Hey guys, put together this review of the new Pelican Catch 120, a budget-friendly kayak packed with features and a $750 price tag.



Anyone else had a chance to test out this boat? I know Chris Payne wasn't as impressed as I was. Anyone else have anything to add?

I was curious to see what you thought of the two piece construction and how that would affect durability

Thermoforming has been used by a variety of kayak companies, including Jackson Kayak's LT series, and I've never heard of an issue where the seam was compromised. I have to imagine it has happened, but it's certainly not a major concern in my opinion.

Excellent review. It looks like that market segment, the 12 foot fishing kayak designed for stability and under $1000, is getting competitive. The Ascend FS128T, the Pelican Cast 120, the Heritage Osprey 12-9, and the Field an Stream Shadow Caster 123 all offer a lot of stable Kayak with a lot of features for between $750 to $800!


cricman

For sure, there are a ton more options than even when I started just a few years ago. The Perception Pescador Pro seems like a great option at $849 too, I want to test that one out also.

Great review!

Nice to see that there are more kayaks out there at affordable prices that are packed with the features of the more expensive kayaks.
It's all about getting more folks on the water!

This is the first review I've seen on this kayak. I was very tempted to try one, but stumbled onto a great deal on a Jackson Coosa.

After comparing the two boats, it's easy to see that Pelican took a lot of good features from the Coosa.

You won't regret your choice.

The Coosa is a great boat, although pretty specialized for rivers. I'm not sure where all you fish, but you may consider the Coosa HD (if it's in your budget) if you fish a lot of bigger water as well.

But comparing those kayaks to the Pelican is somewhat apples to oranges, because they're at different price points. For the price, I think the Pelican is a better value personally. But if a Jackson is in your budget, you'll be in a higher quality boat.

So this may be a dumb question but do you think it would be possible to mount a trolling motor to the front of the catch 120? I like to stand and fish and was thinking of mounting the trolling motor to the front and using an extension arm to control it.

It would be doable, the front is somewhat squared so it would work better than most kayaks, but the back is flat and I think it would work better in the back still. You can still use an extension arm to control it. But I've never used a trolling motor on a kayak except for a Torqeedo one time, so I'm not the best guy to answer that question.

I worked a trade for the Coosa, it's mine now. Got the whole package with a cart, paddle, and several small (but expensive) goodies.

I will use it primarily in small lakes, we have 9 semi private lakes where I live, ranging from about 20 acres up to 950 acres. I also hope to get it out on some of the local rivers. I don't envision myself every traveling very far by paddle.

I think if I was going to get a bigger boat, I'd skip the Coosa HD and get the Jackson Big Rig. That stand up bar looks awesome.

The Big Rig is a solid boat, but you'll be giving up some speed in comparison to the Coosa HD.