Jackson Superfishal SUP thread.

[MikeA]

Thought the boat was worthy of a thread. I'll contribute more on the boat as I put it through its paces. This is a fly fishing machine! Us fly guys usually prefer to stand thus the reason I say it's a fly fishing machine. Truth is, if you like fishing standing up this kayak would be hard to beat. My daughter and I took it out on the lake today to play around and test out a new cooler mount. Each time I get on this boat I like it more. today I used a Kayak paddle instead of the SUP paddle.  It paddled very well both seated and standing. Sitting I think the boat may be at least as fast as the Coosa, maybe faster. Then we decided to see if we could both get on the boat and both stand up. Not problem! We even paddled out a 100 yards with both of us standing. Then she sat down and I paddled her around the lake. You can enter the boat in ankle deep water by just placing one foot on the board and pushing off then bringing your other foot up. No wobbly tippy feeling at all. All this boat needs to be considered perfect is a good seat with back support.

Some of the things I really like are, no crap on the deck to foul line. Soft padding all over the deck make it comfortable for standing and your feet muscles don't get sore from balancing. I can position myself forward, rear, or facing sideways. It's super stable. The plastic piece that makes it a fishing SUP has built it rod tip protectors and plenty of tie down area. The paddle holder is a great idea.

The next test is going to be getting it into some whitewater. It's not that much different then the whitewater SUP from Jackson so I think it'll handle anything I'm brave enough to throw at it.  I am a little concerned that some of the tall wave trains that might be hell on that low profile front. You whitewater guys might have an idea how it will react and how best to deal with them?

 I'll get some images and video up soon. 

[gaspergou]

It's a solid boat, that's for sure.

Keep your weight back a bit and get a solid paddle stroke or two in when you hit holes or big wave trains and you should be fine. Take a knee or sit down if you need, there's no shame in that. I've found that I can almost get a bit of a boof in on my SUP. What you don't want to do is hit them going slow, lose your momentum, get pulled in backwards, then sideways, then swim. That's generally bad.

We'll get on some higher gradient stuff soon. I've got an extra helmet, leash, and knee/shin/elbow pads you can borrow... but we ought to wait for things to come down a little first!!

[MikeA]

YES, LETS LET IT CALM DOWN A LITTLE.

You know I guess your boat is thinner then mine in the front and you did alright. Was it a pretty wet ride?

[gaspergou]

The first place we took the Rapidfires was the Nantahala. My wife and a friend and I ran a stretch to try them out. There was some swimming involved, but mostly from user error -- they handled amazingly well.



We got to Nantahala Falls and watched a couple folks try to run it on SUPs before trying it ourselves. This guy was being all cautious, picking a route through and setting up for the big drop...





Note to self: don't do it that way. My friend did much better (for the record, I swam).



...so even though your board doesn't have the rocker that the Coosa or my Rapidfire have, I think you're going to be able to deal with IIs and  IIIs without too much difficulty.

Just don't do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgoRqCgWiDU

[MikeA]

Rigged for a Musky Float with the cheapest 10 wt and reel I own. If past experience holds true its future isn't good.

iPhone images.

[Glenn Hawkins]

So is the photo op plan to have the Musky smoking the pipe?

[MikeA]

You gota have some kind of coping mechanism if your gonna fly fish for Musky, from a kayak. I choose fine tobacco,, and some very strong expletives.