TexasKayakFisherman.com

Hey All!! Just wanted to get a few opinions. I've a fairly large guy, 6'5" and 340lbs. I've kayaked a few times and canoe quite a bit so i'm not new to this. However I really want to get into fishing from Kayaks. I'm looking a the new Jackson Big Rig HD for the added width. Any other recommendations on wider kayaks that are set up similar to the Jackson Big Rig?

Thanks for all ya'lls help!

Welcome to the forum!

Just looking at specs the NuCanoe Frontier 12 is also about as wide as the Big Rig HD and has a total capacity of 650 lbs which is 100 lbs over the Big Rig HD. I've never been in either kayak so I'm speaking only on specs. The Frontier will be much easier to paddle since it's almost 50 lbs lighter. To me the higher weight capacity would be really beneficial. As a general rule you want to stay about 70%-75% of the total weight capacity rating. On the Big Rig that would be about 410 lbs. That doesn't leave you much room for your tackle, gear, drinks, fish, etc.

If you are looking at pedal kayaks the Native Titan propel 13.5 and the Hobie PA 14 would both be good fits but both are heavy with the PA 14 being a little lighter and having a little more weight capacity.

A lot of your satisfaction is going to be related to your fishing locations, how you intend to haul your kayak around, how far you're going to have to haul it from your parking spot to the water, how and where you're going to store it, etc. And, of course, your budget and your wife's tolerance of parking her car outside because the kayak takes up too much of the garage. That's tongue in cheek, but I ran into guys selling their kayaks for all kinds of reasons when I was out buying mine.

My one constant advice is to take your learning lumps on a 2nd hand kayak. Or try out 2 or 3 different ones. Then sell the ones you don't like, and buy a new one with your hard earned knowledge based on your own experience. And there's always some available on Craigslist and this and other fishing classified sections.

That way, you won't be one of the guys who pay $3,000 for a rig only to sell it for $1,000 a few months (or years) later when you figure out you really don't like kayak fishing, or that you can't lift your 150 pound battleship on top the van like you had planned. Or you wish you'd bought one that you can hang on the garage wall instead of needing to keep it on a trailer or a space eating rack because it's so heavy or bulky.

oops...double post

What's missing from the discussion for accurate consideration of boat models is Where do you plan to fish - Coastal wind, reservoirs, ponds, rivers?
How far do you plan to paddle, etc.
These should be the first consideration.
If coast is a priority, I'd grab this one before someone else does
http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... 3&t=251632

Neumie did a really good job on this spreadsheet:
http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... 0&t=251044