I have decided to sell my Dagger Charleston and hunt me down a good sit on top for fishing. I have been fishing the Charleston and it works pretty well but I know a sit on top would work better.
I went by the Sea Kayak Carolina shop today and looked at the Feelfree Moken 12. They have two models, one with a forward hatch that covers the bow for $950 and one with two less rod holders and with out the forward hatch cover for a $850. Over all just looking at the boats, they look pretty good. Seating looked good, I liked the fit when sitting in it. It did seem a little heavy but I guess all sit on tops are. Kind of seems like for the money, it would make a good boat with just a little bit of rigging.
Has anyone tried one or have other boat suggestions?
If you want a good new boat on a budget take a look at the Perception Pescador 12 at Acamey, Dick’s or the other big box stores. If you look it over closely you’ll see that it’s the prior generation Wilderness Systems tarpon 120 for a steal.
If you don’t mind buying used, then Craigslist offers a world of opportunities.
It also never hurts to ask around on the fishing forums. For example, Lost@Sea has a brand spankin new Wilderness Systems Commander sitting at his house that he’d like to sell in the range of the Moken that you’re considering.
Ditto what Too Busy said. I just picked up a Perception Sport Caster 12.5 from Dick’s Sporting Goods. I got a really good deal on it. After they applied the “pissed off customer” discount (long story) and a $50 discount I got in the mail, I paid $349.00. It listed for $699.99. It is s copy of the Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120. I believe it is Confluence that owns both WS and Perception which is actually made in Easley. We took it out for a quick trip to a small lake here in Columbia and besides water coming up through the scupper hole in the passenger compartment found it to be a nice handling little yak. My son is looking forward to attempting to fish from it.
The Caster is a little different from the Pescador. The Caster has more in common with the Perception Search, just a little lower volume and still a REALLY good boat for the money. The Pescador IS the older Tarpon. When the new Tarpon came out they didn’t really want to throw away the old Tarpon because it’s such a good boat. A little work to the molds and it becomes a Perception boat available to the big box stores.
Confluence owns Wilderness, Perception, Dagger, Mad River, Harmony, Adventure Technology, and now Bomber clothing.
Oh no, I tend to be a bit of a smart-azz but thin-skinned I am not. I was going by what the kid at Dick’s told me. I was real happy with that price but had gotten a major league run around for nearly 5 weeks so I put my foot down Friday and they offered me this boat for $399.99. I didn’t tell them I also had a $50 off coupon. All in all, it worked out. Now if I can just find the time to actually try some fishing it in.
A good buddy of mine just got a pair of Sport Casters from Dicks for him and his girl, and they love them. It really does look like a good little boat for the money.
I am torn between getting something like that in that $500 + or - a little range or going more towards the $1000 range and getting something that is really good. I should not spend the extra cash on the nicer boat and the cheaper boat will probably do me just fine, BUT, I know me all to well and I am sure I will end up wanting to sell it in no time and wanting to get a better boat.
One boat question I have here is…
For a fishing style sit on top, is it really worth the extra cash to go from a $500 boat (like the Sport Caster) to a $1000 boat? I know you get what you pay for, and I know the difference is there, but if I spend another 500 on a better boat, am I really going to feel like it was money well spent? I know my buddy with his sport caster will be fishing right beside me in his and catching the same fish.
Firt things first though, I need to sell my other boat first before I go get something else. Unless the wife tells me otherwise.
For what I know about yaks, it looks like a pretty good little boat. It has some nice features and it came with not only the 2 rod holders behind the seat but also a Scotty holder in front and a small storable grappling anchor. It has a weight capacity of 400# and seems to be pretty stable. The only thing we noticed in our maiden voyage was that water would come up through the scupper hole in the passenger compartment. Nothing a plug won’t fix.
I have fished from the Caster for the past 4 years and it’s a great, inexpensive boat. I just liked that it came with all the rod holders, harmony seat, and anchor. Ready to go right off the shelf! Not good for standing, but nice and stable otherwise. It has held up very well. Bottom of mine is all scuffed up from use, but no leaks or defects. I would definitely recommend this boat to anyone looking to get started into yak fishing. Hope that helps. Good luck.
There are subtle differences as you go up in price. You’ll find more molded you features and mold R&D go into the higher priced boats. What Confluence decided to do with the Caster and Pescador was to offer really good quality boats in the $500-$700 range by repurpoposing and slightly modifying existing tooling when they “upgraded” curreent models.
Interesting thread since I have a 2005 W/S Tarpon 120 with over 600 trips on it, I used to work P/T at Dick’s for 18 months and the only kayak that I would recommend was the Perception Caster, and now I sell 9-10 major brands of kayaks including the whole product line of Confluence Watersports…and “Too Busy” covered that subject very well!!!
When anyone comes into our store and asks about reliability of these three products, I just point out the window to the T-120 on my Yakima rack with PLENTY of “oyster rash” on it, and say it it mine!! LOL!!
If they want/need the price point of a Perception Pescador 12, that is what I can sell them, or if they want the newer features and the MUCH BETTER seat and hatches of the new Tarpon 120, that is what they get!! It is very nice not to have to “force” the customer into anything they do not want or need…and 30 feet behind our store is a 22 acre freshwater lake where they can paddle or pedal (Hobie) or sail anything we sell!!
Rigger and Mellon and DFreedom…you are all on the right track, so just get out there and get them “slimed”…JohnYaksJax
PS1: Sorry Rigger1…I meant to add that I never heard anything bad about a Moken, except for this one dealer in the Miami area, but that is another subject…
PS2: Also, if you are ever down in the JAX area…let’s go fishing!!
