What about the Hobie "Pro Angler"?

Howdy all,
Thank you for all your great input! I am doing all my homework and have nearly almost for sure decided that the Outback will be the first fishing kayak for me but...
In searching the Hobie website I noticed the "Pro Angler". It is heavy--will be a bear to get down a beach and surf launch, but it has a huge capacity and looks very stable. My guess is it would be great for places like Depoe Bay where I can launch from a ramp? It also has the sail option should I be crazy enough to want to fish the Rockpile for Halibut--it would be a heck of a round trip paddle!
Anyone have any experience with these?
Thanks in advance,
Charlie

The Pro Angler isn't a kayak. Its a boat (as per Hobie's website)... I wouldn't want to even think about dealing with surf in one either.

@Nothing: Yeah, sure it'd be possible but not the right tool for the job. But for flatwater or fly fisherman..  Meow!

I'm pretty sure I saw someone in a Pro Angler this year at the ORC @ Depoe Bay. 

What is it that would make the Pro Angler a mother to try and surf launch?   
 I have also been eyeing the Pro Angler as my next kayak purchase and would hate to be limited in launching options.

Depoe, yeah, that's not a problem.  You could paddle a barn door through DB so long as you didn't spend too much time in the hole.

I could not imagine trying to launch a boat like the PA through the surf though, especially in a place like PC. The water is shallow, so you are going to have to paddle through the surf zone.  The PA is a lot of boat to be moving with a kayak paddle.  While I know it can move through, I think you're going to find the wide stance of the boat keeping you ontop of the surf, where you're just going to get battered.  I hope someone chimes in to say otherwise, as I have zero experience with the Pro Angler. I just don't see it as a viable surf zone ride.

Depoe, yeah, that's not a problem.  You could paddle a barn door through DB so long as you didn't spend too much time in the hole.

I could not imagine trying to launch a boat like the PA through the surf though, especially in a place like PC. The water is shallow, so you are going to have to paddle through the surf zone.  The PA is a lot of boat to be moving with a kayak paddle.  While I know it can move through, I think you're going to find the wide stance of the boat keeping you ontop of the surf, where you're just going to get battered.  I hope someone chimes in to say otherwise, as I have zero experience with the Pro Angler. I just don't see it as a viable surf zone ride.

It would suck to have it land on your head if you flip it, as well.  Be sure to wear a helmet!  Of course that is a good idea for any kayak launch through the surf

Not to let our imaginations get the best of us, here it is.

Nice...I kept waiting for the sneaker to roll his bag--but VOILA!!!! Not the most graceful dismount though. Did he turn out at the last secong to protect his Mirage Drive in the shallow sand???
I have seen a fair amount of days that look like that in Newport and Pacific City!
Obviously it can be done.

Not to let our imaginations get the best of us, here it is.

That is nearly unwatchable.  It's like the camera man is scratching himself in an earthquake the whole time.

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I have never surf launched, but if he was bracing that barge with a paddle coming in would it have saved the day?

I guess I don't follow the "need" to take a Hobie PA through the surf.

If it is the only SOT kayak that a person plans to purchase, and bass fishing is their primary target with occasional surf launching, I suppose?   

The surf would probably need to be a lot tamer than what the other Hobie and narrower paddled SOT's can handle.

Stand up casting to calico bass around the kelp beds in SoCal is pretty popular. You see similar people doing stuff like that on the gulf coast for other species. If one were interested in doing something similar for black rockfish in the NW it'd be a good platform as well.

While the launch in the PA looks tough I think Nate (in the video) showed coming back is the real tough part.

Stand up casting to calico bass around the kelp beds in SoCal is pretty popular. You see similar people doing stuff like that on the gulf coast for other species. If one were interested in doing something similar for black rockfish in the NW it'd be a good platform as well.

While the launch in the PA looks tough I think Nate (in the video) showed coming back is the real tough part.

If I was a lake fishermen.. Yes please! as I am primarily a salt guy I'd look to another model.  I'll take the advantages of a more efficient kayak shaped vessel any day when it comes to grinding 2-4 miles offshore looking for butts and coho.  I also would consider that fairly minimal surf, going out and coming back in through bigger stuff could be a real challenge. It happens all the time, go out into knee slappers and after the wind/swell picks up you find yourself picking your way back in through some serious surf.

  A guy also needs to consider being able to transport it.  If you get serious about fishing the salt and decide to "gasp" fish somewhere else than PC or Depoe then you often have up to several hundred yards of soft sand/dunes/cobble beaches, narrow trails, obstructions etc to contend with, and even with a good beach cart it can turn into serious work with a fully loaded yak. It seems that the weight and bulk of a full loaded PA would seriously limit the off the grid places you could launch. 

Not a hobie guy really but i would take that boat into puget sound and the associated estuaries or river mouths and be real happy. Would work great when going for starry flounder mooching for salmon etc.
Watching more experienced members work the surf lines several times as i have the more traditional and longer  hulls work much better in lumpy surf.

One person i ran into recently in alabama described the PA as a13 foot row boat that is rowed the wrong way..and i can see his point. In days before outboards people actually rowed into surf somewhat larger than in the video on boats that size for both fishing and rescue work. But i still dont think the PA is appropriate to PACNW surf use because of the seat and pedal arrangement.

But thats just my opinion... others will vary