much wider than a 28 inch one but the difference when paddled is huge especially as length increases!

I think 243daves advice on the 12 foot or longer yak for the type waters you are planning to use it in is some very sound advice.

I fish from a 13ft Ocean Kayak's Prowler 13.  Its a bit skinny at 28 inches but its 13.4 ft length coupled with a generous amount of rocker make this a pleasure to putt around the lake in, especially when the wind kicks up.  Being 5'11" and 185, I really need to loose a little weight  for this model.  But I just plug the scupper holes in the seating area with a couple of those foam golf balls that golfers use for hitting practice.  Keeps the butt nice and dry!  I am considering upgrading though and it will be to a Hobie Pro Angler or a 15ft Trident series from Ocean Kayak.