Purchasing New Fishing Kayaks--WHICH ONES ARE BEST?

So I am planning on purchasing a bunch of these kayks for guests of mine who probably havent kayaked before or if so very little. I myself have not alot of kayak fishing experience and I am not able to go to a mall and take a look at different styles of these things. Aside from reviews I read on the manufacturers websites and pics on the net.  For me to purchase 1 kayak and have it shippied to me here on the Queen Charlotte Islands it costs 585$CAD for a single 16' Kayak from Vancouver. So I really need some feed back from you experienced guys as to what qualities are bad/good about what youve experienced. I have been looking at the Cobra Kayaks and so far thats the one I liked. Mine is a Tarpon 160i Pro fish and I like it I just thought for people it might be better to have them more wide than 28 inches. Let me know what you think ....Please...

Is there anyone out there that has a cobra Kayak thats 15' or mor? Do you find it very stable? How is it launching in the surf? The nearest kayak store to me is a 16 hour drive and a six hour ferry ride across the Hecate Strait. lol

The kayaks that seem to come up over and over for general fishing use are:

Ocean Kayak Prowler 13 or 15.
Cobra Maurader
Malibu XFactor
Wilderness Systems Tarpon 160

If I were to list in order of speed it might look something like this:

Prowler 15 or 160
Prowler 13 or Maurader
XFactor

If I were to list in order of stability, the list would be exactly backwards.  Gee go figure.

I've paddled them all.  I own Prowler 15's and previously a couple of XFactors (which BTW I still have for sale ... I really need to work harder to sell them this spring).

If you want more options on the stable end, the Cobra Fish N Dive is nice, but really slow.  The Ocean Kayak Prowler Big Game is like a cadillac.  Really stable, LOTS of room, also on the slow side.  I have one of these too and put my beginners in it without having to worry one bit that they'll tip over.

Which Cobra kayak are you looking at?

-Allen

Hey dude. So I was looking at the Cobra Tourer. Its like 15 or so feet. Have you seen one of those or used one? So the Ocean Kayak that you stick your newbies in. How do you find it for storage and for spots to stick finders and GPS and stuff? Could I fit a kid in it too? Is it that stable?

I've never paddled a Cobra Tourer and I don't know anyone that fishes out of one.

I'd stick a kid in any of the "stable boats" ... OK Big Game, Cobra FND, or Malibu XFactor.  The Big game has tons of room both inside and out and a layout designed specifically for pimping.  There are some nice features like a fitting for FF transducers and a battery box inside.  How old of a kid are we talking about here.  I could see it being a lot of boat for a kid to handle, although the rudder option would help.

-Allen

Malibu also has the gator seats which cover the front hatch that have seats built in for kids, turns it in too a tandem of sorts.

You can always take a road trip down south and pick up the used ones for half the price, make a vacation out of it and get a deal on some yaks.
FC

Hey thanks for the input guys. I spent last night researching options and I found a way to get kayaks sent here for minimal shipping and for the Ocean Kayak ones you had mentioned. LLBEAN ships to where I live for 115$USD so I bought 2 Big Games because they look crazy wide and I would have to do any rescuing.lol The thing is is that most often Im going to be towing the kayaks out to a halibut area or fishing small protected inlets, or for the salmon runs they are so thick in my backyard that you dont even fish far from the cabin anyways, so moving around all day really isnt a factor aside from moving around the hole. As for up north and pike fishing I thing the fat ones would be good because the pike are explosive with making runs. They come up to the boat green and make big runs on purpose under the boat and try to snap the line. Smart fish.lol years of catch and release trained ones. lol So I ordered two and Ill see what comes of it. I like mine cause it seems pretty fast for day trips. I could just see some rich Oil Baron falling out as a killer whale is stealing his Salmon and shitting his pants so bad he decides to ruin my life or something.lol So Saftey first.I pick the Cadilac. Thanks Allen  

Great!  I'm sure you'll love the new Big Game's.  Let us know how you like them after you get a chance to get a feel for them.

-Allen