Another Noob

Hey there everyone.  I am new to the site and I appreciate this site so much.  You all do a great job of keeping each other informed and its seems like an awesome community. 

My name is Brian, I stay on Whidbey Island in Oak Harbor and I recently was daydreaming of finding an inexpensive way to get out on the water and do some fishing.  Im originally from South Carolina (go Clemson), fishing for largemouth and catfish.  I have yet to buy a kayak and I probably wont buy until next year.  So far Ive been researching like crazy, so I guess you could say I am saving up and making an educated decision on what to spend the $ on. 

Right now I think I like the Malibu X-factor the most.  I dig the gator seat and the 600+lb capacity.  Before I was looking at the Trident 13.  I know that people say the Malibu is not as sleek and harder to paddle but I like a challenge   If anyone has some input, please let me know because in this economy its important to get the most for your cash. 

I will be using it for beating around the local ponds and as my experience grows Ill most likely hit the surf and try my luck at rockfish and lings.  Ive done minimal salt water fishing, and all of the experience Ive got was on the east coast fishing with squid.  LOL.  I guess you could say Im pretty inexperienced, so any suggestions for rods & reels would be highly welcomed as well.  Thanks to everyone for making this site so educational!

Brian,

You might want to rethink your priorities and give some thought to size. Do you want to have a yak that you have to always launch from a boat ramp, or do you want to able to comfortably carry the yak to inaccessible places to launch? Using a yak cart isn't always an option for some great fishing spots. I chose my little Caper because I can launch it anywhere. It's agile in the surf, and at 45 pounds, I can drop it in any little pond without having direct access.

Just something to think about!

I can respect that.  Around 70lbs and 14ft long shouldnt be a problem for me to lug around in clearings.  I dont plan on hoofing around through the woods at all so Im quite certain the weight of the yak shouldnt be a problem.  Thank You for your thoughts.

Another South Carolina native...nice although I can't second your crazy go clemson theory 

And I'm just curious whats the hype about a 600 pound capacity...Are you taking 3 people fishing on your kayak
I just can't think of a time when I would want me plus 400 pounds of gear or me plus 400 pounds of other people and gear...I don't know just thinking out loud

First and foremost i dont want to sink  Secondly, I have two young sons so I would like to take them out and let them do the fishing while I just paddle around and help them out.  Probably just the added sense of security. 

I just can't think of a time when I would want me plus 400 pounds of gear or me plus 400 pounds of other people and gear...I don't know just thinking out loud

ummmm, 3 supermodels?


welcome to NWKA TT. My Sister lives on Whidbey Island in Langley, maybe we'll get to fish together someday. If you want to get started on fishing, can't go wrong with an Ugly Stick combo to start and then you can upgrade, or not at a later date.

If you want to take the kids, a tandem might be the way to go...

Welcome TT! 

While you're still shopping, check out the Cobra Fish-n-Dive.  Great kayak and an 800lb load limit.  I've paddled mine around with as many as 3 kids onboard.

Welcome to the site TigerTheory!

I have been paddling and fishing off my X-Factor for about three years now and I think it's a great boat. I will agree with goldendog in that you do have to be fairly close to your launch spot with this heavy of a boat or have a good cart. I can manage to carry mine a good fifty yards without any gear on it, but that obviously means you'll have to make a trip or two depending on how much gear you have. Due to this limiting factor, I have a Mini-X and that works for everything else.

Yes, it's true that one may never have enough gear to bring this thing to capacity, but the idea behind the bulky weight capacity that I appreciate is the stability. My favorite place to fish is out on the salt, so having a bigger boat means I can crawl around on my boat to take the rods out of the front hatch, or twist around on it to access the back hatch and not feel that I'm about to take a swim. My old boss at the kayak shop I used to work at in San Diego would sometimes take his wife and little daughter out on the X-Factor for paddles around the bays. I've taken my lady out on it before we got the Mini-X. The pronounced keel and grooves on the bottom increase the stability dramatically and keep the bottom from getting warped.

There is plenty of room for add-ons if you feel like you're going to trick it out. So far, I have six flush mount rod holders, two scotty mounts(one in front of me and one behind me), two rocket launcher style pvc rod holders, a mounted fish finder, and I still have more room to mount more stuff if I wanted to and plenty of deck space for storage.

The cons of this boat are obvious. It is a bit slower than other boats for sure. I can however get a good cruise speed of around four mph and it tracks very well. The biggest gripe I have about the boat is that the underside has the same rough texture as the top does. This is very odd because most of Malibu's other boats are not like this, they're rough on the top, and smooth on the bottom, like Ocean Kayak's models. So I feel that plays into the speed thing as well. That being said, I seem to have always been able to keep pace with other boats out on the water when it comes to relatively short paddles. You probably would notice a difference in speed on a paddle further than a couple of miles. 

Hope this helps in your quest for a new boat!

Thanks for the replies.  I will take all this into consideration as I browse and dream  I wonder if you could use some surf board wax on the bottom to get a little less resistance?  Sounds like you fish well from the boat and stability and fishability are my main concerns.  If I have to work a lil harder to paddle then thats ok with me, I could use the work out!

Tiger... welcome to the group. Glad to see another Tiger fan......

Your not far from Ferndale. when you have the opportunity go into Johnsons Outdoors.. they have the OK line of kayaks that you can look at and test some of them out in there back yard. Its were i got my T-13 and i am loving it. i do alot of lake stuff right now.


YN.. and here i though you had good taste.. dont tell me you like the gamecocks.. lol

welcome!  I can't give you much of any advice, but i can tell ya up front, the people here are awesome...

I wonder if you could use some surf board wax on the bottom to get a little less resistance? 

I have thought about that, just never got around to giving it a try. I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Anyone with more experience with surf wax have any input? I think this was discussed in a recent thread about scratches also and I think that's what got me thinking about it.

You don't want to use surf wax.  That stuff goes on the top of the board as a way of sticking your feet to the deck.  Steelheadr wrote up some info. on filling scratches with ski wax...

As for the texture, while it slows you down on a beach or a dock drag, it might actually have the effect of breaking up the flow of the water over your hull so you move thru with less resistance.

As for the texture, while it slows you down on a beach or a dock drag, it might actually have the effect of breaking up the flow of the water over your hull so you move thru with less resistance.

hmm... never thought of it that way. Good insight!

I'd probably start with some sort of caranuba wax, like good old Turtle Wax to get things going.  This type of wax is most likely going to be able to help you slide through the water better than most waxes (ie the way a good waxed car will shed rain).  Its also used to waterproof leather.

Ski and Snowboard waxes contain fluoride compounds which are designed to actually melt the snow and create a snow/water combination to help them become more slippery and thus getter the skiier/boarder down the hill more quickly.  The compounds will differ depending on snow surface temperatures (ideally).  The wrong compound can cause snow to melt too quickly, creating too much water between the snow and ride, and cause the ski/board to stick or suck into the surface.