The Stealth Pro Fisha 575: first impressions in the wet

So, the day finally arrived with almost no wind, bright sun and Bank holiday to boot, meaning I got the chance to dip my new Stealth Pro Fisha 575 in the sea for the first time.

Before I start this "wet first impressions", I must say that I'm constantly surprised at how light such a long SOT kayak is, the boat is over a metre longer than a Scupper Pro but weighs less. I can lift it on and off the car without a problem with regards to the weight, but its length is another thing. The yak is so light and long that when the wind catches it on your shoulder it can easily catch you off guard, and once something so long starts to swing it can take a bit of stopping!

I had spent weeks rehearsing how my various paraphernalia would fit in or on the Pro Fisha 575.  The 575 has a truly cavernous interior, accessed by a huge front hatch.  However, this is not quite as large as you first think.  For example, a C-Tug has to broken down to get it into the hatch.  But because the space in there is so big, I decided I could fit my C-Tug, my insulated fish bag and my tackle boxes all inside the hatch!  This does work, but it means that if you want to squeeze your rods in to go through the surf, you might find it difficult to get them past all the various bags.

Plastic bath tub vs. fibre-glass arrow!

First thing you are made aware of is the presence of the rudder. This means you can't easily put the kayak down on tarmac or any hard surface, or at least if you do then it has to rest on its side. You'll notice this most if you try and land on concrete slip ways or pebble beaches, as you have to drag it on its side to avoid the rudder.  Even on sand, you have to drag it on its side. Rods in their holders either fall out or go into the ground when it's on its side, the paddle will fall out of its clip and so on, and it doesn't somehow feel right to drag the yak up a concrete slip on its side...  The on-land aspect of having a permanent rudder is the one thing I don't really like about the yak, I wish Stealth had thought about a retractable system, such as that found on the Epic V6.

Once on the water though it's a different story: the rudder is great.  Almost no drag and very sensitive to careless adjustment by my unthinking feet!  Indeed, for the first hour or so I struggled to remember which foot did what and not to casually push forward in my footrests to stretch my legs, then veer alarmingly to one side! I generally dislike flip down rudders, they add a noticeable drag which means you don't tend to want to use them and when you do need them they can be a major hassle, often jamming in position.

The Stealth 575's rudder has none of these issues, there's no drag and it's always there. It doesn't seem to catch the bottom even on very shallow landing sites. For someone who's been used to constantly correcting their direction using paddle strokes, having a good rudder was something of a revelation. You can just concentrate on your paddle strokes and let your feet correct your course. Love that!

Despite the length of the 575, I found I could spin it round with the same ease as my Scupper Pro, possibly even easier. I was very relieved to discover how manoeuvrable it was.  It's quite impressive in that respect and it might have something to do with the boat having a more pronounced rocker than first meets the eye.

As a paddling vehicle, the 575 seems perhaps at the max about a third quicker than my Scupper Pro. That doesn't sound a lot, but it makes a massive difference when you want to get somewhere in a hurry. On several occasions I looked to see where my mate was before thinking "that'll take about ten minutes to get over there".  But the 575 just eats up the metres once you get the speed up. I found that whereas with the Scupper Pro I quickly reached a sense of the maximum speed of the kayak, beyond which paddling harder doesn't make much sense, with the 575 there seems to be smooth progression that doesn't seem to top out at a maximum. The harder you paddle, the faster it seemed to want to go. When I paddled back to the launch with my mate in his Ocean Kayak Big Game, I was literally taking two or three strokes then waiting 10-15 secs for him to catch up! I'm really looking forward to trying the Pro Fisha 575 out on some of the long distance marks to get a better sense of how much better it is, particularly in rougher conditions. The conditions we had were practically windless at times, and so I didn't get any chance to test paddling across the direction of the swell, or with a following sea.  I'll save those for a later report.

For me the biggest difference between the Pro Fisha 575 and my Scupper Pro was that the 575 is a far, far better fishing platform.  In fact there's no comparison really, the Scupper Pro is horribly designed in terms of fishing space and layout, whereas the 575 is pretty much perfect. I've always been something of a minimalist, but the Scupper Pro was frankly a pain to gut fish on and store tackle securely - my fish bag had to be right behind me and I have lost a couple of fish from them slipping out of my grasp as I reached behind me, missing the opening of the bag and then having them slide off into the depths! The Pro Fisha 575 has everything there within easy reach, secure and protected beneath a hatch. That's a big improvement, and I'm sure I'll appreciate it even more when I come into land with a bit of surf.  The only thing I didn't really like is the paddle clip, which barely holds the paddle in place.  Don't fancy trusting that in rough water...

Perfect fishing platform, shame about the lack of fish!

Fishing wise, it's still a bit early for clear water. The sea had that green murk we associate with the May Bloom, and generally it's a killer for the fishing. There was no sign of diving birds and everything looked pretty lifeless out there.  I tried my new weedless rig fitted with the Fiiish Black Minnow 160.  The rig worked pretty well, but on a fast drift 60g is just a bit on the light side and struggles to hold bottom.  But the big issue I had was that I didn't make sure all hook points on the lures were well inserted into their soft plastic bodies.  If you don't check this, they can work loose to expose the hook point and then snag up.  Ouch! Nearly a tenner's worth left on the bottom!  Didn't make that mistake twice and the rig managed to winkle out a couple of little coalies:

One thing you need to watch out even with a weedless rig is that flourocarbon is really pretty crap when it comes to abrasion resistance - I'm sure it's not as tough as something like Amnesia.  After an hour or so, I noticed the section close to the Black Minnow was within a whisker of breaking:

But today was not about the fishing, it was all about a practice paddle in my new yak. The final thing to do was to try out some self rescues.  We came right into the bay where the water was marginally warmer and shallower.  It's still bloody cold - this is the North Sea after all!  After watching Big Paddle's review and self rescue on the 575, I thought it looked pretty easy.  He certainly made it look easy in his video!  True, I had the Stealth Deluxe seat fitted, which does get in your way a little, but eventually I got the hang of it.  I definitely need more practice though!

In summary, the Stealth Pro Fisha 575 is a brilliant fishing platform.  It's a long, light, quick and responsive boat on the water.  It may not have the agility of a smaller boat in the surf, but that's not something I generally ever need.  It's eats up the kilometres with ease, and I've heard it actually performs better with a load of fish on board, so bring on those big catches of cod and mackerel in the summer months!

All in all, I'm really pleased with the kayak.  It's everything I hoped it would be and some things I didn't think it would be!

Weedless jigging rig for cod and pollack

This time of year is prime for the spring cod run in the north east, before the dreaded May "bloom" kicks in and kills the fishing somewhat. If you've visited this blog before or searched for cod rigs, you'll know that I gave up using the traditional pirk plus hokkais combination some years ago.  Even when you rigged the pirk with an assist hook, you still ended up with quite a bit of tackle losses as a result of fishing close to the bottom, especially if on a fast drift or over a big swell.

Lots of different ways to store a pirk
plus hokkai rig - simplest is just to wrap
it round and tie it with a rubber band.

The bog standard pirk plus hokkais rig used all
over the north east for cod.

Tackle losses are to be expected in such conditions, but after I replaced the pirks with a big jelly shad (5") and a heavy lead head, I lost far less tackle due to the shad tending to rest on its head or side when it hit the bottom, so the exposed hook had less chance to get stuck into anything.

I also found the big shad attracted a better stamp of fish.  This fish had a few goes at a Storm Giant Jigging Shad before ending up in the yak.  Sometimes if you feel a nip, it's wise to reel in and check they haven't bitten the tail of your jelly lure, thereby rendering it useless.

Unfortunately, although we lost fewer rigs overall, that improvement tended to be offset by the far greater initial cost of the big shads compared to a traditional pirk.  Even with home cast lead heads and cheap jelly bodies, we still weren't curing the problem because no matter how well designed the lead head is, if the hook is exposed, there is every chance that you come up against the kayak fisherman's worst enemy: the pot rope!  Even if your fishfinder shows these up in mid-water, on a fast drift / tide it can be hard to get your tackle up in time to avoid them and the fishfinder doesn't always pick them up when they're close to the bottom.

Homemade shad heads: expect heavy tackle losses and arm yourself with enough for the year!

My plan this year is to go with all jelly lures and by rigging the whole lot weedless, to hopefully end up with a snag proof rig that'll avoid the bottom snags as well as avoiding the pot ropes.

First stage is to look for a replacement for the hokkais.  Hokkais are simply a better form of the old fashioned mackerel or cod feathers.  Yes, they have glowing beads and a few glittery bits, but basically it's the same idea that is very difficult to rig weedless.  Luckily, over the last decade or so, ultra light rock fishing has become popular in Japan (and here too).  This has meant we now have an excellent choice of tiny paddle tail jelly lures that can be rigged weedlessly.  These are the Reins Rockvibe Shad 2" UV Super Glow B63 and the slightly larger 3" Neon Wakasagi:

These are from the Reins freshwater range, with the right hook they can be rigged weedless.  

So that's hopefully going to cure the pot rope snags.  It's true that these won't have the resistance that hokkais do, but even hokkais get torn up after a few mackerel.  The tiny paddle tails are cheap (10p each) and easy to replace.

Now to cure the shad problem.  I still want a big paddle tail, but there's not much out there that can be easily rigged weedless.  But early last year, my prayer's were answered when the first "daddies" of the Fiiish Black Minnow range came on sale.  At 16cm, it's quite a long lure (a near perfect launce imitation in my opinion), and with a maximum head weight of 60g it remains to be seen whether they'll keep their depth in a really big tide or an uptide drift: 

The big daddy of the Fiiish Black Minnow range, 160mm with a 60g offshore head. The perfect launce  imitation?

As we know big launce love baby sandeel and sandeel imitations (I frequently catch them on hokkais), it makes sense to rig them so that it gives the appearance of a launce chasing a smaller sandeel.  Generally it's the bottom sandeel imitation that the pollack grab, while the bigger cod nearly always hit the bottom shad.  I stick to just three sandeel imitations, any more than that and you're asking for trouble when the mackerel hit it in numbers.

That's it!  Hopefully a cod and pollack jigging rig that is snagproof on the bottom and against pot ropes.  Of course if you're travelling at pace, I would still expect the tiny paddletails to snag up against a rope as the soft lure only barely covers the hook point. We'll see. I'm confident it'll catch, and I'm confident it'll be better than the rig I was using last year, where every hook on the shad or hokkais was exposed.

And that's what it's all about isn't it?  Trying to do things better, to make it easier to catch more fish.

Tight lines for the coming season!

The Stealth Pro Fisha 575: first impressions in the dry

Well, it finally arrived after what seemed months of waiting!  Chris and Victoria pulled into our little street of tightly terraced houses to deliver my nearly 6m sea fishing kayak.  First impressions?

First impressions are exactly that.  What strikes you as you glance at it for the first time, which is generally the paint job and the profile. There's no doubt that the 575 has a fantastic looking profile, it just looks like it's built for speed. That very low profile back end sits low in the water, extending the waterline without catching the wind and I can't wait to try it out.  Its hull is practically flat, which should make for good stability and surfing characteristics, and speed of course.

As for the paint job, well it's probably the only time you'll ever look it in such detail, in the months to come that nice shiny finish will soon be scratched and matted up all over with sand, gravel, fish guts and who knows what! But for the meantime it's absolutely pristine, which means that faults tend to show up more. Stealth are known for their sometimes wild and wacky colour schemes dreamt up by customers from all over the globe, which is great, but the more complicated and exotic the colour scheme, the more likely you'll see the odd error.

My 575 is white tipped with red. Pretty simple, but even this proved a bit difficult for the gel coat finishers at Stealth. One side the lines don't quite meet up at the binding strip and on another they meet up but one isn't straight. The bonding strip is also a bit wobbly on the edges and still spotted with the release agent from the mould, giving it a slightly ragged appearance.  This is a shame, as the kayak is generally finished quite well and the fittings look good quality.

You might find some raggedy edges and
the odd line that veers off from the vertical.

As I say, the paint job will soon be scuffed, scratched and generally look a mess, so it's not really a big deal. It's just those first impressions.  ;-)

What else?  Well, laying it on the world's smallest lawn gave me chance to go over some options on where to put stuff. Certainly the front hatch is cavernous, really enormous, and everything could just go in there. The South Africans seem to put their fish straight in the hatch, but I prefer to use a cool bag to store my catch so I can keep it really cold with freezer blocks. When I freeze mackerel, I like to see the colours still on them!  A cool bag does restrict access to the space further up and below:

But you don't need access to it all the time, you can just keep a small opening and slide the fish in there, keeping your tackle boxes in front.

The next big item for me is my C-Tug.  This won't fit in the back hatch at all, so it has to either go in the front or strapped to the back. You don't really want your C-Tug covered in mud / sand to go in with your tackle and fish, getting everything all mucked up.  If you feel you can make it secure, the C-Tug fits quite nicely strapped on the back with the elastic cord. But it would need a roll test to make sure it doesn't come out if the yak turns over. The other point is that the rear of the 575 sits pretty low in the water, so it may be that the wheels will drag a little. I'll have to check that out on the water. The best place for it might be right up at the front. Extra weight there can help keep the nose down a little, which can marginally extend your waterline and so improve your speed.

Perhaps my biggest surprise are two factors that reflect the kayak's designers live in a warm water environment with sandy beaches. First, the Pro Fisha 575 has a permanent rudder, making it difficult to drag up rocky or shingle beaches using the front end handle. Stealth provide a "drag" handle, but that's not something you want to use if you're on rough ground as it just scrapes the side of the yak.

If you've already fitted your rudder, and you want to adjust your feeting position before you get on the water, you need to find somewhere with soft sand so that you don't risk buckling the rudder as the entire weight of you plus yak will be on it. Best to get your foot rests in the right place before you put the rudder on.

And speaking of feeting position, we come to the second feature that seems pretty typical of SA kayaks: tiny little footwells, suitable for bare feet or at best feet wearing just neoprene. Most UK guys paddle in cold water for most of the year, and if you're wearing boots on top of dry socks (i.e. from a dry suit, so a size up from your normal boot size) then you probably won't fit them into the Pro Fisha footwells. Bit annoying, as we don't all launch or land onto sandy beaches. Where I fish it can often be sharp barnacled rock edges on the shoreline. Not great for glass yaks, but even worse for neoprene socks.  You need boots in these places, but my Orvis wading boots don't fit so I'm in the market for some new footwear. This seems to have been something that the Dorado 2 has addressed specifically, though the footwells are still pretty narrow in that boat too from what I hear. If you're a big guy, try your footwear out first in someone else's!

That's it for my first impressions. What really counts is it's performance on the water. If it's fast, comfortable and handles rough water, that will do for me. All other considerations are secondary!

But now I have it, the question is where do you put a six metre kayak? It'll have to go up the back wall like my Scupper Pro did, but this is over a metre longer...  Imagine the neighbours fear and delight when they saw nearly six metres of kayak arrive ready to go up against our gable!

First thing is to get it on the wall, note the rubber fenders on the gable to protect the yak:

Next is to get the sophisticated and fully patented Vertical Yak Lifting End Protection Unit in place:

Then carefully lift it into position, nose down in the fully patented protection unit with one end resting on a wall buttress, and attach the pulley:

From outside it looks even more ridiculous.  Remember the nose is about a foot from the corner of the house...

Next step is too walk along the kayak, holding it above your head, until it rears vertically up against the wall. I think you can forgive me if there are no photos of this part! Bit jittery the first time, but in the twinkle of an eye the job is done.

The kayak, all 5.75m of it, extending even above the roof line, is strapped securely in place!

Yes I know it's bonkers, I can't wait till we move house!

Coming next will be an on-the-water first impressions, stay subscribed for the updates!

Sea kayaking or white water kayaking?

Sometimes the distinction doesn't seem to matter much, but this guy is using a sea kayak in British Columbia to ride stationary waves in some of the most turbulent sea water I've ever seen.  This place just looks incredible - what a place, what a landscape, and what an opportunity!

Great video of sea kayak fishing for bass

I'd like to share this video with you of kayak fishing for sea bass in France.  If this doesn't want to make you get out there and do it again this year, nothing will!

'Arnocomment' has another nice video of himself and his son fishing on his Vimeo profile (you'll need to speak a little French to get some of the jokes). Very pleasant way to spend ten minutes of your lunchtime...    :-)

Saison 5, remix version... from arnocomment on Vimeo.

VHF radios and sea kayak fishing PFDs

After three seasons, my Stolhquist Fisherman PFD gave up the ghost.  Every zip on every pocket had stopped working, rendering the pockets so useless that I cut the flaps off one of them. But the inner netting pocket is too small to keep anything useful in and is obviously exposed to the wet, and I needed somewhere secure to keep my Aquapac-protected phone plus fishing tools.  So once again I am heading to the marketplace for a decent sea kayak fishing PFD.

Now we have many things to be thankful to the Americans for, but just occasionally the size of their internal market means that the big global producers of kayaking clothing and equipment tend to focus on what will sell well for their American customers.  In the case of kayaking PFDs, this means that the majority are designed for either for sit-in kayaks (meaning they have a low back), or inland sit-on tops (SOTs) kayaks, as high performance sea worthy SOTs remains something of a niche market in the US.

This means we have companies like Stolqhist and MTI producing angling PFDs that are intended principally for fly fishing on inland waters.  Which is fine, but those products rarely transition well to sea kayak angling.  For example, MTI like to place a lash tab right above their pockets, making it difficult to attach a handheld VHF unit there.  This is not a problem if you are fishing inland lakes as you're unlikely to use a VHF radio.

However at sea, a handheld VHF unit is essential for safety and staying in contact with other boats in the area.  Most VHF units come with a clip to attach to a lash tab, but the positioning of that tab must allow easy access to the radio. It should keep the radio close to your mouth, so that no bending down is needed to use it. Ideally - in extremis - a waterproof VHF unit should remain usable even if you're in the water and the positioning of the radio must not place the radio so low that it might catch or snag any rigging on your kayak if you need to attempt a re-entry.

Struggling to speak into a badly positioned VHF radio.
The radio would be practically underwater if you took a spill.

That last point is crucial to safety.  If you've been sea kayaking for some time, you know that the chances of you coming out of your kayak at sea are higher in bad conditions. With wind and waves battering you and your kayak, you don't want to waste time to fiddle about trying to take off your VHF unit because it keeps snagging on your anchor line or some deck rigging as you try a re-entry. Besides, even if you do take it off, what next?  You're trying to keep your head above water and climb back onto a bucking kayak. Perhaps the kayak is upside down. Whatever. You certainly don't need any extra hassle. Remember that most people are only capable of 4 or 5 re-entry attempts before they get too tired and have to rest. I've had that happen to me and it's very unpleasant, you start to wonder if you'll ever get back on your yak.

You want that VHF unit somewhere secure, well out of the way, preferably up near your collarbone where it won't catch on anything as you clamber on board. Unfortunately, designing PFDs to make it easy for SOT kayak users to easily re-enter their craft after a capsize doesn't appear to be high up on the agenda of most companies.

The Kokatat Bahia Tour has a lot of front bulk, made worse if you attach a VHF unit to point furthest from the body, where it hangs vertically making the aerial prone to catching things.

A case in point is the Kokatat Bahia Tour PFD.  This PFD has just one lash tab, placed low down at the furthest point from the body, making it unsuitable for a VHF unit.  With most of the buoyancy in high back PFDs being in the front, they can be bulky there making re-entry difficult. Given that the higher a hand held unit is the further its signal will travel, it seems obvious that the lash tab position on the Bahia Tour is going to reduce the radio's effectiveness and just makes it awkward to use.  This rather thoughtless lash tab placement is unexpected from a manufacturer with Kokatat's reputation and spoils what would otherwise be a good PFD.

The Kokatat Bahia Tour's single lash tab.  How about giving us another one Kokatat?  :-)

Time for a change?

PFDs are made for many different aspects of kayaking.  White water, touring, recreation and angling.  In theory there are several top end sea touring PFDs (for example the Palm Kaikoura) that would be well-suited for sea kayak fishing, but unfortunately nearly all of them have low backs as their main markets are for sit-in sea kayaks, not SOTs.  Low back PFDs are less comfortable to wear in the high-back seats that are commonly used with SOTs.

In fact Palm are another case in point. While they have the well specified Palm Kaikoura as their top of the range touring PFD (shown below left), their high-back touring model suddenly comes down in specification (the Taupo, shown below right). Hmmm, no lash tabs at all on the Taupo? Nope, 'cos people who use high back PFDs don't need 'em!

Pam Kaikoura: lash tabs in abundance...

Palm Taupo: hey, where'd the lash tabs go?

The fact that SOT kayak users are considered second-class citizens in the kayaking world is understandable, as they came from a recreation background, i.e. they're not serious kayakers.  But that view is rapidly becoming out of date and it's high time for a change in the manufacturers' thinking.  These days, high performance glass and carbon fibre SOTs that are purpose built for angling are gradually getting more market share (with the exception of the US, where plastic remains king).  These new kayaks are intended to be paddled long distances and are just the sort of craft that can take you well off-shore in conditions previously only tackled by sit-in sea kayaks.  But even in the "plastic bath tubs" that many kayak anglers start off using, it is possible to get some distance off-shore and to experience challenging sea conditions.  As kayak anglers, we really need PFDs to match our hobby's requirements and where we can now fish.

I'm not advocating "rough conditions" sea kayak angling, but do you want to be out there with a "recreational" PFD when conditions get bad? Is your emergency strobe visible? Can you quickly change channel on your VHF if asked to do so? Could you access it if you were turned overboard? Is there a D-ring that would assist you being winched up to a rescue helicopter?

When I'm fishing at sea in my kayak, my fishing buddy can be anything up to a mile away from me.  Our VHF radios are always on, if the weather's a bit iffy then we're on channel 16 listening out for coastguard weather notices or warnings, but if the weather's fine we keep it on channel 12 and keep each other informed about what's happening via the radio. Things can change quickly when your at sea, not least the sudden appearance of fish!  You need rapid easy communication with your fellow kayakers and any nearby boats, and a VHF radio is the essential piece of kit for sea kayak fishermen to do that.

My essential feature list for a sea kayak fishing PFD

• Front lash tab for VHF radio placed high up to facilitate frequent use and channel change.  
• Lash tab preferably slightly angled to try and minimise VHF aerial from catching on things as you re-enter the kayak.
• Rear lash tab for emergency strobe light, positioned to be accessible over the shoulder.
• Solas reflective panels on front, back and top of shoulders.
• Big splash-proof front pockets.  
• High back design, with plenty of ventilation for hot weather kayaking.
• Strong rear D-ring for rescue.
• Not too much front bulk.

You would think that feature list would be easy to find but it isn't!  If you have any sea kayak fishing PFD recommendations or comments, please let me know.

Interview with Brett Challenor of Stealth Kayaks, Part 2.

We come to the second part of our interview with Brett Challenor, founder and boss of Stealth Kayaks, South Africa (if you missed it, check out part one where we discuss more general aspects of kayak design).  Once again we throw in a few questions from members of the Anglers Afloat forum.

In this part, Brett talks in detail about the new Pro Fisha range and how the kayak achieves its impressive strength to weight ratio.  We discuss whether Stealth were influenced in the design of their fishing kayaks by the UK's best known high end fishing kayak, Kaskazi's Dorado.  Brett has some surprising things to say about the Dorado's success in South Africa and talks about why he feels it was never designed from the outset as a fishing kayak.  We discuss if there are height restrictions on the Pro Fisha and Brett reveals that Stealth have another model in the pipeline for the Pro Fisha range that will be designed specifically for bigger guys.  We go over some of the options for fitting fish finders and other accessories such as tackle trays and bait boxes.  Finally, we address that all important question of whether there's a need for a back rest in the Pro Fisha!

Part 2:  The Pro Fisha Range

We've now got a few questions relating specifically to the Pro Fisha 475 and 575, because this range of kayaks seems to be generating a lot of buzz in the UK at the moment and I know there's a big container of both sizes coming over very shortly!  

Let's start with the design of the Pro Fisha. The rear of the Pro Fisha, especially the 575, looks to sit quite low in the water, how does that affect the yak catching the wind?

Not at all.  Obviously the rear sitting a little low in the water has a got a lot to do with your weight distribution and also the rocker of the kayak and the volume of the tail.  But in relation to the wind, that's not going to make a difference. What'll make a difference is the front or nose of the kayak into the wind, that's where you catch the wind, not from the back.

Does that mean when you're fishing you swing round with your back to the wind?  

Yeah, you know, a Pro Fisha kayak, you'll always know that the kayak will sit tail down a little bit more?

That suits me, my Scupper Pro tends to sit side on to the wind and it can be annoying on occasions!

Nose up, sprinting to catch a wave on the Pro Fisha 575.

The reason is if you add fish, or add tackle, or anything onto the [Pro Fisha] kayak, the easiest place to put is in front of you, between your legs, because that's where you can see it, so if you... imagine you make a kayak that's got more volume in the tail than the front, then you keep adding all the weight to the front, what'll happen is that the kayak tail will sit higher than the nose, because you're adding weight to the front of the kayak.  So your fishing kayak is actually designed so that if a guy catches a big fish, it'll always be in front of him and that will compensate for the lack of volume in the tail. 

Ah, that's very interesting. I had wondered about the change in weight distribution in the kayak once you start to add fish.  

You've recently upgraded the design of the Pro Fisha range, was that after feedback from anglers?

No, we were always going to do that, but listen, we work on feedback flat out, I mean the more feedback we get from customers, the better. Fishing is really our hobby! We try to give guys what's best for them.

Why did you choose to upgrade the design of 575 before the 475? Seems like the 475 will appeal to a wider public...

The Pro Fisha range came from a range called the Fishas, which we were quite hybrid between fishing ski / surf ski and the longer the ski the faster it goes. So we thought, like, let's make one that goes as fast as possible, and that's where you need the length [for the 575, which increased in length]. So after that, we thought well, not everyone wants speed, some people want more manoeuvrability in the surf, and the 575 doesn't fit in their garage!

Common complaint over here too!

And that's where the 475 came about.

OK, we have a question from forum user jasondstub: How much faster is the 575 than the 475?

Fast? I don't know if fast is really the right word, because I can paddle the 475 as fast as 575. But to keep it going the same speed for a long period of time, I can't do that. So the 575 has a distinct advantage where once you get it up to 11 or 12 kph, then you keep it going at that speed, for.. let's say 20 minutes  [ah hem! Don't try that at home kids, we're not all ex-pro racers!]. You can do that with the 475, but you could only do it... for, say 5 or 6 minutes. So it's more to do with the effort to keep that speed up that makes the difference.

The two Pro Fishas in action.  Equally fast, but only over short distances!

And we have another question from jasondstub: Is hull slap quieter on the 475, as it's got less volume in the bow? 

It is, because of its length. Obviously when you climb away in a longer kayak then there's obviously more kayak in front of you to come down and give you a little hull slap. But it depends on the conditions. If you get a wind where you get where there's what we call a "short chop", then the 575 will be better than the 475. But then you get what we call "long chop", then the 475 will be better, because obviously the gap changes between the waves.

In the UK, there seems to be only two main makes of high end fishing yaks, yourselves and Kaskazi. It's something of a running debate over here which is best...

Yes, there's been that debate between some of the guys in the export countries, between one or two of them there's been that debate. But it's also depends on what the guys are used to, eh?

Sure, I think Kaskazi also got over here a little earlier than yourselves...

...yes, yes.

...so they became established as a brand leader in the market over here?

Yeah, yeah. Well, unfortunately they don't even exist here [in South Africa], when I say they don't exist, you don't see them.  

Really? That's... very, er... surprising! I'm really surprised by that...

I think they've actually done better in the international market than the domestic market. You just don't see them in the water here. I mean, in KZN where I'm from and where our factory is, if you saw one, you'd go "oh my goodness, what's that?"! KZN being the place where most people are kayak fishing, out of South Africa, that is.

That's really interesting, I mean.. they're the dominant, number one, top end yak over here...

We can change that, no problem!

OK. When you first considered the design of the Pro Fisha, did you keep in mind competitors such the Kaskazi? I guess you've answered this by saying Kaskazi is not a common a kayak in South Africa...

[laughs] Not at all! It's funny, you don't see it at all. We know that it's here, because of the guy in Cape Town who makes it. But we take what we've designed and try and improve it, rather than look at someone else's.

Really, you never looked at it? Never seen it?

Oh we've seen it. Probably the last time I saw one was two years ago. Do you know where the Dorado design actually came from?

No.

The Dorado was a sea touring kayak, made by a guy called Leon, from Cape Town with a company called Coastal Kayaks at Sea Point, and they used to do kayak tours, paddling around. I used to supply them with surf skis, and he got into a conversation with me one day, and asked about the fishing kayaks because there was a big market in KZN, and he asked me how we did the hatches, and blah, blah, and so on, and I told him because he said he wanted to make one, and he took his most successful touring kayak, and he stuck a hatch in it. And that was how the first Dorado was ever made.

OK, well, fair play to him!

Well it's only been tweaked slightly from there, so it's always been a touring kayak that's been adapted for fishing. It was never purpose made for fishing. He's obviously... with his demand from the overseas market he's fine tuned it in the last few years, but it was never designed originally for fishing.

Right, well it seems well liked over here, so I'm sure that'll start a debate!  

OK, now a question from forum user fishboy: Is there any height restriction on the Pro Fisha range?

Er, you can only adjust the pedals up to a guy 6' 3" / 6' 4", it depends on how long the guys legs are, might be a little more.

Right, I've got a mate who's thinking of buying one, and he's 6' 4"!

Yeah, look it's easy to check. You can check when you're sitting and measuring your comfort of leg length. So you're sitting at the right angle,and you measure from your heels to the base of your back. That gives you a measurement and you can see if it'll fit.

Is that a measurement that someone could send you and you could see how it fits?

If a guy gives me his inner leg measurement and his hip (from his ball joint) to the floor, I can do a cross check for him. No problem.  

There is actually a third Pro Fisha model to be launched at the end of this year, which is due to be an in-between model, between the 475 and the 575 in length, designed for the really big guys who are quite heavy, and they're a bit tentative on the Pro Fisha range, and they want a little bit more stability, bit more volume. We're still playing around with the design on the computer at the moment.

The Pro Fisha seems extremely lightweight, even compared to carbon fibre yaks. Is there a risk that it's a weaker yak compared to heavier models?

No, I think I answered that one for you...

So, the Evolution and the Pro Fisha, you're going to say they've got the same strength and robustness?

No. The Pro Fisha's stronger.

Really? That's incredible, given that the Pro Fisha is 5kg to 6kg lighter for the same length than the Evolution?

Yep. We were having a conversation about this the other day, that the strength of the Pro Fisha compared to the Evolution is quite remarkable, purely from the resin systems and what we're using. It's got its downside, it's more expensive, but it is really strong. We haven't had any major problems, or even anyone who's managed to put a hole in one yet! We've had damage like gelcoat, from a guy going over the rocks, but we haven't had any issues as yet with the strength of the kayak.

Could you explain a little about the manufacturing of the Pro Fisha, and what separates it from other glass yaks?

Seating well CAD image showing front hatch

First of all my dad designed it on the CNC machine using CAD and Rhino software, so that every part of it is true. The left and right sides are exactly the same, they match perfectly. Traditionally, say 5 years ago, the guys did this by hand like they do with surf boards, they were hand shaped and each side was slightly different. Obviously with the computer you get a much truer kayak. From there we use the CNC system and the CAD to do a lot of our internal strength and structure of the kayak, where we've used the computer to design our foam stringers, it cuts them and designs them, so that the whole kayak fits together like a puzzle. The kayak fits together a lot easier than if you'd done it by hand. For example, the fish box of the Pro Fisha is put together so that the foam supports it.

The kayak is designed using CAD software, which then creates cutting templates for the CNC machine.

Whereas with the Evolution, you'd make a fish box and then you'd find a place to put the foam. You'd stick the foam wherever you can to give you the floatation. What we've done with the Pro Fisha range is that we've cut and shaped the foam around the design of the internal hatches, and used it as a strengthening and as floatation, so now the foam is dual purpose. We get two jobs out of the one item. And that's what allows you to reduce the weight. And then with our construction method, the resin and fusion vacuum moulding, using specific cores and so on, all allows you to keep the weight down.

CNC machine in action.

How is the interior of the Pro Fisha finished, for example, around the fish box?

Basically there's three parts to that kayak. There's a top, a bottom, and the fish box. You turn the fish box upside down and join it to the top deck of the boat. It's glued and fibreglassed on the outside, so you can't see it from the inside, but it's done from the outside before you close the kayak and you join the two pieces together.

All that bit is completely watertight?

Er, it's never completely watertight but generally it's 95%. It's fibreglassed around and there's a sealing layer on top, we've never had an issue of it leaking through there.

You can imagine... the remains of fish leaking into the inside of the kayak..!

Yeah it happens occasionally, but generally from a guy getting a crack in his hatch or something, never from just normal use.

How easy is to rinse and clean the fish hatch?

Oh, easy. You put a hose in there, rinse it, pull the plug and drain the water and you're done.

Fish box going into a Pro Fisha with the supporting foam stringer underneath.

Great. Another question from jasondstub: When's the tackle tray coming out for the Pro Fisha?  

[laughs] Never! The tackle tray fits on the Supalite range, because it's got a flat deck, so it's easy to do two rails and a sliding tray tackle system. Whereas the Pro Fisha's got a curved deck and a raised profile in front of the hatch, so it's pretty difficult to get something to fit that and work easily.

Another question from jasondstub: does the fibreglass box that comes with it also fit the front hatch?

Yes, it fits both. [this question seems to have been misunderstood / been confused with something else- the fibreglass bait box (later referred to by Brett as "aaaah, the dreaded box..."!) is no longer made as they had some issues with it, but they're planning on making something similar to be released in about 4 months time - follow up email from Brett]

Sorry guys, this was an early prototype that didn't work out. 

Forum user wild321 also wants to know if there is a bait box / live bait box available for the front hatch / tankwell? 

We have a live bait torpedeo that we sell, that clips on the side, and you hang over the side of the kayak.  We have the collapsible buckets, then one of the guys who works for me has come up with converting his bait box into a live bait box that runs off a foot pump.  It runs off a whale foot pump, and you put the whale pump under your heel, there's a pipe in the water there, and one that runs to your live bait box, and while your paddle you give a pump every now and then with your foot and it recycles the water as you paddle.

Nice idea. Many anglers like to add fish finders & transducers, GPS units, etc. How easy is it to do this with the Pro Fisha?  

It's very easy. All the kayaks that we're sending over [to the UK] have a battery box fitted inside the hatch. It's a little box that you can put a small battery on, so it's a shelf with velcro, so the battery's out of the way. When you unscrew it you have access to the hull of the kayak. The fish finder's tranducer you can now mount to the hull of the kayak. It shoots through the hull of the kayak no problem. You keep all your excess cable there, and then obviously just run the cable behind the battery box and you mount the finder on the lid of the hatch.  

Flush mounted lid for a fish finder - ideal for keeping its plugs protected from spray.

We've got two types of lid. We got the standard lid, where the guys make a removable velcro plate and they mount the fish finder onto the plate and you can undo it and connect it whenever you want to use it. Then we've got the flush mounted lid. Basically you cut a hole to recess the fish finder in the lid of the fish hatch, so that the wires are inside the hatch so they're protected from water spray on them. I've basically had one on my kayak for over a year, and I haven't had any issues with it. I put the plugs in and I sealed the plugs, and I've left it like that and I'm still using it 100%. In the past, we always use to notice that once the plugs got wet, you'd have to keep cleaning them and you always get a lot of corrosion and they'd just stop working. I haven't touched my finder in over a year and it's still working perfectly fine.

So how would anglers get that? Is that something they can order from you?

Yeah, or you could ask Chris [Alers - the UK agent] for it. It's called a flush-mounted fish finder lid. On our website, er, our accessories page is... non existent!

I had noticed...

Yeah, we're busy revamping the website, especially the accessories to make it more of an information portal. So let's say you've got a livebait tube on the accessories, they'll be a YouTube video on how to use it, and photos to click on, so that's what we're trying to do.

Who came up with the idea of the rod rack in the hatch?

We did, because we were worried about getting fish slime all over our reels! That's one of the reasons, well, in the Evolution range, what you call your rod chute is from the top to the bottom. My idea, when I discussed it with my dad, is that all that space above where your rods go is just wasted. So, using all this fibreglass, that's heavy, and it's wasted. So I said that maybe we should make the hatch curve up, and put the rods up, then underneath we can put the polystyrene foam as your stringer, which as I was explaining earlier gives your buoyancy and strength, so you get the same strength, like a... strengthener system, and then what would be nice if you put a little rack in there it would keep your rods up, out of the way. Thinking out of the box, as they say!

Rod rack bar inside the the front hatch. Keeps your rods safe and your reel free of fish slime.

Is the Pro Fisha generally considered a comfortable kayak to paddle fit long periods?  Or do most anglers fit seat rests?

Yes, it is. One of the key factors is that your feet are lower than your bum. You can sit with your feet lower than your bum all day. As soon as you raise your feet, your back will take some strain. So you'll obviously need support. Yes, backrests do make the kayak more comfortable, it definitely does, and we've got several types.

Forum user wild321 wants to know why a back rest doesn’t come as standard with the kayak?

Purely because not everyone wants the same backrest. And we've found that the kayak is comfortable enough not to use a backrest, but it's something you can add afterwards if you want to.

Really, so there are quite a few people who don't use them at all?

Er, you probably see 2 backrests to 7 without in South Africa, elsewhere maybe 4 to 10. So 4 will have backrests and 6 won't.

A couple of the seating options available from Stealth.  You can see more info here.

And finally, the last question goes to jasondstub: What would be the one kayak in the Stealth range you would have if you could only have one?

Tough question!  Right now, for the type of fishing that I'm doing... I like to use the 475, for the ease of being able use it before work, it's so easy to load it on and off the car on my own when I'm fishing before or after work.  But I love the 575 for the speed, and I just love the bigger kayak.  If I'm fishing with someone, then it's the 575 every time.  But it is just that little bit bigger when I'm on my own, and the 475 is a little bit easier to handle and manage.  It's a toss up.  

Oh no, I generally fish on my own and I've ordered the 575!!

No, you'll be fine, I promise you!  I've been using a 575 for over a year now with no problems at all.  But as I have the option to use something that's a little lighter when I'm on my own, then I'll take it just because it's there.  But I wouldn't sacrifice the speed of the bigger boat, I can pull lures more comfortably, and I love the relaxed paddling of the bigger boat.  Yeah, there's a lot more pluses for me with the 575 than the 475, but the 475 is more about convenience at the moment.  

OK Brett, thank you so much for the taking the time out to do this interview.  I'm sure it'll make fascinating reading for anyone thinking of purchasing a fibreglass fishing kayak, and a Stealth kayak in particular.

No problem, no problem at all.

Part 2 end.

Well folks, I hope you enjoyed that!  It was fascinating talking to a guy who not only really knows his way around kayak design having raced professionally, but who is also a committed kayak fisherman.  I'm sure some of his comments about the design of Stealth kayaks will provoke further discussion.  Whatever people think ends up being the best kayak to fish from in UK waters, having a major kayak builder like Stealth entering our market can only be good thing for all us!  

Please leave me any comments you have about the interview.