Want to Introduce my self.

Hello everyone
 I will give you all a bit of history first. I started kayaking in a whitewater boat long ago when whitewater boats were made of fiberglass. My last boat was a touring kayak a Seaward Chilco. As you can tell from my screen name I am a firefighter for the City Of Portland. I have been an avid fisherman for many years my favorite type of fishing is trout and steelhead. I read about Kayak fishing with a sot about 7 months ago and really got the bug to get involved. I have never paddled a sot and have been reading everything I can get my hands on to find out about sot yaks. I was at Alder Creek the other day and sat in a Wilderness Tarpon 120, it seems like a nice boat with quite a few features that would make it a good fishing craft. The boat that I really want to paddle is a Native Watercraft Manta Ray 12 but I can not find one that I can try. Alder Creek did not have a Tarpon in their rental fleet so I did not get a chance to paddle that either. I am still gathering information as to which boat would best suit my needs. I live down the street from the Willamette River, and have a house in Lincoln city so I am sure I would be out on Devils Lake and out in the ocean on nice calm days. Also the Salmon River is very close to my house. I can think of many places at the Coast to go fishing, the options seem endless. I don’t have a boat yet as I want to make a good and educated decision when making my choice. Any advice will be well received, the more the better. I was reading about the Jackson Coosa the other day and watched some videos on YouTube but the seat seems to high to me. The sales person at Alder Creek was trying to talk me into a 14' rather that a 12' yak. I am going to loading this by myself and my wife might be using it also so I thought that a 12 might be better. Would the 12' be enough boat to go out in the Ocean with?
 Well I have rambled on enough. It will be great getting to know everyone and learning from you all.
Later
Paul

I was just in Next Adventure's paddle shop the other day and I saw they had a much larger selection of SOTs than before.  They had some Ocean Kayak, Emotion and Hobies in there and they do demos on Thursday nights at Sellwood Riverfront Park.  I did not see any Tarpons in there, or Native watercraft that I was aware of, but it gives you the opportunity to check out other brands if you are interested.  That is, when you are not busy sleeping til your hungry, or eating til your tired.  Ha! Just kidding.   No more firefighter jokes.

I currently fish from a 15 foot kayak, but I recently parted with some money at Next Adventure and ordered a 12 footer.  Lots of people go out in the Ocean in 12 - 13 foot SOT kayaks.  In fact, I think I may be in the minority with a 15 footer, at least with the people I have fished with that are on this forum.  I have paddled a Tarpon and they are good boats.  I had, at one time, considered buying the 16 footer. 

-Craig

Welcome to NWKA FB23. Your doing right by trying to demo as many yaks as you can. Do yourself a favor and try out the Hobie line, If you can afford the initial sting of the price, they are awesome fishing machines and make up  for the higher price in many ways!

They are bit heavier, so a 12 foot hobie would be equivalent  to a longer paddle yak. I'm not the fittest person and i can load it ok many days a year.

goldendog and a few people down here use 9 footers on the ocean often but i like my 12 footer...

12 foot Hobie ocean worthy? YES!

Welcome to the forum.  Last Monday I went to Alder Creek with the intent of buying that Tarpon 120 they had (my wife OK'd a SOT for my birthday,Yeah!).  But at the last minute I went up the road to Next Adventure to check out what they had in stock and bought an Emotion Mojo Angler instead.  It was the same price, but was already outfitted with rod holders and configured for fishing.  THe Mojo Angler had great reviews on-line and it means I don't have to drill holes and otherwise spend more $ to get it rigged.  The Tarpon has good reviews as well, and I already own Wilderness Systems SINKS so I know they are well built.

We'll be at Devils Lake next weekend, if you're over that way you may see us paddling around the lake.

Thanks for the welcome and the advice I will for sure check out Sellwood Riverfront park out on Thursday for the demos thanks Craig. I did not think that Next Adventure had sot kayaks I will have to go check them out maybe they will have a Mojo at the demo to paddle around. When you do Devils lake are you going to go fishing or just paddle around? If you go fishing let me know how you do and where you were secussfull. I have fished there before but not had much luck.
 Coosbay yaker thanks for the length of boat info a 12 footer it is then. I believe I read a post about your going to Lincoln City to go crabbing by Moes. If that was you how did it go? It never even came to mind to try crabbing out of a yak. I might just have to give that a try when I get my boat. Thanks again for the welcome guys and Craig you forgot to mention playing cards.  
Paul

Thanks for the welcome and the advice I will for sure check out Sellwood Riverfront park out on Thursday for the demos thanks Craig. I did not think that Next Adventure had sot kayaks I will have to go check them out maybe they will have a Mojo at the demo to paddle around. When you do Devils lake are you going to go fishing or just paddle around? If you go fishing let me know how you do and where you were secussfull. I have fished there before but not had much luck.
 Coosbay yaker thanks for the length of boat info a 12 footer it is then. I believe I read a post about your going to Lincoln City to go crabbing by Moes. If that was you how did it go? It never even came to mind to try crabbing out of a yak. I might just have to give that a try when I get my boat. Thanks again for the welcome guys and Craig you forgot to mention playing cards.  
Paul

Darn! I did forget about the cards.  I was at Station 7 for HazMat training last fall and had to play the card game at lunch. I almost won.

My Caper is only 11ft long, but still works great on the salt. The paddling is where it can get tricky, especially with wind. One of these days I will probably upgrade to a Hobie Outback or Revolution.

Fb23 I recently purchased an hobie outback. Awesome... Went crabbing @ Moe's yesterday. Had lots of fun. I also have a house in Lincoln city. After you get your new yak, maybe we could do some crabbing in LC when were both over there.

Btw, 30 year volunteer with Woodburn fire.

Fb23 I recently purchased an hobie outback. Awesome... Went crabbing @ Moe's yesterday. Had lots of fun. I also have a house in Lincoln city. After you get your new yak, maybe we could do some crabbing in LC when were both over there.

Btw, 30 year volunteer with Woodburn fire.

That would be great. You will have to fill me in on what I will need go get the job done, that is besides a yak. Have you tried fishing for cuts on the the Sletz River with your yak? I will let you know when I get my boat I hope its soon. At least I have my wife talked into it, thats half the battle.