Long Beach 09/03 - Big Game Kayak

[PerryC]

Chuck and myself went to one of our secret spots in Long Beach to see what was there today. In fact, I think it's so secret someone forgot to tell the larger fish where it is . We started fishing north of the 72nd street jetty for not too much and headed north from there. We had plenty of rips on the baits but they were juvenile fish, even too small to pursue for bait.

Chuck managed to get a hook in one of the offenders, and it ended up being a small shark.



We ended up getting only macs for the rest of the trip. The hali's and bass eluded us this time around, or decided to take the holiday off. Another locale would have been better, but with me taking out my kayak for the first time I didn't want to push it and elected a so-so place to fish but a good place to launch/land if I needed to.

Big Game Kayak:

A few weeks ago, I went over to Paddle Power Kayaks in Balboa and had Jim the shop owner hook me up with one of Ocean Kayaks newest kayaks out, the "Big Game".

It's definitely a very nice kayak to fish from, especially for larger folks. It is the same utility class as the Cobra Fish-N-Dive and the Malibu Kayaks x-Factor. The quality of the kayak I have is very good with the mating area between the mold halves finished off well, and a nice finish overall. Looking down into the scupper holes, they aren't offset and jacked up looking so the molds look like they're matched well. The large front hatch is easy to get into while on the water by a short scoot and looks like it would eagerly take any fish you may catch, as well as rod and reel combos. The large flat mounting area in front of the footwells could easliy be used for a mounting bar system like a Scotty or others. I like the flat footwells wsith the adjustable foot peg system like so many other kayaks use. When it really comes time to paddle hard, you can apply pressure with the ball of your foot, not just the sides. It may be a very small thing, but it's one none the less. The center console arrangement it has is the best I've seen on a production kayak IMHO for fishing. I was able to easily keep my camera and spare pliars and other hand tools in there instead of behind me. Again, maybe not a big thing but one that can add up.

Rear photo:



You can see the business end of the back end. It is very convenient to spin sideways and access the Plano watertight storage container which fits very well into a molded in recess the kayak comes with. In back of that, you have room to spare for a full sized milk crate for your additional rods and/or gear you take with you. There's no shortage of carrying capacity or rigging areas on the kayak that I could see. I don't know if you could win the Bay-To-Bay race with one, but I know you will start seeing some very nice fish coming in on them in the near future.

As far as water in the hull, mine was pretty dry. There wasn't alot of chop on the water today pushing water around the front hatch seal, and I don't have the hatch that can be installed right in front of the seat bucket installed. With those considerations, mine had about half a shot glass of water in it for the 5 hour trip. So far, so good as they say...
PerryC

[Robert]

Nice kayak Perry! Congrats on the maiden voyage! Let's go wet a line
in a couple of weeks!

Robert