I'm looking at Jackson, NuCanoe, and Creek Boat. Any experiences fishing from one of these or any must haves?

This is the main one I've been eyeing.

https://jacksonkayak.com/jackson-kayak-yupik/

Take a look at Hobie
https://www.hobie.com/fishing-kayaks/#

I very much looking forward to having one some day.

I want to like the Yupik. The totally open and modular design is kind of attractive, I've wondered how well my dog would do on it. One drawback is the weight, although I'm still fit enough I don't think I'd have a problem with it. Hopefully I'll find a place to demo one this summer.

I'll be picking another boat up soon, and it will either be a Coosa, Coosa HD, Yupik, or Kilroy HD. I've got a lot of experience in both Coosa models and really like them, but I want to at least paddle the others before I make a final decision.

I had a kayak for a couple years and discovered that using it while I was alone in it, it got somewhat unstable. And since 99% of the time I was fishing alone, and I got tired of beaching it to dump out the water from near capsizes I sold it for about as much as I paid for it. Now have a 14 foot Jon Boat with electric motor. A LOT more stable, and I can even put my small outboard motor on it.

I think Jackson, Hobie, and Old Town are in the group of the most-liked.

But I have come to Elk Hunter's conclusion. I don't want to be wet, or wet-ish most of the time. I'd rather have a small aluminum boat.

I looked hard at getting one, but never pulled the trigger. The one I'd settled on was sold at the local Wally-World, and there were several youtube videos of people doing mods on it to make it more fisherman friendly. Was relatively cheap, so almost bit, but not quite.

Now I have a used Nitro 750, but if I were doing it over again, I'd have probably gone with a 16' jonboat with a 20hp motor or similar.

ETA: It was a Lifetime Tamarack that I'd looked at getting.

I have not fished from the kayaks you posted, but here’s my thoughts about fishing from a sit in kayak:

Paddling and fishing sucks if there’s a current, wind, tidal flow, etc. You need room for an anchor and line. I’d seriously consider a pedal drive kayak or a trolling motor.

I’d like room to cut bait, have a bait bucket, a cooler for the fish I catch, and a small tackle box.

I think a sit on top with a higher seat would be a plus for casting and getting your bait where you want it. There’s no way to skip your bait under the mangroves when you are casting from the low seat of a sit in kayak. Getting your bait that’s 6 feet up in the mangrove from that position also sucks.

Then I start thinking about getting to the places to fish. How far are you willing to paddle or peddle to get there and back? Some of the boats you mentioned look like they’ll need a trailer. Factoring in the price and as others have mentioned, you can get a small aluminum utility boat or a Gheenoe, a motor, have plenty of room, and cover a lot of area while fishing.

Huge fan of the Hobie Outback. It’s nice to be able to use the foot pedals/fins to help fight large fish without needing to paddle with your hands. I’ve landed some huge black drum in my Hobie that I don’t think I could have handled with a traditional kayak.

Thanks guys. I have a big boat to go in. Just trying to fit in some small places. Do the pedal drives require registration? Maybe that’s a state level thing.

I’ve got four Jackson boats. The two fishing boats are Kilroys. One in forest the other in a custom color called GI Jackson (think woodland camo).

Jackson’s are very well engineered in general. Can’t speak for the sit-on-top you are looking at as the
Kilroys are sit-in’s but I can tell you that they are very stable and very comfortable to fish out of. My son stands up in his occasionally. The seats that Jackson uses are fantastic. When out of the boat you can use them beach/shore loungers. The drawback of the kilroy’s stability is it’s weight. They are not light boats. But they do track straight and can keep up a good pace once your moving. There would be room for a dog if you’re not fishing. Tons of storage room for overnight camping gear if that’s your thing.

You can certainly get into some places a powered boat wouldn’t dare.

I’ve looked at Nucanoe some at the local hunting / fishing expo and I know an outfitter that uses them. They are certainly with a look too imo.

Hope that helps some.